Science Management and Funding Procurement

Recommended Prerequisites

NA

Teaching Methods

The uc functions as a seminar where students present and discuss the articles and chapters required for each class. Reading these chapters and articles is mandatory and contact hours serve to discuss them and apply them to real problems and situations in terms of funding and scientific management. The uc also has autonomous working time where students must work on a scientific proposal (potentially in coordination with their work outside this uc).

Learning Outcomes

This course unit has two fundamental goals: 1) to introduce students to science management both in terms of team management, research timelines, and the development of scientific projects, as well as in terms of day-to-day and financial project management; 2) to introduce students to the procurement of competitive scientific funding both at the level of individual doctoral fellowships, as well as to the understanding of the application processes for large competitive projects and their financial aspects. Students should develop the ability to:

- prepare applications for funding, including:

  - identifying appropriate sources of funding

  - writing a scientific project with:

     - scientific proposal

     - detailed temporal plane/organization chart

     - budget

- identify the steps of day-to-day management of ongoing projects, and research centers/laboratories.     

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

1. Identifying sources of research funding.

1.1 What is a grant?

1.2 Sources of funding that fit; Eligibility; Collaboration. Examples from USA and other countries. The Portuguese context.

1.3 Project pre-planning: Contacting past grantees; contacting past reviewers; pilot data.

2. The project (Note: The elaboration project is included in the uc "Development of Projects in Psychology")

2.1 Budget and justification.

2.2. Gantt charts and project timeline.

3. Rejection.

3.1 Re-submission: addressing reviewers; reasons for rejection.

3.2 Common mistake.

3.3 Reading between the lines of the reviews.

4. Managing the award

4.1 Now what? After being awarded.

4.2 Data management plans for sharing/open science.

4.3 Project planning, kick-off meetings, Gantt charts, activities, team management.

4.4 Project execution, dissemination, communication and reporting.

4.5 The University of Coimbra grant system.

Head Lecturer(s)

Jorge Manuel Castelo Branco de Albuquerque Almeida

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Project: 100.0%

Bibliography

Crawley, G.M. & O'Sullivan, E. (2015). The grant writer's handbook: how to write a research proposal and succeed. New Jersey: Imperial College Press, ISBN 9781783267590

Reid, C.P. (2000). Handbook for Preparing and Writing Research Proposals. Vienna, Austria, IUFRO Special Programme for Developing Countries. http://iufro.boku.ac.at/iufro/spdc

C. Petersen (2017). The Practical Guide to Project Management. 2nd ed. ISBN 9788740316902

Pequegnat, W., Stover, E., & Boyce, C.A. (2011). How to Write a Successful Research Grant Application: A Guide for Social and Behavioral Scientists. 2nd Edition. New York: Springer, ISBN 9781441914538