UTIA AgResearch and the College of Veterinary Medicine have entered into an agreement with Hanover Research, a grant development and consulting firm, to provide grant consultant services to UTIA faculty. The primary goal is to provide additional faculty resources to increase the success rate of extramurally funded competitive grant proposals. There is no cost-share requirement for the individual PI or his/her home department.
Hanover helps to strengthen competitive grant proposals to federal agencies as well as proposals to private and non-profit foundations. Hanover Grants Consultants work with faculty by providing reviews that underscore key insights into targeted sponsor priorities and recommendations for grant proposal improvement. Our current agreement includes up to 10 proposal revision projects to utilize on an as needed basis with a maximum of two proposal revision projects ongoing simultaneously.
Project Request Submission
To submit a request for Hanover services, faculty must submit this Project Request Form. Once the project request form is evaluated by the Associate Deans for Research, the faculty member(s) and the appropriate Department Head(s) will be notified regarding acceptance into the Hanover pipeline. If a request for a Hanover review cannot be accommodated, the Associate Deans for Research will work with the PI(s) to determine if alternate resources can be directed at the project (e.g. orange team review).
Selection Process & Criteria
Our agreement with Hanover allows for a maximum of two proposal revision projects concurrently at any given time; therefore, we will have an internal approval process as well as a queue. Every effort will be made to accommodate all faculty requests, but due to this constraint, some projects may need to wait in the queue until an opening emerges in the pipeline. Given this, requests to participate in this program should be made as soon as possible using the Project Request Form.
We anticipate an increase in the demand for the use of the queues. As a result, the following criteria will be used to prioritize requests:
- Sponsor deadlines and current pipeline capacity.
- Large ($1 million or larger) interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary proposals. Proposals with smaller budgets may be considered under special circumstances.
- Proposals that are innovative, address significant issues within their major areas of interest, and have transformative potential.
- Proposals that position UTIA to compete in emerging areas of significant research funding.
- Faculty member’s willingness to share proposal materials and honor agreed-upon deadlines.
Timeline
Typical turnaround time for proposal revision projects is 8 – 12 weeks. Below is an example timeline, which will vary based on complexity. Therefore, it is imperative that you complete the Project Request form as soon as possible regarding the use of Hanover services for your grant proposal.
What is Included in a Proposal Revision?
A proposal revision includes up to two waves of support. As requested on a project-by-project basis, each wave can include: (1) margin comments on the narrative draft with recommendations surrounding alignment of the proposal to the grant opportunity’s guidelines and funder’s expectations; (2) a brief memo outlining high-level recommendations; (3) revision of narrative content for clarity and effective use of language; (4) editing of proposal content for punctuation and grammar; and (5) a debrief teleconference call with a Grants Consultant. [Timeline: 8-12 weeks]
How does Hanover work with each PI?
After a PI’s project is accepted into the Hanover Research’s pipeline, Hanover Research emails the PI to introduce the assigned grants consultant and first schedules a project initiation conference call prior to the start of work. Project initiation calls give the PI an opportunity to discuss specific areas of concern with the assigned grants consultant and to share reviewer feedback if a re-submission (if available). After Hanover releases its deliverables, the PI is afforded the opportunity for a debrief conference call to discuss Hanover’s critique and to address any outstanding questions or concerns.
What documents can I submit to Hanover?
Hanover focuses on narrative components of a research proposal. Faculty are welcome and encouraged to provide Hanover additional proposal components for context (e.g. literature review, needs assessment, budget, letters of support, facilities and resources, bio-sketches, resource sharing plan). For revisions, most faculty submit the abstract, specific aims, and research strategy. For a re-submission of a previously unfunded proposal, faculty should plan to submit a copy of their original proposal along with the review summary statement.
Further Information:
Jessica McCord
jfox16@utk.edu
(865)974-7370
