The Coordinatorship Enablement Packages (CEP) are a strategic tool to support, incentivize and enable EUR researchers to take on the challenge of coordinating a major research initiative.
They are available to any researcher employed at Erasmus University Rotterdam who is in the very early stages of preparing a proposal for a major research initiative as defined by the following scope criteria:
- The proposal is for a collaborative grant and EUR is the coordinating entity.
- The project’s total budget is at least € 2.000.000.
- The budget share for Erasmus University Rotterdam is at least € 300.000.
The CEP consists of a set of complementary measures outlined below.
Financial support
A € 20.000 budget to be spent on material costs for the proposal preparation process. This budget could be used for example to fly in partners for an intensive concept development or writing session, fund a small prototype or proof of concept, engage a postdoc to support the writing process and hire external services such as graphic design, infographics and editing.
The budget may for now also be used for teaching time “buy out”.
Proposal Development Expertise
Erasmus Research Services (ERS) has a growing capacity specialized in the development of major research initiatives.
Any initiative awarded a CEP will be allocated one of ERS’ Grants Advisors and/or a Business Developer. They will act as partners in the proposal effort, providing tailored, hands-on contributions and advice. Each proposal has unique needs but the partnership typically includes:
- Designing the proposal development plan and an active role in steering the process.
- Helping shape the concept and matching it to the call’s expectations, both formal and contextual.
- Developing the Consortium. The scouting and engaging of new partners from both the public and private sectors, governmental and non-governmental type organisations and academia.
- Identifying and securing sources for co-financing.
- Identifying applicable impact pathways and co-writing the impact section.
- Interview Preparation Support where applicable.
- Practical advice on embedding the principles from Open and Responsible Science as well as Diversity and Inclusion into your proposal.
- Mock evaluations that draw on the team’s expertise and the present evaluator experience.
- Project management of the co-creative process: organize consortium meetings, version management, reference materials, budgeting and the collection of partner administrative data.
At this point the team does not provide proposal writing.
Post-Award Project Manager
Successful CEP proposals are of a scope and size that will result in projects of high complexity. At the same time these projects will include several external partners who all look to the coordinator for not only academic but also operational leadership. It will be key to their success and the reputation of the project lead that an effective and dedicated project management resource be in place.
Therefore, CEP proposals must reserve reasonable resources in their budget for project management. As a default, these project managers will be embedded at the ERS post-award team that specializes in major initiatives. In exceptional cases an argument may be made by the proposer for a different arrangement.
Assessment criteria
At this stage, initiatives applying for a CEP will be assessed solely on scope, readiness of the concept and the viability for the proposed initiative in relation to the call’s formal expectations. Academic merit or innovation potential of the proposed work will not be a criterium until future stages.
Eight CEP were delivered in 2021 and eleven in 2022. Applications may now be submitted for proposals with call deadlines due in 2023 and beyond.
There is room for sixteen new CEP to be awarded in 2023 which will be made available to qualifying initiatives on a first come first served basis.
Eligibility and Supporting Documentation
Your initiative is eligible and ready for a CEP when:
- your initiative fulfills the scope criteria (outlined at the top of this page) and;
- you have an idea for a project plan as well as identified a call to submit it to and;
- you have in principle the commitment of a core consortium of at least three partners.
In addition a letter of support signed by the School’s Dean is required documentation. It must:
- express support for the applicant to proceed with developing the proposal and;
- indicate the average time fraction in fte that the applicant expects to dedicate to proposal development and;
- confirm that the proposed initiative is in line with the School’s Research Strategy.
Deadline
Requests for CEP must be submitted at least 4 calendar months prior to the deadline of the funding call. However, please note that CEP capacity is limited and will be allocated on a first come first served basis.
There is no upper limit to how early in advance a CEP can be requested and we encourage all applicants to submit their requests as soon as they qualify.
Apply
Please fill this form in order to apply.
The ERS team will assess each application and contact you with an outcome within 10 working days.
Contact Information
The purpose of this stage in the pilot is to test out the application and evaluation process. If you have spotted a mistake please do let us know.
You can contact us any time for guidance, questions or clarifications at researchgrants@eur.nl.