How to Fund Your Research

Introduction

The successful implementation of research requires the mobilization of resources to support different phases of the research endeavor. Funding may be required to support hiring of staff, purchase of supplies and equipment, consultation with experts, and field work/survey-related activities. 

In general, funding requirement increases for research that are more complex (e.g., with multiple data collection strategies), involve more participants (i.e., with higher sample size), have wider geographic scope (e.g., multi-center or multi-site studies), necessitate more than one data collection visit (e.g., longitudinal studies), and require specialized equipment or supplies (e.g., laboratory research).

There are several ways to classify research funding,¹ and the list below is not intended to be exhaustive:

• In terms of eligibility: Funding can be made available to members of an organization (intramural) or the wider scientific community (extramural)
   
• In terms of scope: Research money can either be spent on projects that are focused on specific topics (targeted, e.g., funding for research on child feeding practices in rural areas) or broad health areas (untargeted, e.g., funding for research on child health)
   
• In terms of scale: Grants can be provided for research that is at a very early stage (seed or exploratory) or for more established undertaking (project/program)

Main sources of research grants, and how to find them

Researchers can tap different funding sources to support their project. This can come from public or private sources at the local or international levels.

• Own institution: Researchers are usually affiliated with universities or research institutions, which have their own internal funding to support research by constituents. Institutional funding is usually organized to support early-career researchers who need to establish their credentials, and/or projects that are in the pilot or preliminary phases for demonstration of proof of concept.
   
• Government agencies: Government offices, such as the Department of Science and Technology, Department of Health, and Commission on Higher Education, allocate a certain portion of their budget for a wide array of research and development activities as part of the state’s commitment to support science and technology. Aside from national government agencies, some local government units, such as provinces or municipalities, also allocate funding support for research.
   
• Official development assistance: Foreign governments may also provide in-country research funding support through their aid programs (e.g., USAID, AusAID), either to researchers directly, or through government agencies or third-party non-government organizations.
   
• Intergovernmental organizations: Funding can also be sourced at the international level, particularly from organizations formed by several states, such as the World Health Organization, Asian Development Bank, and Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Research support is usually oriented towards issues that constitute a shared concern of countries, or those aligned with international goals (e.g., Sustainable Development Goals).
   
• Industries: Private corporations contract external, non-affiliated researchers to conduct studies related to their sector or advocacy. Know more about Nestlé Post-Graduate Nutrition and Sustainability Scholarship
   
• Non-government organizations: Non-profit organizations outside of government may also offer funding support that are aligned with their interests or areas of concentration. Among these are advocacy organizations, humanitarian groups, charities, or professional societies.

Obtaining research support from the funding sources mentioned above can generally be accomplished in two ways. First, and most commonly, funders will publicly announce a call for proposals through websites and mailing lists to solicit submissions from interested parties who want to apply for research funding. This call for proposal will typically specify the topic or area of research that will be supported, as well as related funding guidelines (e.g., available funding amount, timelines, eligibility requirements). In contrast to a funder-initiated mode, researchers may also try to submit their research proposals to potential funding sources outside of regular calls, particularly when seeking support for research topics that are newly emerging or are urgent in nature.

Because of the many potential sources of funding, it may not be possible to keep tabs on all funding opportunities as these arise, especially those that are outside of our institution or professional group. Tapping into our networks or being part of listservs helps to keep one abreast of relevant calls for research proposals.

How to write research funding requests

Research funding requests are generally submitted as complete research proposals, which means that the foremost requirement when submitting a funding request is to have a clearly laid out study objective and methodology on a topic that is aligned with the thematic area of the call for proposals (if funder-initiated) or with the thrust or research agenda of the funding organization (if researcher-initiated).

The proposal will have to be accompanied by an itemized listing of the breakdown of the requested amount in the form of a line-item budget.

Each funding source will have their own template for the proposal that researchers will need to accomplish when applying for funding, but common aspects include the following:

• Project title: Descriptive title for the project to be funded. Some projects use an acronym for ease of reference in all project-related documents.
   
• Proponent Details: Name, affiliation, and contact details of the lead researcher who has overall responsibility for the project.
   
• Background: Brief recapitulation of the research problem, the significance of researching the topic, and gaps in knowledge that the project intends to address. In contrast to academic proposals, this section of a grant proposal typically spans a maximum of two pages only.
   
• Objective: Aims of the research undertaking
   
• Methodology: Statement on the study design, description and selection of study participants, data collection instruments, data collection approach, and method of data analysis.
   
• Administrative Information: Project timeline, line-item budget, and listing of research team members.

ADDITIONAL TIPS: Ways to boost funding request approval

Seeking research funding requires adequate preparation on the part of the researcher. Below are some tips and considerations when obtaining research funding.²

1. Be familiar with the funding.
   As mentioned above, there are different types of research funding, and each funding source will have their own eligibility criteria, requirement, and timeline. At the very basic, funding requests should adhere to the criteria and requirements as outlined by the funder.
    
2. Refine your research proposal.
   Funding for research is generally competitive because funders receive more proposals than can be accommodated by their available budget. It is important to ensure that the topic has not been overly researched; there is alignment between the topic and the call for proposals or research agenda of the funding source; and the research proposal is methodologically sound.
    
3. Credentials matter.
   Unless research funding is specifically directed towards students or early-career researchers, the chance of obtaining a grant is typically higher for individuals who are experts in their field and have an established track record of obtaining and completing funded projects. Funding is also generally awarded to researchers through their institutions (i.e., the research money is managed by an institution, not the individual researcher). Researchers who are starting out may want to start by affiliating themselves with reputable research groups to beef up their credentials.
    
4. Two heads (or more) are better.
   Given the complexity of the research enterprise, and the varied expertise required to implement a project, having a multidisciplinary research team will usually increase the chances of obtaining research grants as this shows that the project has been well thought out.
    
5. Be diligent with money.
   Funding is granted to a researcher to complete a project. It should not be treated as personal money, or a petty cash fund to support other expenses. The researcher should be familiar with the allowed expense items, the funding limit for each, and the reportorial requirement when liquidating or accounting for these expenses later on. Researchers should work closely with institutional offices that take care of these administrative matters.

Conclusion

Obtaining funding for research not only helps the researcher complete a meaningful project, but is also useful for establishing credentials as a scientist. Researchers should be familiar with the different sources of funding, the types of research topics that they support, and the administrative requirements for managing funding.