Research development and research administration both aim to strengthen research capacity by increasing grant funding, but they serve distinct and complementary roles.

Research Development (RD) professionals assist principal investigators (PIs) with the content, strategy, and presentation of proposals to enhance competitiveness. Research Administrators (RA), typically based in departments or colleges, manage the administrative aspects of the process. These include budgeting, gathering required documents, ensuring proposal completeness, and coordinating with the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP).

OSP is responsible for reviewing proposals to ensure compliance and submitting them to funders on behalf of MSU. While RA and OSP involvement is required for most proposals, RD support is optional and available upon request.

ORI Research Development and Proposal Services is available to support MSU principal investigators (PIs) from any college, department, or discipline. Our team supports a wide range of proposal types that vary by funder, budget size, and research area.

Because we are a small unit, we are not able to provide one-on-one editing support to postdocs or students. However, we encourage postdocs and students to attend the grant writing webinars we host and to explore and use the resources available on our website to support their proposal development efforts.

All services provided by the Research Development and Proposal Services team are free of charge to PIs at MSU.

The ORI Research Development and Proposal Services team supports faculty with a wide range of proposal types. These include proposals for research projects, instrumentation, centers, early career awards, and other high-impact awards.

While our team has extensive experience with proposals for federal funding agencies, we also assist with proposals to other types of funders. When appropriate, we collaborate with the Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations to ensure coordinated support.

When you contact the Research Development and Proposal Services team, we will discuss the level of support we can provide based on your specific needs. The services we offer will depend on the nature of the proposal, your goals, our staff availability, and the timeline for submission.

We recommend reaching out as early in the proposal development process as possible. Early contact increases the likelihood that we can accommodate your request and allows us to offer a broader range of support to meet your needs.

To make the most of our editing support, we recommend contacting us at least one month before the internal proposal deadline using our online service request form. After your request has been approved, please send a near-final version of your proposal as a Word document (.doc).

Staff assignments are made on a case-by-case basis, depending on availability and the best fit for the proposal. Our team members are not assigned to specific portfolios or by department, discipline, faculty affiliation, funder, or funding mechanism.

The Research Development and Proposal Services team can help refine and clarify the language in your proposal to ensure it reads well and highlights key elements that influence reviewer scoring. Depending on the timeline, we may offer feedback to improve the logical flow, clarity, conciseness, and grammar of the proposal narrative.

During consultations, we meet with faculty at various stages of proposal development to offer guidance and address grant writing questions. These meetings may focus on identifying funding opportunities, preparing to contact program officers, drafting overviews or abstracts, refining the main narrative, or interpreting reviewer feedback from summary statements.

How you prepare for a consultation depends on where you are in the proposal process. If you are in the early stages, we recommend coming with a few key questions. Sending those questions in advance helps us prepare for a productive discussion. If you are seeking feedback on specific proposal documents, please send us your drafts at least a few days before the meeting so we have time to review them.

Yes, our team can assist with proposal resubmissions. We help interpret and prioritize reviewer feedback and offer guidance on communicating with program officers at funding agencies. If time permits, we also provide review and editing support to strengthen the revised proposal.

No, the Research Development and Proposal Services team does not provide support for internal funding mechanisms.

No, the Research Development and Proposal Services team does not submit FOIA requests for proposals. We recommend that faculty reach out directly to principal investigators to request proposal examples.