ABSTRACT
Depending on the country of the funding agency, the United Kingdom, for example, one may also be asked to comment on such things as the proposal’s possible strategic relevance, industrial and stakeholder relevance as well as its economic and social impact. But after all, things can go wrong, and a good funding agency will have or should have a clear policy for appeals by applicants for proposals that fail. An appeal might be deemed valid by the agency if the applicant describes evidence of factual errors, bias or conflict of interest of the referee or evidence of a lack of expertise in the judging panel. Obviously, an appeal cannot be based on opinion alone. An appeal would have to be evidenced based. So, a referee’s report needs to be carefully done and factually accurate.
