ABSTRACT
Most funding applicants wait until the last minute before sending in their proposal. As one funder noted, they receive 80 to 85 per cent of proposals on the day of the deadline. Review methods change from funder to funder, as does the requirement to send in one’s own set of references. The funder will usually choose from researcher’s reviewers and from their own list. This leads some researchers to fear that a particular reviewer may give them a bad review through poor past relationships. Balance across a portfolio of funded projects could mean a regional spread. The worst scenario following any submission of a research proposal is not, as some may assume, rejection. Projects are likely to be selected by a funding body using the concept of balance. This may be balance across a portfolio of projects to give regional or disciplinary representation, or on internal balance within an application of academic content, quality of management and quality of collaboration.
