Proposal Development

Explore the Proposal Lifecycle

Research Development Services (RDS) partners with UA faculty, their departmental/unit business office, and Sponsored Projects Services (SPS) on the stages of the proposal lifecycle from Opportunity Identification and Assessment to Revision and Resubmission. Post-award activities are supported by departmental/unit business offices, SPS, and Research Compliance Services. This page leads to content across the Research Gateway on each stage of the proposal lifecycle. Explore this content for agency-specific best practices, tools, and templates.

Dive deeper into each stage of the proposal lifecycle:

Quick Tips

• Ensure that your goals and objectives are a good match for the funder’s mission and priorities
• Set a reasonable timeline based on the deadline. SPS must receive proposals in final form (completely routed in UAR and ready for submission to the sponsoring agency) three full business days prior to the sponsor’s due date. Contact your department for timelines and assistance with routing in UAR. Additional information on the Three-Day deadline (TDD) can be found in the TDD Quick Facts.
• Follow the submission guidelines and recommended structure of the proposal
• Organize your proposal and use concise, persuasive writing - writing proposals differs from authoring journal articles
• Talk to the program officer – they are there to help
• Ask colleagues to read your proposal and provide critical comments
• If your proposal is not funded, carefully read the reviewer comments, and try again – proposals are often funded on the second, or even third submission

Connect to these Resources

• University of Arizona PI Orientation Videos (through UAccess Learning)
• Guidelines, templates, and tools for preparing specific components such as the biographical sketch, data management plan, project management plan, mentoring plan, small business contracting plan, letters of support, broader impacts statements, and more. You may also search for downloadable resources in Proposal Development Tools.
• Best practices for contacting your program officer
• Tips and tricks for early career investigators, including funding opportunities
• Assistance with Honors, Awards and Prizes
• External resources for grant writing