The times-are-a-changing in the world of grants, says Lynne Chronister.

"The culture of research funding is different both here at UC Davis and nationally," said Chronister, associate vice chancellor for research administration. "The grant-seeking environment is extremely competitive, more than ever. It now takes greater effort to garner these important dollars that fuel the university research engine."

That's why the university is now offering a broader range of professional training and development opportunities in writing these proposals and managing the funds afterward, Chronister said. "We realize that our researchers and staffs will benefit from rigorous training efforts."

In recent years, Chronister said, research sponsors have increased requirements and accountability on how the funds are awarded and then used.

The regulations are even more complex when research involves human and animal subjects, she added. Grant-giving institutions range from federal and state governments to private foundations.

As a major research university, UC Davis receives a significant level of funding through grants, contracts and gifts.

In 2002-03 UC Davis research funding hit a record of $426.3 million, an increase of $69 million (almost 20 percent) over the previous year. It marks the 10th consecutive year that totals have risen. The campus now earns more than two-and-a-half times the extramural funding it received in 1993-94.

"That's a dramatic increase in extramural funding and thus explains our focus on mastering the grant process," Chronister said. "Most of our research funding comes from grants and contracts from the federal government."

The fiscal and regulatory compliance requirements are immense and the consequences for non-compliance can range from restrictions on new funding to steep fines to even jail.

About a year ago, Chronister's office in conjunction with Office of Administration started offering one- and two-day workshops as well as special training sessions on a variety of research-related topics, such as the Industry-University Cooperative Research Program and human subject protection. Additionally, the office also provides three workshops through Staff Development under Grant Writing and Administration.

Chronister said her unit is exploring a certificate program for grant processing that might be available as early as next spring. Whether it is offered through staff development services or another avenue is still being discussed.

Workshops and teleconferences are some of the ways this type of program could be offered, she said. Additional workshops are also planned for the following topics:

• Human research subject protection;
• Proposal preparation using National Sci-ence Foundation FastLane and other electronic proposal submission systems;
• Proposal preparation and award administration; and
• Research agreements with the private sector.

Not properly following grant guidelines can prove exceedingly costly. In February, North-western University agreed to pay $5.5 million to settle allegations that it provided false information about the time researchers spent on federally sponsored medical research grants. The government had alleged that in completing some applications for grants from the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies, Northwestern overstated how much work researchers were able to devote to the grant, according to the Justice Department's statement.

"The risk of mismanagement of grants is a reality and it is something that we aim to avoid in each and every proposal, from the time we develop them to how the funds are managed," Chronister said.

The university ranks third in non-federally financed research expenditures and 15th in overall research expenditures among public and private universities, according to the National Science Foundation.

Chronister said UC Davis seeks to familiarize faculty and staff with information about how to locate funding opportunities, understand sponsor criteria, prepare proposal components, develop budgets, understand intellectual property and compliance issues, and how to obtain assistance with grant management.

"We hope to demystify the process," Chronister said.

Successful grant-seeking, she noted, involves developing and assessing proposal ideas, generating support for grant applications, designing and writing a complete grant proposal, editing and submitting proposals, following up with funders and surviving the proposal-review process.

"Researchers and staff need to communicate with precision, clarity and persuasion to win those grant dollars," Chronister said.

She said there are some basic rules that one can follow in grant-writing:

• Avoid jargon and techno-speak, including acronyms;
• Keep sentences and paragraphs simple and short;
• Have people outside your direct field read and evaluate the proposal; and
• Be sure that the proposal is organized.

For more details, see http://ovcr.ucdavis.edu/Workshops/Workshops.