1.2. Preparing and submitting a proposal

Once you have made your initial choice regarding the source of funding, start looking for partners, ask for technical details about the measure from the  action consultants, seek support for project writing from the proposal writing service team or partners under the framework agreement concluded with Tallinn University of Technology.

There are three different options to arrange preparation of a proposal:

1. You can use the services provided by the proposal writing service team of the Research Administration Office (see also Chapter “Proposal writing service provided by the Research Administration Office“);
2. You can use the service provided by the partners under the project writing framework agreement;
3. You can write the proposal yourself, involving action consultants if necessary, e.g. to familiarise yourself with the eligibility criteria, etc.

In any case, no later than 14 days before the deadline for submitting the proposal to the funder, the proposal data shall be submitted on project proposal form. The head of the applicant’s structural unit or the college director is notified of the submission of a proposal in order to prevent later problems and will be asked for their approval before registering the project.

Core activities

As a rule, proposals comprise four to five essential elements: 1. details of the participants and the budget; 2. scientific background, problem statement, objectives and methodology; 3. work schedule or action plan for the implementation of the project; 4 impact of the project and the path towards the impact; 5.  ethical aspects. The divisions and titles vary depending on the call for proposals. Sufficient time must be planned to prepare all the elements separately and separate time must be set aside to ensure coherence of all parts and consistency of terminology and for coordination with colleagues and partners.

During the preparation of a proposal, it is recommended to consult various providers of support services at Tallinn University of Technology so that the proposal would be as competitive as possible and it would be easier to implement if it is successful:

• Information on project-specific eligibility issues is provided by the action consultants of the Research Administration Office.
• Technology Transfer Office: intellectual property rights and exploitation, commercialisation
• Procurement Division: major purchases and outsourcing, contact details on the intranet
• Legal Officer for Research: grant and consortium agreements
• Library: data management plan, open data, contact person: Signe Jantson, signe.jantson@taltech.ee
• Information on information security, protection of personal data, trade secrets and processing of confidential data is provided by Henri Schasmin who is the coordinator for personal data and state secret protection at the university, e-mail: henri.schasmin@taltech.ee, phone: 620 2017. For more information on the topic, see chapter “Classification and content of data used and generated in research”.

If additional documents need to be appended to a project proposal, the standard forms can be found on the intranet (see the links listed below) or the Research Administration Office can prepare the documents to be appended to a specific project proposal.

• FID - financial identification form (usually required for NATO or certain EC funded projects) – the signed and ready-to-be-sent form is available in the Research Administration Office. The form can be found HERE.
• Legal Entity form - the signed and ready-to- be-sent form is available in the Research Administration Office. The form can be found HERE.
• Declaration of Honour – to be filled in by the Research Administration Office based on the project, contact person: riina.vilgats@taltech.ee
• Confirmation Letter – to be filled in by the Research Administration Office based on the project, contact person: riina.vilgats@taltech.ee
• an extract from the Criminal Records Database – ordered separately for a project, please notify at least 3 working days before the deadline, contact person: riina.vilgats@taltech.ee
• an extract of entry of the university in the register – ordered separately for a project, please notify the Research Administration Office at least 3 working days before the deadline, contact person riina.vilgats@taltech.ee
• a confirmation letter that the university is aware of the proposal submitted (as a rule, required in case of network projects) – prepared by the Research Administration Office after entry of the proposal in the register of proposals.
• For certain actions (actions funded by the European Commission), the Guidelines for Equal Treatment in force at the university are required. The guidelines have been prepared by the Human Resources Office and can be found here: Guidelines for Equal Treatment and Gender Equality Principles and Action Plan for 2021-2025.
  
• VAT registration letter, the form can be found HERE

All project proposals must be entered in the document management system Delta no later than 3 working days before submission. 

When a proposal is submitted on paper or digitally, it must be ensured that the proposal is submitted by an authorised person:

• projects with the value of up to 100,000 euros shall be signed by the head of the department or director of the college;
• information on the signatories and authorised persons (Head of Research Administration Office, Vice-Rector for Research) can be found here and

here

NB! Signing of a proposal by the head of the structural unit or confirming of the proposal by the applicant does not release from the obligation to register the proposal!

Most funders use online application environments, where the unique university registration code is required in order to apply. The codes are different in different portals. You can find all the codes under Required details of the university - on TalTech intranet

If a proposal must be approved in an online application environment:

• only the project manager shall approve the proposal submitted on the Funding and Tenders Portal (the former Participant Portal, project proposals funded by the European Commission). The action consultant of the Research Administration Office shall verify the applicant’s right to represent the university after receipt of a notification from the portal regarding use of the university’s identification code.
• As regards research grants, target grants and mobility grants funded by the Estonian Research Council, the Research Administration Office sends out a circular regarding the internal application deadline, which is usually up to a week earlier than the deadline for submitting the application to the Estonian Research Council, so that the authorised person can review and approve the proposal. If an applicant cannot comply with this deadline, the Research Administration Office shall be notified thereof and the internal deadline will be extended if possible.
• In the case of actions where there are restrictions on the number of proposals submitted from one organization or other particular conditions are applied, a prior in-house selection shall be organised at the university. The Research Administration Office sends an e-mail to the entire university, describing the criteria and indicating the deadlines of the pre-selection.
• As regards proposals funded by the EIC (Environmental Investment Centre), the person approving the proposal (the authorised person is the head of the Research Administration Office Maia-Liisa Anton) must be notified by e-mail upon submission or amendment of a proposal. The portal does not send automatic notifications and a notification is definitely necessary in order to comply with the submission deadline.
• When using the Structural Funds information system, the signatory must also be notified, since the portal does not send automatic notifications.

After the deadline for the call for proposals, the Research Administration Office will send a summary of the submitted proposals to the deans, vice-deans and heads of departments.

Once a month, the Research Administration Office sends information on the proposals submitted during the current month to the heads of the departments either in the form of a table or a Power BI report.

The Power BI reports of all ongoing reports are available on the intranet on the webpage of the Research Administration Office.