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What to pay attention to when consulting call documentation

“Make sure you read the call spec” is one of the most frequently dispensed pieces of advice from grants managers and research offices alike. It might sound mind-numbingly obvious, but a not insignificant proportion of applicants to most funding schemes—especially the smaller ones—won’t have followed it and their chances of success will be slim-to-none.

While most applicants won’t make such an elementary error, it can still pay to unpack what this apparently self-evident advice actually entails. Knowing how call literature is usually written and presented, what to look out for and how to read it can, in the final analysis, make the difference between your bid sinking or swimming.