Reference

Research grant glossary

40 key terms used across major research funders — NIH, NSF, ERC, MSCA, Horizon Europe, UKRI, DFG, FCT, ANR, NWO, JSPS, ARC, NSERC, FAPESP, AEI, SNSF, and others. Bookmark this page; it’s updated as funder terminology evolves.

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AAPG (Appel à Projets Générique): ANR France's main bottom-up funding call. Two-stage submission (pre-proposal, full proposal). Includes JCJC, PRC, PRCE, PRCI sub-instruments.
Article Processing Charge (APC): Fee charged by an open-access journal for publishing an article. Many funders cover APCs as part of the grant; budget €2,000–€3,000 per article.
Co-Investigator (Co-I): A researcher contributing to a project who is not the principal investigator (PI). Co-Is share scientific responsibility but are not the prime contractholder.
Cost-Reimbursement: Funding model where the grant pays actual costs incurred (with caps), as opposed to a lump-sum or per-deliverable model. Most academic grants are cost-reimbursement.
Direct Costs: Costs spent specifically on the project: personnel salaries, consumables, equipment, fieldwork, conferences, publications. Distinct from indirect costs.
Discovery Grant: Canadian NSERC bottom-up funding programme. Supports a research programme rather than a project, typically 5 years. Uses a 'binning' system rather than ranking.
DMP (Data Management Plan): Document describing how research data will be created, stored, shared, and preserved. Required by most major funders since 2017.
ECR (Early-Career Researcher): Researcher within a defined window post-PhD (varies: 2–8 years depending on funder). Many programmes have ECR-specific lines or scoring adjustments.
ERC Starting Grant (StG): European Research Council early-career grant. Up to €1.5M over 5 years. Eligibility: 2–7 years post-PhD. ~13% success rate.
ERC Consolidator Grant (CoG): ERC mid-career grant. Up to €2M over 5 years. Eligibility: 7–12 years post-PhD.
FCOI (Financial Conflict of Interest): PHS/NIH requirement that researchers disclose financial interests that could affect research objectivity. Foreign-component subawards must meet PHS-equivalent FCOI policies.
FEC (Full Economic Cost): UK accounting model where the full cost of running a project is calculated, including indirect costs at the institution's specific rate. UKRI funds 80% of FEC; institution covers 20%.
Foreign Component: Portion of an NIH-funded project performed outside the United States. Requires explicit justification, scientific necessity, and compliance with PHS regulations.
Funding & Tenders Portal: European Commission portal hosting all Horizon Europe, EIC, and partnership calls. Single submission point for EU collaborative-research applications.
Gantt Chart: Timeline visualisation showing project tasks across months. Required by most funders in the implementation section of the proposal.
Habilitation: German academic qualification beyond PhD, traditionally required for tenure. Not required for DFG funding but relevant for some chair-level appointments.
Horizon Europe: EU's €95.5B research and innovation framework programme (2021–2027). Includes ERC, MSCA, Cluster 1–6 collaborative calls, EIC, partnerships.
HQP (Highly Qualified Personnel): Canadian NSERC term for the trainees a grant supports — graduate students, postdocs, undergraduates. Training contribution is one of the three Discovery Grant evaluation criteria.
Indirect Costs: Institutional overhead — libraries, IT, HR, building utilities. Funders apply different rules: flat rate (Horizon Europe 25%), negotiated rate (NIH ~50–70%), or full economic cost (UKRI FEC).
JCJC (Jeunes Chercheuses et Jeunes Chercheurs): ANR France early-career sub-instrument under AAPG. For researchers up to 8 years post-PhD. Single-PI projects.
KAKENHI: Japan's Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research, administered by JSPS. Covers all disciplines, multiple categories from PhD support to senior multi-million-yen programmes.
MSCA (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions): Horizon Europe's mobility and training programme. Includes Postdoctoral Fellowships, Doctoral Networks, Staff Exchanges, COFUND.
No-Cost Extension (NCE): Permission to extend a project beyond the original end date without additional funding, to spend remaining money. Most funders allow up to 12 months.
NOFO (Notice of Funding Opportunity): US federal-government term for a published call for applications. Equivalent to 'call for proposals' in EU contexts. Replaces older 'PA' (Programme Announcement) and 'RFA' (Request for Applications) terminology.
Open Access: Publication model where the article is freely readable. Gold OA: published in an open journal (often with APC). Green OA: deposited in a repository. Most funders mandate one or both.
Open Research Data (ORD): Sharing of research data, code, and materials. Required by most major funders since 2020. SNSF, Horizon Europe, NIH all explicitly score the ORD plan in evaluations.
Person-Months: Effort metric: how many months of full-time equivalent work each team member dedicates to the project. Standard reporting unit in NIH and Horizon Europe budgets.
PI (Principal Investigator): Researcher who leads a grant. The PI holds scientific responsibility and is the institutional point of contact. Some funders use 'Lead CI' (ARC) or 'Coordinator' (ANR, Horizon).
PIC (Participant Identification Code): Unique identifier assigned to organisations registered on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. Required to submit a Horizon Europe proposal. Most universities already have a PIC.
Post-award Management: Administrative phase after a grant is awarded — financial reporting, milestone tracking, no-cost extensions, change requests. Distinct from pre-award (proposal preparation).
Preliminary Data: Pilot results showing the proposed approach is feasible. Required by most funders for credibility. NIH, DFG, FCT, NWO all weigh preliminary data heavily.
Programme Officer (PO): Funder staff member responsible for a specific funding line or scientific area. Often the best resource for clarifying eligibility or scope before submission.
Rebuttal / Rejoinder: Written response to reviewers' comments before final decision. Allowed in some schemes (FCT IC&DT, ARC Discovery Projects, NWO Talent). Carefully crafted rebuttals can move scores.
Resubmission (A1): Modified version of a previously declined proposal. NIH allows one A1 within 37 months. Most agencies require explicit response to previous reviewers' concerns.
ROPE (Research Opportunity and Performance Evidence): Australian ARC term for the structured CV section of an application. Lists up to 10 best outputs explained in context.
Sachbeihilfe: German DFG Individual Research Grants programme. Year-round submission, ~35% success rate, no formal budget cap. The most flexible bottom-up funding line in Germany.
Study Section: NIH peer-review panel for a specific scientific area. Composed of ~20 reviewers, meets 3 times per year. Each proposal is assigned to one study section.
Subaward: Portion of a grant passed to a partner institution, often a foreign component or a specialist provider. Subawardee performs a defined scope and reports separately.
TRL (Technology Readiness Level): Scale 1–9 measuring research maturity, from basic principles (TRL 1–3) to deployed system (TRL 9). Horizon Europe topics specify the expected TRL range.
UEI (Unique Entity Identifier): 12-character identifier assigned to organisations in SAM.gov. Required for any institution receiving US federal funding (replaced DUNS in 2022).

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