The Office of Research Development (ORD) works with faculty across the university on finding research and training funding, on crafting compelling narratives, and on advancing Tufts' capacity for research and scholarship in line with school, university, and federal priorities. The ORD provides expertise in federal funding narrative support and collaborates regularly with Corporate and Foundation Relations to meet the diverse grantsmanship needs of Tufts’ investigators.

The ORD offers the following services for the advancement of research at Tufts University:

• Finding Funding
  • Funding strategy guidance in partnership with the Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations
  • Targeted funding searches and alignment of funding strategies with school, university, and federal priorities
  • Workshops on strategies for finding funding opportunities

• Grantsmanship Resources
  • Collaboration on team science initiatives and large multi-investigator proposals such as institutional training grants, center grants, and infrastructure- and capacity-building grants
  • Consultation and development of individual investigator grants
  • Consultation on developing ideas for a proposal
  • Copyediting of grant proposals, including for English as a Second Language (ESL) speakers
  • Grantsmanship review and editing of major narrative elements (e.g., Project Summary/Specific Aims, Project Description/Research Strategy, and equivalent sections) for individual and multi-investigator proposals
  • New faculty support for those new to applying for funding, or those applying to new funding agencies
  • Grant Checklists, Outlines, Tips and Templates for faculty, postdocs, and graduate students; development of customized templates and other tools to assist in proposal preparation
  • Proposal revision for resubmission (deconstructing and responding to reviewer comments).

• Workshops for Tufts researchers on topics ranging from grantsmanship, writing, and developing effective proposals, to strategies for finding funding opportunities

Please contact us for ORD support as soon as possible in advance of the sponsor’s deadline to ensure that you get the support you need for a strong and competitive proposal. As the proposal submission date approaches, the amount of assistance ORD can provide decreases based on our involvement with other projects, particularly around standard federal deadlines. If we have capacity, we are happy work with you and can tailor our support based on your priorities and our availability. We encourage you to reach out early even if you are not completely certain you will apply for a specific opportunity - should you choose not to submit, we will gladly support you toward a later deadline.  We must receive drafts to review before five business days of the submission due date (see Tufts University 5-Day Rule). After that, we cannot assist with any part of the proposal, with the exception of copyedits for documents that ORD staff have already reviewed.

For general requests, please email the ORD at researchdevelopment@tufts.edu.