(2000 words, excluding references)

Research Proposal

(2000 words, excluding references)

Title:

Research Summary (~200 words):

Here you should summarise the problem you are trying to address and how you intend to do this. It should include a brief introduction to the research area and an outline of your planned studies. It does not need all the technical detail, but should work as a standalone piece that clearly states the rationale and aims of your proposed research.

(The summary is used to decide on reviewers and also as a first sift. If your summary is confusing then it might be triaged at an early stage and never make it to review).

Lay summary (~100 words):

This section should explain to a lay audience (general public, e.g. a parent) what the research is you want to do and why its important. (In recent years, it has become increasingly important that we are open and transparent about research, and should be able to explain and account for our research to the general public as well as experts. Often grant funding bodies have a lay panel, who read and comment on applications during the review process, so it is important to make this understandable.

Project Aims and Objectives (~200 words)

In this section you should briefly outline the objectives of the study and/or the hypotheses that will be tested. This may be broken down into a number of objectives and/or hypotheses that will be tested.

Example 1: If you are making a mouse/tool for example, you might not be testing a specific hypotheses (that would come in the future once the mouse has been made) but you will want to explain how you plan genetically alter the mouse and how you will validate that the genetic manipulation is successful (e.g. if you knock out a gene, how do you verify it isnt expressed. If you introduce a channel rhodopsin (optogenetics) how do you verify it is expressed in the right cells and works. These might be outlined as objectives to make the tool, rather than a hypotheses

Example 2: If you are using tools that have already been developed but in a new context, e.g. testing whether your chosen mouse shows a depression-related phenotype, what tests will you use, what is your hypothesis

Study Background (~800 words)

This sections serves to contextualise the proposed research within the field and is key to showing the importance of your planned study. What is the big picture? what is the issue in the field that needs addressing? What research has already been done in the area? What is your research question adding to this and therefore what hole in the field are you addressing? What evidence is already there that makes your study feasible? Why does this work need to be done?. What is it going to tell us and how will that move the field forward?

(the bulk of your references will be in this section)

Experimental plan (~400 words)

Here you describe the experimental procedures in detail, so the reviewer understands what you are trying to do. You can use figures in this section to describe the planned work.

Ethical Considerations (~300 words)

What considerations need to be taken to conduct this research under the Animals (Scientific Procedures Act). What procedures will need to be regulated in this proposal, and what is the anticipated maximum severity of these procedures? How have you addressed the 3Rs in designing this experiment?

References (not in word count)

I would expect 10-15 references would be appropriate