Emiel van Miltenburg

Does anyone have experience with sharing their (successful) research proposals?

If so:
- How did you share your proposal?
- When did you share your proposal?

If you didn't:
- Why didn't you share your proposal?

Would be nice to do this as a form of preregistration: publicly stating the goal of your project and the proposed research methods. Could also time-stamp & schedule it to be made public upon completion of the project.

Dec 22, 2022 at 10:52amWeb
Show threadEmiel van MiltenburgDec 22, 2022

I really liked it when @DrVeronikaCH shared their rejected research proposal: https://journal.trialanderror.org/pub/crowddetective/release/4

But this is probably too much to ask for many people.

CrowdDetective: Wisdom of the Crowds for Detecting Abnormalities in Medical Scans

Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research - Veni scheme application 2018

Journal of Trial & Error
Show threadVeronika CheplyginaDec 22, 2022
@evanmiltenburg thank you! I've thought of sharing mine more generally but the truth is I didn't around to it
Show threadVeronika CheplyginaDec 22, 2022
@evanmiltenburg I think from a supervised learning perspective, successful and non successful proposals are highly overlapping
Show threadVeronika CheplyginaDec 22, 2022
@evanmiltenburg from a sharing perspective, increasingly I mention more people, who I'd need to check with to share the document. I'm not sure I did that for the published one, but it was a discussion I had with the editor
Show threadEmiel van MiltenburgDec 22, 2022
@DrVeronikaCH yeah that makes sense. all applicants need to consent to publication
Show threadVeronika CheplyginaDec 22, 2022
@evanmiltenburg yes, in my published case they were not applicants, but people I worked with who had some expectations of me. I don't think I asked them for that publication, but I think it was fair
Show threadDjaméDec 22, 2022
@evanmiltenburg @DrVeronikaCH@dair- community.social frankly, I would strongly advise against doing so. I've seen cases when reviewers themselves took inspiration on the proposal they reviewed. Ideas and plans are not cheap to come up with.
Show threadEmiel van MiltenburgDec 22, 2022
@Zehavoc right, but would be cool to see the original proposal once the project has been completed, maybe including a reflection on what worked and what didn't.
Show threadMark DingemanseDec 22, 2022
@evanmiltenburg I am usually happy to share mine on (personal) request
Show threadEmiel van MiltenburgDec 22, 2022
@dingemansemark That's great to know, but why not make them fully public? (Or public once the project has been completed.)
Show threadMark DingemanseDec 22, 2022

@evanmiltenburg tricky... sharing publicly in early stages of the project feels like scooping the project, and these things get dated after a while (e.g. my Veni and Vidi predate the narrative CV, now evidence-based CV, at NWO)

I may share the completed Veni proposal though, you have got me thinking about this

Show threadDamian TrillingDec 22, 2022
@dingemansemark @evanmiltenburg When people ask me on a personal level, I share proposals. But uploading it somewhere.... I'd be careful b/c of it getting outdated like Mark said, and b/c projects *never* are done exactly as proposed (because the world and science move on), and I do think there are (few, but one can be enough!) bad-faith actors out there that may hunt you with some "Gotcha! Look at these frauds, they didn't do what they promise!!!!" shitstorm.Little to win but much to loose...
Show threadEmiel van MiltenburgDec 22, 2022

@damiantrilling @dingemansemark If no one ends up doing what they thought they would do, then that's interesting and worthy of reflection!

I (naively?) think that these worries about critics just mean that proposals may need to be shared (or integrated) with some accompanying text to explain the choices that were made.

If you can anticipate this criticism, that also means you can prepare for it.

Show threadDamian TrillingDec 22, 2022
@evanmiltenburg @dingemansemark I agree - but then again, it essentially requires extra work, an extra liability, and nothing to win for the individual. I'm willing to go quite far for the 'common good' - but here, I think the incentives are just too skewed. We already have to worry about so much things that are not research itself (just compare research 10 years ago: expectations now include ethics approval, preregistration,... - good measures by itself, but one also still needs ...1/2
Show threadDamian TrillingDec 22, 2022
@evanmiltenburg @dingemansemark ... to have the time and headspace for the reseach itself, and having to worry about such a 'justification note' (plus the scooping part that has also been mentioned), it at one point just is too much 'non-primary-process' stuff that one does... So I am sympathetic to sharing proposals (a lot, actually!) but would probably not do it on a public platform... 2/2
Show threadMark DingemanseDec 22, 2022

@damiantrilling @evanmiltenburg

Yeah I think on balance I feel pretty much the same.

In response to Emiel's point that it's 'worthy of reflection' if you end up doing something different, I absolutely agree — it's why I wrote about the importance of serendipity in my final Veni report (blog: https://ideophone.org/the-role-of-serendipity-in-shaping-fundamental-research/)

The role of serendipity in shaping fundamental research | The Ideophone

Show threadEmiel van MiltenburgDec 22, 2022
@dingemansemark Would be nice to see the proposal + post-hoc assessment about how you've grown during the project and maybe changed your plans based on experience or new developments.
Show threadGrzegorz ChrupałaDec 22, 2022
@evanmiltenburg People rarely share their proposals, at least publicly.
I suspect the main reason is that we write proposals to show that we're competent enough to get funding but rarely end up carrying out the work described in them precisely. In practice, there is usually only a tenuous relation between the content of the proposal, and the outcome of the project.
Show threadTatjana SchefflerDec 22, 2022
@gchrupala @evanmiltenburg I suspect proposals are not shared publicly while the project is still underway bc the work is not yet done (and there is a fear someone else might do it or might gain an unfair advantage from unrealized ideas). I share my proposals quite freely with collaborators and students, but wouldn't put them online before completion for this reason.
Show threadTatjana SchefflerDec 22, 2022
@gchrupala @evanmiltenburg After completion of the project, it might be nice to put this somewhere, I wonder why it isn't done more frequently. Maybe because the project plan has been long superceded by actual publications by then (which are much better written and also more interesting content-wise, if not for educational reasons).
Show threadTatjana SchefflerDec 22, 2022
@gchrupala @evanmiltenburg At least the financial part of a proposal is however often confidential in the contexts I've worked in, as it contains money flows and might contain persons' names (and how much they made).
Show threadEmiel van MiltenburgDec 22, 2022
@tschfflr @gchrupala right that part may need to remain private
Show threadMichael PiotrowskiDec 22, 2022
@tschfflr @gchrupala The science part may also mention names and subprojects designed for specific persons.
Show threadArnold Lubbers (he/him/his)Dec 22, 2022

@evanmiltenburg

Perhaps this is also of interest: https://www.nwo.nl/en/news/open-science-fund-project-proposals-published-today

@HLdeJonge, @mariacruz

Open Science Fund project proposals published today | NWO

In 2021, NWO awarded funding to 26 projects to boost open science practices. Where we have the project leaders’ consent, we are publishing the proposals that were assessed in the first round of the Open Science Fund, including the assessment by the selection committee.

NWO
Show threadMaria CruzDec 22, 2022

@arnoldlubbers @evanmiltenburg @HLdeJonge

Hi Emiel, some people just publish the proposal on Zenodo (e.g. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6026285) or RIO journal (e.g https://riojournal.com/browse_journal_articles_by_author?user_id=24864)

Integration of interactive research environments to data repositories to facilitate FAIR data management practices: JupyterFAIR

Many researchers use virtual research environments, such as JupyterLab, where substantial data produced during the whole research lifecycle. However, data publishing and sharing typically happen only at the end of the research and shared data often lack important metadata, mainly due to the need of manual inputs. This project aims to develop and operationalize a tool (JupyterFAIR) for 'one-click' and seamless integration of research environments and data repositories, including metadata transfer and data quality checks. The tool will significantly decrease manual intervention needed to archive research data and promote more frequent data sharing in line with FAIR principles.

Zenodo
Show threadHans de JongeDec 22, 2022
@mariacruz @arnoldlubbers @evanmiltenburg and yet other people share their grants on Open Grants www.op grants.org.
Show threadRené BekkersDec 22, 2022
@HLdeJonge @mariacruz @arnoldlubbers @evanmiltenburg yes, see https://renebekkers.wordpress.com/global-giving/
Global Giving

Rene Bekkers
Show threadAnne CarpenterDec 22, 2022
@evanmiltenburg Many folks have shared proposals at ogrants.org
Show threadLauren GawneDec 22, 2022

@evanmiltenburg I do for language documentation projects, as part of archiving the data from a project: https://researchdata.edu.au/suy1-administration-documentation-administration-documents/1540854

I've also shared other grant applications publically, but only when I've exhausted the possibility of replying to the same scheme: https://figshare.com/articles/online_resource/Lauren_Gawne_DECRA_application_DE19/7390460

SUY1-administration - Documentation administration documents

These documents relate to the Endangered Language Documentation Project (ELDP) grant that funded the documentation from 2015-2017. | SUY1-administration-annualreview1, the first year annual review document. | SUY1-administration-annualreview2, the second year (final) annual review document | SUY1-administration-application, the original application form. Language as given:

Research Data Australia