External Peer Review of Proposals

Peer review is the cornerstone of most sponsors’ process for selecting funding proposals, and an early peer review can be extremely valuable in creating strong research strategies in your grant proposal. In addition to the overarching proposal critique provided by Research Development Services (RDS), the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation offers support for an external review by a peer in a researcher’s field to identify potential weaknesses in the project’s research strategy and/or methodology.

RDS can coordinate with a reviewer you have already identified for this work, including reaching out to this person on your behalf. In some instances, RDS may be able to support reviewer identification using sponsor award databases (e.g., NIH Matchmaker). RDS typically provides $300 toward honoraria that are matched by faculty to provide $600 in total to the external reviewer. These amounts may vary based on the selected reviewer and the applicant’s needs. Reviewers must be external to UO or emeritus faculty.

CAS and OVPRI Collaboration: Matching honoraria funds for faculty in the humanities and humanistic social sciences are provided by the College of Arts and Sciences and the OVPRI to help encourage humanities proposals of the highest caliber. Note that Warren Ginsberg, Professor Emeritus of English, has extensive experience reviewing humanities proposals and works frequently with RDS to support proposals to the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, and other humanities funders. He is available to review relevant proposals through this program.

Eligibility: This non-competitive program is available to faculty at all career stages. Priority is given to early-career faculty submitting their first major external grant(s); mid-career faculty applying for fellowships (particularly for sabbatical), and; senior faculty submitting an application for a major center or other large institutional grants. We typically will provide funds for one external review per faculty per academic year, although if multiple types of proposals are being developed, we can provide funds beyond that limit.

Program Overview: Support is provided for faculty to contract with an external reviewer to receive expert feedback on a new proposal, a resubmission, or, for multi-project or center grant proposals, to contract with several external reviewers to convene a "red team review." 

Process: Faculty should aim to submit the following form at least 6-8 weeks in advance of the application due date. Research Development Services will be in touch within 2-3 business days of submission to coordinate the contracting process.

Faculty should be prepared to undertake extensive revisions that incorporate the reviewer’s suggestions. They must also agree to meet deadlines set by Sponsored Project Services and the external funder.

Graphics and Visualization of Science

A picture is worth a thousand words in today’s funding environment where you must communicate complex ideas within tight page limitations. Research Development Services (RDS) offers assistance to Principal Investigators (PI) who seek visualization services that will enhance their proposals for external funding. Depending on the project, we can contract with local resources or with nationally known scientific illustrators and animators.

Generally, RDS funds one-half of the cost of consultation, and graphic design, animation, or illustration services for proposals that involve multiple investigators and have strategic significance to research at the University, or that involve an especially important opportunity for an individual PI.  Significant lead time is required for us to make the best use of resources.

PIs may also find this list of graphics visualization resources helpful when making their own figures. 

Please email Research Development Services to discuss your project needs.