Engage in Collaborative Research With Personalized Advice

Rules and expectations differ from one grant to another, thus making each submission a huge investment in time and effort. Experienced professionals provide consultancy and support to guide R&D labs through the process and increase their chances of success. This is the case for Angela Baker. Scientist met her and asked her for some insights.

Briefly, who are you and what is your background?

Angela Baker, Founder and Managing Director of ANGELZE originally from the UK. I have been working in the field of research funding for over 18 years holding various positions both within prestigious research institutes as well in management consulting. Before setting up ANGELZE in 2016, I was Director of European Affairs at Inserm Transfert, Senior Consultant at Inra Transfert, ePortfolio Manager for the European Institute of eLearning and previous to that Consultant at ARTTIC Management Consulting so I have experienced R&D projects from a variety of angles!

Can you present your company: its history, its activities, its missions, …

ANGELZE was created in 2016 with the objective of offering researchers from both the public and private domains a range of professional support services to help them get their research priorities and projects off the ground! In the past year, we have supported 9 consortia in responding to National (France, UK) and European calls in the field of life sciences and we are already managing one of the projects that we successfully set up!

Our aim is to stay small and flexible to be able to provide a truly personalized service to our clients and form long-term partnerships, as taking research from idea to market or implementation requires time and strategic planning. Success rates of individual calls are such (11.6% for H2020 so far) that it is essential to have a long-term vision, funding strategy and accompanying roadmap so as to keep focus and ensure research priorities get funded.

Concretely, what do you offer?

ANGELZE offers 3 core services:

• Identifying the most appropriate funding strategy and funding source for a research priority or project idea;
• Developing, co-writing and submitting a project proposal for National, European and International calls;
• Managing a funded research project and supporting exploitation of project results (dissemination, sustainability planning…).

We also provide additional services to support all aspects of R&D funding and dissemination notably scientific translation, journal development and publication support through a strategic partnership with a UK team. Furthermore, we have an in-house expert economist and statistician to carry out market studies and data analyzes to support the exploitation of project data and results.

To which field of research does it apply? What kind of researchers may be interested in your services?

Our main fields of expertise are the life sciences (notably human and animal health, nutrition, agriculture, environment, bio and nanotechnologies), energy and information technologies. We can support R&D right through from fundamental research to applied research and market application.

All researchers who need funding to get their project off the ground can call on our services! We have experience in a wide range of funding instruments at National, EU and International level notably Horizon 2020 (including JPI, ERANET calls), Innovative Medicines Initiative, UK and French national funding programs, Foundations calls.

What is your main advantage?

Our main advantage is our knowledge of the scientific domains in which we operate, both in terms of the state-of-the-art and key actors, supported by a strong methodological approach to developing a project proposal which has been tried and tested over the years.

Having gained experience both in the consulting world and directly within large research organizations enables us to better understand the expectations and constraints of all consortium members whether they are from the public or private domains and to adopt the most appropriate tools and channels for supporting them. Having native English staff with the ability to understand science and scientists as well as provide a 360° view of the science in question is also a key asset.

What kind of relation do you have with your customers?

We see our clients above all as “partners”, as our objective is to form long-standing relationships with all our clientele. We work “hand-in-hand” and “face-to-face” with the project coordinator wherever their location to ensure that the project is always ‘ their project ’ and not consultant-driven as can be the case when project development or management is outsourced. This close collaboration also develops great mutual trust which is essential as our role is also to identify and clearly communicate the project weaknesses and threats in order to drive them to success.

Clients also appreciate our pedagogical approach and they learn a great deal when working with us. We don’t keep our skills and experience to ourselves but share our know-how with our clients and partners. For those who do not have a budget for proposal set-up or management, we can put in place a training contract and coach their staff to spread their own wings!

What is the advice you often give to your customers?

One piece of advice I give systematically to clients when developing a project proposal is to dedicate sufficient time and energy to defining and validating the overall project goal and concept, in particular, the innovative aspects of their proposed project and approach. Many researchers get rapidly bogged down in implementation details (who will do what, when etc) and lose the big picture which provides firm foundations for the whole proposal development phase.

We systematically use a logical framework approach to project development which ensures the coherence and consistency of every aspect of the project with regard to the overall concept and goal. This not only makes the proposal much easier to read for an evaluator but above all more convincing and coherent thus significantly increasing its chances of success.

We have recently published 5 key tips for project coordinators setting up a proposal that you can find at www.angelze.com.

What is the main challenge the European research will face in the next few year?

Over the last 18 years, I have seen European research move from being the 16th European funding program (back in a Europe of 15) to becoming closer to being a co-funder (and thus partner) of 28 national strategically-aligned research programs. This is reflected through the share of the R&D budget being allocated to joint programming initiatives and projects (e.g. JP Cofunds, JPIs, Eranet CoFunds, Article 183…) or calls for ‘mega’ projects capitalizing on previous EU R&D project outcomes. The advantages are clear: fewer overlaps in national funding programs across Europe’s 28 due to increased alignment and pooled funds, increased funds for certain national priorities …

However closer cooperation between national funders and the EC funding programs brings its own challenges notably that of shared governance (national priorities over EU priorities) as well as bringing a certain complexity due to the proliferation of funding instruments for research actors, despite a definite simplification in rules and processes.

The challenge for researchers is, therefore, to be able to navigate amongst these initiatives and to find the right source of funding for their project whether it be in fundamental or applied research.

While European research is still trying to structure and organize itself in the most efficient manner both across the 28 and within the EC, Japan, China and the US are still ahead of us in terms of innovation. The challenge, therefore, remains of how to best translate the diversity, complexity and richness of Europe’s research into world-leading innovative, sustainable products and services. Maybe FP9 will provide the answer!

A last word?

The earlier you call on us the better. It is essential that we are involved in the very early stages of project set-up so as to ensure that the project idea truly corresponds to the call targeted. Collaborative research is a wonderful adventure and there is so much to be gained not just at a scientific level but also from a human and personal perspective.

Yes, it is a risky adventure as competition is high but the investment always pays off over time.