Toolkit to improve pre-award processes to reduce inequality

Funding organisations are increasingly working to address inequalities in the grant life cycle. However, until recently, less attention has been paid to inequalities at the pre-award stage — which includes announcing opportunities and preparing, submitting and reviewing applications.

A 2022-23 project on this topic, led by the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute at the University of Bristol with support from MoreBrains Cooperative and the NIHR Bristol Biomedical Research Centre, resulted in 11 concrete recommendations for how funders and institutions could help improve equality, diversity, inclusion (EDI) and transparency in the process of applying for research funding. Subsequent work with the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) funder discussion groups identified three priority recommendations for funding organisations.

Toolkits have been developed as part of a follow-up University of Bristol-funded project focusing specifically on how funders can implement some of these recommendations. They reflect the findings of two virtual workshops, held in May 2024 with members of the DORA funder discussion groups and representatives from research management organisations. As well as identifying specific opportunities to improve EDI and transparency in pre-award workflows, the workshop attendees highlighted two general themes that they consider critical to success:

• Effective change management across all stakeholder groups (internal and external)
• Rigorous monitoring and evaluation of the changes being made

The toolkits are intended to provide practical tools for funding organisations that are seeking to improve EDI in their pre-award funding processes and include case studies and checklists to help plan your own interventions. Each toolkit focuses on one of the three priority recommendations:

1. Simplification of funding call structures: Checklist
2. Changes to application processes to reduce likelihood of bias in outcomes: Checklist
   plus case studies:
   Case study 1
   Case study 2
   Case study 3
3. Improvements in training for reviewers and evaluators: Checklist

These will be living toolkits that can be updated and added to as they are used. DORA encourage you to share your own experiences, case studies and resource recommendations with them, as well as sending them feedback about the toolkits. You can contact them at info@sfdora.org.

To view the resources visit the DORA – San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment community on zenodo.

Find out more about the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute work that went into developing the toolkits.