The suggestions and stories contained in this book were gleaned from in-depth interviews and literature searches over a ten-month period. The author's aim was to discover people's experiences and opinions about research funding and discover the tacit rules of the game.

The ability to produce valid research has never been more crucial to the academic community, but how do you go about getting the funding for such projects? How do you identify which funding organisations are likely to be sympathetic to your needs, and convince them that they will benefit from funding you? Abby Day Peters guides you step by step through the process of focusing your research and identifying your funding partner to provide the very best chance of success. But, perhaps more importantly, she also goes on to explain how to build and maintain a relationship with the partner, thereby assisting future research. In addition, the book gives advice on writing and successful publication following completion of the research project. The text is extremely lively, with many insights from both sides of the funding process, and features real-life case studies and interviews throughout.

Your Research Focus: Why do we need funded research?
Why look for research funding?
Research issues
Outcomes and outputs
What is good research?
The value of research
Teams and networks. Identifying your Research Partner: The benefits of research partnerships
Primary funders
Working with the corporate sector. Building the Research Partnership: Assessing partner needs
Managing your personal profile
Writing proposals
Presentations
A word from your sponsors
How proposals are assessed and chosen. Maintaining the Research Partnership: Managing the research partnership
Monitoring and evaluation
Research and quality management
Writing better, writing faster
Publication planning.