Basics of Writing a Funding Proposal

Funding opportunities in Engineering Field

Funding

• Funding in engineering has become important in Educational Institutions especially Government and aided colleges as well as reputed private Institutions.
• Research plays a major role in engineering to develop some new innovative products through which value can be added to the departments also to the institution.

Research Proposal and its importance

• A research Proposal is a document that outlines how you prepare to undertake your research studies. It can serve as document of contract for the project.
• Research Proposal can able to give an overview of the research project so that other people understand the scope of research, the significance of research, as well as your proposed methodology and chosen method.

 Advantages of Research Proposal:

• Fund to support your Research.
• Allow you to review and critically evaluate your current research current research program.
• Keep you focused on your research program.
• Develop novel ideas during writing proposal.

Government- Funded Research

• Many governments of developed countries provide considerable funds for scientific research as well as social science research.
• Much of this is not intended to provide concrete results that may be commercializable, although research in scientific fields may lead to results that have such potential.

Eligibility for Grant

• Individual
• Permanent faculty with PhD
• Profile of the researcher
• Working in PG and research department
• Institutional
• University/college
• Public funded institutions

Different Funding Agencies in India

All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE):

Name of schemes:

• Research and Institutional Development Schemes Modernization and Removal of Obsolescence Scheme (MODROBS)
• Research Promotion Schemes (RPS)
• Industry-Institute Interaction Schemes Industry Institute Partnership Cell (IIPC) Entrepreneurship Development Cells (EDC)
• National Facilities in Engineering and Technology with Industrial Collaboration (NAFET)

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)

 Name of scheme:

• Research Schemes, Sponsored Schemes, Emeritus Scientist Scheme.
• Research Fellowships/Associateships.
• Other Science and Technology Promotion Programmes

Department of Science and Technology (DST):

 Name of scheme(s):

• Deep Continental Studies (DCS) ·
• Himalayan Glaciology (HG) ·
• Indian Climate Research Programme (ICRP) ·
• Instrument Development Programme (IDP) ·
• International S&T Cooperation (ISTC) ·
• Joint Technology Projects under STAC/IS-STAC

DRDO:

       SCHEMES:

• Seminar Grant
• Conference Grant
• Research Grant

University Grants Commission

• Major research projects
• The UGC will provide support to permanent teachers in the universities and Colleges (U/S 2(f) and 12 B)
• Period of the project – 2/3 years
• Major Research Project in Sciences – Rs. 20.00 lakhs.
• Major Research Project in Social Science – Rs. 15.00 lakhs.

Minor Research Project for College Teachers

• One year can avail only one project/scheme of the UGC at any given time

• Permanent teacher in Govt. or Private (U/ S 2(f) and 12 B)

• Minor Research Project in Sciences including Engineering and Technology, Medical, Pharmacy Agriculture etc. – Rs. 5.00 lakhs.

• Minor Research Project in Humanities, Social Science, Languages, Literature, Arts, Law and allied disciplines – Rs. 3.00 lakhs.

• Apply to Regional office of UGC

Emeritus Fellowship

• Target Group

Highly qualified and experienced, superannuated teachers of recognized universities/ colleges/institutions.

• Nature of Assistance

 Honorarium of Rs. 31,00/- p.m. for two years (non-extendable)

 Contingency grant (non-lapsable) of Rs. 50,000/- p.a

How to write Proposals?

Contents of Proposal:

The Thesis/Project Proposal should include the following headings: Title, Background, Objectives, Methodologies, Deliverables, Timeline, and References cited.

1. Title: Project Title, student name, institutional affiliation.

2. Background and Significance: Provide an introduction and detailed description of the current state of the topic with appropriate references. The result of your literature review should be presented in this section. Specifically, previously published relevant research, needs for the intended project and its contribution to the field of mechanical engineering should be clearly identified and summarized. Check with Committee Chair on the minimum number of required references cited  since it varies by focus area. Typically minimum 10 references from peer-reviewed journal papers satisfies the minimum requirement.

3. Objectives: Provide clear and specific objectives towards advancing the state of the topic. The objectives should be achievable during the two semester duration of your thesis or project.

4. Methodology: Provide a detailed description of how the stated objectives of the thesis or project will be achieved. Include a detailed outline of methods used in your analysis and validation. This section of the proposal is very important and should provide a complete picture of how the intended work will be accomplished.

5. Deliverables: A list of tangible items you will provide such as a software with documentation, a new theory with complete justification, a piece of hardware to demonstrate or prove a concept, or a set of data figures to report the result of experimental study.

6. Timeline: provide a schedule for delivery of the study such as start date, research activities, fabrication of hardware, semester report submission, and semester presentation.

7. References: Using a professional citation format (e.g., ASME, IEEE, MLA), provide the reference list that supports the research background on the topic.

Sample Project Proposal:

Title: Reducing throughput time of production in manufacturing in a factory

Research background:

• In manufacturing system, there are many variables which are not deterministic in nature. So, the solution of the manufacturing system can be obtained using simulation modeling of the environment of concern. 
• Simulation in manufacturing systems aims to model the manufacturing system using a computer language mainly to estimate the operational performance measures and analyze them for better return for profit or to minimize the cost of operation of the system.
• It has been observed from literature survey that the simulation as the second most popular management science tool for manufacturing managers. However, its use has been limited due to the complexity of some software packages, and the lack of preparedness of users in the area of probability and statistics. This kind of methods is quite flexible to find out the capital investment in equipment and design physical facilities like factory plants, warehouses and distribution centers. Simulation is the technique used to predict the performance of an existing system and to compare alternative solutions for a particular design problem.

Objectives of Research:

• The primary objective of simulation is to understand the mechanism of production system and include all possible realistic assumptions in terms of probabilistic nature of the events that happen in the operation of the manufacturing system.
• The following are the various performance measures of manufacturing system that are estimated using the simulation tool.
  • Number of parts produced per unit time.
  • Cycle time of production of each part.
  • Cycle time of production of each product.
  • Average waiting time of the parts in different stages of production.
  • Percentage utilization of machines.

Application of Proposal

• In the case of a manufacturing system, many of the variables may follow some probability distributions. On such situation, based on past data, a fitting probability distribution is to be identified for each of the variables, viz. processing time of each component in each machine, the inter arrival times of orders arriving the factory and in turn the production facilities, tool life, operators consistency indices while performing operations, extent of adherence of vendors to supply raw materials as per stipulated due dates, etc.
• Then a suitable working simulation logic, which will be a complex multi-server model with multiple queues by taking all the parameters and variables into account, is to be developed. Later, a well-structured design of experiment is to be designed to conduct the experiments to obtain the estimates of the assumed performance measures of the system. In the design of experiment, several factors will be considered with suitable number of treatments.

Relevance of Research:

Literature survey:

• Arvind Jayant [1] Simulation is an imitation of a real system dynamics. Manufacturing systems working scenarios, whether prelaunch or post-launch of a product are dynamic in nature and highly interdependent on each other. Modeling and Simulation can be used as tools to fix various “what-if” scenarios in manufacturing area at any stage of working. The case study presented in this research is of agriculture equipment’s manufacturing unit, namely GahirzAgro Industries of Punjab, which is ready to start mass production of their rotavator range, after acceptance and approval of its prototype rotavator by Govt. of India. Using modeling and simulation as a tool, predicted production network working is simulated for 30 days run of plant and resulting outcomes are explored in case of pre- production scenario of the factory. Tool used for modeling and simulation is ARENA 15.1
• Anupchaple [2] In today’s scenario principles and practices of Lean manufacturing are widely used by industries to eliminate waste and make the process more efficient. Lean has been recognized as one of the key approaches in enhancing the productivity and hence the competitiveness of an organization. This paper presents a review of lean principles and practices in the Indian manufacturing industries.
• Saurabh Vaidya [3] Manufacturing industries are changing from mass production to customized production .The rapid advancements in technology increases productivity of an organization. In this paper, authors have focused on Industry 4.0 and its impact in conventional system. The Industry 4.0 includes IOT, Smart manufacturing, big data, which are the platforms that are integrated in single phase. The Industry 4.0 involves continuous process improvement and avoids waste.
• V.Ramesh [4] The author discusses the simulation study carried out for proposing one-piece lean line layout with the features of Lean Manufacturing. The lean initiatives that can be addressed are, introducing Kanban replenishment system, better work-in-process, changing the layout, visual management techniques, standardized work for the reduction of cycle time, number of workers and number of setups. To improve the layout in a pump manufacturing industry, VISIO 2007 and Pro Model-Process Simulator Software are used. Pro Model simulation modeling software is a powerful yet easy-to-use simulation tools for modeling all types of systems and processes. The Pro Model software is designed to model manufacturing systems ranging from small job shops and machining cells to large mass production, flexible manufacturing systems, and supply chain systems. The study has discussed the lacuna in the existing flow line and has suggested a new one-piece lean line design using the simulation software. The validation is carried out by creating the wooden prototypes representing the cells and involving the workers to do the assembly of the pump. Standard time study charts are used to calculate the cycle time and change over time.

Thus the literature review is collected based on national and international level. From observations, it is clear that different philosophers contributed their knowledge in solving simulation model for production systems. Hence, an attempt is planned to develop production model using simulation software applications. In this research proposal, simulation tool preferred is ANYLOGIC

CURRENT APPLICATION IF ANY:

• Many manufacturing companies are going for simulation in today’s competitive work culture. Simulation used in various manufacturing areas like layout design, FMS, analysis of bottleneck station, parts moving in queue, customers waiting in queue for cash withdrawal in bank, etc. are some of the real life applications. In this project proposal, mass production system in manufacturing is considered for improvement by applying simulation application using ANYLOGIC software.

Proposed application and details of implementation

• In the proposed idea, mass production system can be modeled as virtual prototype using standard simulation packages. The modeled mass production system can be tested by analyzing the behavior in terms of performance such as production efficiency, quality rate and overall machine utilization within the shop floor.  Based on the simulation results, we can propose feasible solution for implementation in the later stage.  So, simulation stands as a benchmark for real life problems.

Expected outcome of the proposal:

The following are the some common measures of benefits using simulation tool:

• Reduced throughput time of production for each product manufactured in a factory
• Streamlined flow of production
• Minimum safety stock in inventory
• Reduced errors in production

Details of facilities required:

• Software type: Process simulation
• Software name: ANY LOGIC
• Version: 8.5.2

Budget:

S.no	List of items	Amount (Rs.)
1.	Travel grants to attend seminar/workshop relevant to current domain of proposal	60,000/- First year – 20,000/- Second year – 20,000/- Third year – 20,000/-
2.	Procurement of materials (software/hardware)	3,90,150/- (Reference: Max soft India Pvt Ltd) Software name : ANYLOGIC 3D Simulation
3.	Organizing workshops/seminars	50,000/-
	Total	5,00,150/-

CONCLUSION

• This is how individual has to write the proposals for obtaining funding for Research.
• Objectives of the problem and assumptions must be defined clearly with well stated measures.
• Review of literature is studied based on the past references in order to find out the suitability of research in the specific area.
• Purpose of funding is to have enrichment in research and other facilities in the academic institution.