PROJECT PROPOSAL

1. Introduction

Assume the reader has very little knowledge of the subject.

Introduce the topic, the sector of business/industry concerned and how the project relates to it.  Define the context of the problem and identify the research required to solve it.

2. Project Background

Identify past and current work in the subject area.

Outline the key references to other people’s work, indicate for the most pertinent of these how your proposal relates to the ideas they contain.

3. Project Aims and Objectives

Identify the AIM(s) of the project, i.e. what the overall achievement is intended to be, in terms of both academic and commercial/industrial advances.

Identify the particular intellectual difficulties posed by the proposal, the problems to be addressed, and explain how these might be solved.

Clearly list individual measurable OBJECTIVES which can be related to the workplan and deliverables.

4. Research Programme

Detail the methodology to be used in the pursuit of the research.

Provide a stage by stage plan of the work for the project showing the activities to be undertaken, the milestones, i.e. the completion of related activities, and the deliverables, both academic and commercial/industrial that should arise from the work.  This is most clearly shown as a bar chart.

5. Deliverables

Provide a clear list of the outputs from the project.

6. Commercial/Industrial Collaboration

The proposal should explain what the sponsors/collaborators expect to put in as well as get out of the project and why they are interested.

7. Resources

Detail the equipment essential to the conduct of the programme.

References.

All references must conform to the Harvard format.

Project Plan.

The plan should address, in reasonable detail, the main areas of the project with appropriate timescales and suitable deliverables.

NOTE:

This proposal will normally not exceed 5 typed A4 pages of text plus
• Title page
• Reference list
• Project plan