The Research Whisperer

Just like the thesis whisperer – but with more money, how to make a simple research budget.

A napkin diagram of the basic concepts in a project: interviews in South East Asia and trails with a Thingatron

Every research project needs a budget*.

If you are applying for funding, you must say what you are planning to spend that funding on. More than that, you need to show how spending that money will help you to answer your research question .

So, developing the budget is the perfect time to plan your project clearly . A good budget shows the assessors that you have thought about your research in detail and, if it is done well, it can serve as a great, convincing overview of the project.

Here are five steps to create a simple budget for your research project.

1. List your activities

Make a list of everything that you plan to do in the project, and who is going to do it.

Take your methodology and turn it into a step-by-step plan. Have you said that you will interview 50 people? Write it on your list.

Are you performing statistical analysis on your sample?  Write it down.

Think through the implications of what you are going to do. Do you need to use a Thingatron? Note down that you will need to buy it, install it, and commission it.

What about travel? Write down each trip separately. Be specific. You can’t just go to ‘South East Asia’ to do fieldwork. You need to go to Kuala Lumpur to interview X number of people over Y weeks, then the same again for Singapore and Jakarta.

Your budget list might look like this:

  • I’m going to do 10 interviews in Kuala Lumpur; 10 interviews in Singapore; 10 interviews in Jakarta by me.
  • I’ll need teaching release for three months for fieldwork.
  • I’ll need Flights to KL, Singapore, Jakarta and back to Melbourne.
  • I’ll need Accommodation for a month in each place, plus per diem.
  • The transcription service will transcribe the 30 interviews.
  • I’ll analysis the transcribed results. (No teaching release required – I’ll do it in my meagre research time allowance.)
  • I’ll need a Thingatron X32C to do the trials.
  • Thing Inc will need to install the Thingatron. (I wonder how long that will take.)
  • The research assistant will do three trials a month with the Thingatron.
  • I’ll need to hire a research assistant (1 day per week for a year at Level B1.)
  • The research assistant will do the statistical analysis of the Thingatron results.
  • I’ll do the writing up in my research allowance time.

By the end, you should feel like you have thought through the entire project in detail. You should be able to walk someone else through the project, so grab a critical friend and read the list to them. If they ask questions, write down the answers.

This will help you to get to the level of specificity you need for the next step.

2. Check the rules again

You’ve already read the funding rules, right? If not, go and read them now – I’ll wait right here until you get back.

Once you’ve listed everything you want to do, go back and read the specific rules for budgets again. What is and isn’t allowed? The funding scheme won’t pay for equipment – you’ll need to fund your Thingatron from somewhere else. Cross it off.

Some schemes won’t fund people. Others won’t fund travel. It is important to know what you need for your project. It is just as important to know what you can include in the application that you are writing right now.

Most funding schemes won’t fund infrastructure (like building costs) and other things that aren’t directly related to the project. Some will, though. If they do, you should include overheads (i.e. the general costs that your organisation needs to keep running). This includes the cost of basics like power and lighting; desks and chairs; and cleaners and security staff. It also includes service areas like the university library. Ask your finance officer for help with this. Often, it is a percentage of the overall cost of the project.

If you are hiring people, don’t forget to use the right salary rate and include salary on-costs. These are the extra costs that an organisation has to pay for an employee, but that doesn’t appear in their pay check. This might include things like superannuation, leave loading, insurance, and payroll tax. Once again, your finance officer can help with this.

Your budget list might now look like this:

  • 10 interviews in Kuala Lumpur; 10 interviews in Singapore; 10 interviews in Jakarta by me.
  • Teaching release for three months for fieldwork.
  • Flights to KL, Singapore, Jakarta and back to Melbourne.
  • Accommodation for a month in each place, plus per diem, plus travel insurance (rule 3F).
  • Transcription of 30 interviews, by the transcription service.
  • Analysis of transcribed results, by me. No teaching release required.
  • Purchase and install Thingatron X32C, by Thing Inc . Not allowed by rule 3C . Organise access to Thingatron via partner organistion – this is an in-kind contribution to the project.
  • Three trials a month with Thingatron, by research assistant.
  • Statistical analysis of Thingatron results, by research assistant.
  • Research assistant: 1 day per week for a year at Level B1, plus 25.91% salary on-costs.
  • Overheads at 125% of total cash request, as per rule 3H.

3. Cost each item

For each item on your list, find a reasonable cost for it . Are you going to interview the fifty people and do the statistical analysis yourself? If so, do you need time release from teaching? How much time? What is your salary for that period of time, or how much will it cost to hire a replacement? Don’t forget any hidden costs, like salary on-costs.

If you aren’t going to do the work yourself, work out how long you need a research assistant for. Be realistic. Work out what level you want to employ them at, and find out how much that costs.

How much is your Thingatron going to cost? Sometimes, you can just look that stuff up on the web. Other times, you’ll need to ring a supplier, particularly if there are delivery and installation costs.

Jump on a travel website and find reasonable costs for travel to Kuala Lumpur and the other places. Find accommodation costs for the period that you are planning to stay, and work out living expenses. Your university, or your government, may have per diem rates for travel like this.

Make a note of where you got each of your estimates from. This will be handy later, when you write the budget justification.

  • 10 interviews in Kuala Lumpur; 10 interviews in Singapore; 10 interviews in Jakarta by me (see below for travel costs).
  • Teaching release for three months for fieldwork = $25,342 – advice from finance officer.
  • Flights to KL ($775), Singapore ($564), Jakarta ($726), Melbourne ($535) – Blue Sky airlines, return economy.
  • Accommodation for a month in each place (KL: $3,500; Sing: $4,245; Jak: $2,750 – long stay, three star accommodation as per TripAdviser).
  • Per diem for three months (60 days x $125 per day – University travel rules).
  • Travel insurance (rule 3F): $145 – University travel insurance calculator .
  • Transcription of 30 interviews, by the transcription service: 30 interviews x 60 minutes per interview x $2.75 per minute – Quote from transcription service, accented voices rate.
  • Analysis of transcribed results, by me. No teaching release required. (In-kind contribution of university worth $2,112 for one week of my time – advice from finance officer ).
  • Purchase and install Thingatron X32C, by Thing Inc . Not allowed by rule 3C. Organise access to Thingatron via partner organistion – this is an in-kind contribution to the project. ($2,435 in-kind – quote from partner organisation, at ‘favoured client’ rate.)
  • Research assistant: 1 day per week for a year at Level B1, plus 25.91% salary on-costs. $12,456 – advice from finance officer.

Things are getting messy, but the next step will tidy it up.

4. Put it in a spreadsheet

Some people work naturally in spreadsheets (like Excel). Others don’t. If you don’t like Excel, tough. You are going to be doing research budgets for the rest of your research life.

When you are working with budgets, a spreadsheet is the right tool for the job, so learn to use it! Learn enough to construct a simple budget – adding things up and multiplying things together will get you through most of it. Go and do a course if you have to.

For a start, your spreadsheet will multiply things like 7 days in Kuala Lumpur at $89.52 per day, and it will also add up all of your sub-totals for you.

If your budget doesn’t add up properly (because, for example, you constructed it as a table in Word), two things will happen. First, you will look foolish. Secondly, and more importantly, people will lose confidence in all your other numbers, too. If your total is wrong, they will start to question the validity of the rest of your budget. You don’t want that.

If you are shy of maths, then Excel is your friend. It will do most of the heavy lifting for you.

For this exercise, the trick is to put each number on a new line. Here is how it might look.

5. Justify it

Accompanying every budget is a budget justification. For each item in your budget, you need to answer two questions:

  • Why do you need this money?
  • Where did you get your figures from?

The budget justification links your budget to your project plan and back again. Everything item in your budget should be listed in your budget justification, so take the list from your budget and paste it into your budget justification.

For each item, give a short paragraph that says why you need it. Refer back to the project plan and expand on what is there. For example, if you have listed a research assistant in your application, this is a perfect opportunity to say what the research assistant will be doing.

Also, for each item, show where you got your figures from. For a research assistant, this might mean talking about the level of responsibility required, so people can understand why you chose the salary level. For a flight, it might be as easy as saying: “Blue Sky airlines economy return flight.”

Here is an example for just one aspect of the budget:

Fieldwork: Kuala Lumpur

Past experience has shown that one month allows enough time to refine and localise interview questions with research partners at University of Malaya, test interview instrument, recruit participants, conduct ten x one-hour interviews with field notes. In addition, the novel methodology will be presented at CONF2015, to be held in Malaysia in February 2015.

Melbourne – Kuala Lumpur economy airfare is based on current Blue Sky Airlines rates. Note that airfares have been kept to a minimum by travelling from country to country, rather than returning to Australia.

1 month accommodation is based on three star, long stay accommodation rates provided by TripAdvisor.

30 days per diem rate is based on standard university rates for South-East Asia.

Pro tip: Use the same nomenclature everywhere. If you list a Thingatron X32C in your budget, then call it a Thingatron X32C in your budget justification and project plan. In an ideal world, someone should be able to flip from the project plan, to the budget and to the budget justification and back again and always know exactly where they are.

  • Project plan: “Doing fieldwork in Malaysia? Whereabouts?” Flips to budget.
  • Budget: “A month in Kuala Lumpur – OK. Why a month?” Flips to budget justification.
  • Budget justification: “Ah, the field work happens at the same time as the conference. Now I get it. So, what are they presenting at the conference?” Flips back to the project description…

So, there you have it: Make a list; check the rules; cost everything; spreadsheet it; and then justify it. Budget done. Good job, team!

This article builds on several previous articles. I have shamelessly stolen from them.

  • Constructing your budget – Jonathan O’Donnell.
  • What makes a winning budget ? – Jonathan O’Donnell.
  • How NOT to pad your budget – Tseen Khoo.
  • Conquer the budget, conquer the project – Tseen Khoo.
  • Research on a shoestring – Emily Kothe.
  • How to make a simple Gantt chart – Jonathan O’Donnell.

* Actually, there are some grant schemes that give you a fixed amount of money, which I think is a really great idea . However, you will still need to work out what you are going to spend the money on, so you will still need a budget at some stage, even if you don’t need it for the application.

Also in the ‘simple grant’ series:

  • How to write a simple research methods section .
  • How to make a simple Gantt chart .

Share this:

28 comments.

This has saved my day!

Happy to help, Malba.

Like Liked by 1 person

[…] you be putting in a bid for funding? Are there costs involved, such as travel or equipment costs? Research Whisperer’s post on research budgets may help you […]

I’ve posted a link to this article of Jonathan’s in the Australasian Research Management Society LinkedIn group as well, as I’m sure lots of other people will want to share this.

Thanks, Miriam.

This is great! Humorous way to talk explain a serious subject and could be helpful in designing budgets for outreach grants, as well. Thanks!

Thanks, Jackie

If you are interested, I have another one on how to do a timeline: https://theresearchwhisperer.wordpress.com/2011/09/13/gantt-chart/

[…] really useful information regarding budget development can be found on the Research Whisperer Blog here. Any other thoughts and suggestions are welcome – what are your tips to developing a good […]

[…] it gets you to the level of specificity that you need for a detailed methods section. Similarly, working out a budget for your workshops will force you to be specific about how many people will be attending (venue […]

A friend of mine recently commented by e-mail:

I was interested in your blog “How to make a simple research budget”, particularly the statement: “Think through the implications of what you are going to do. Do you need to use a Thingatron? Note down that you will need to buy it, install it, and commission it.”

From my limited experience so far, I’d think you could add:

“Who else is nearby who might share the costs of the Thingatron? If it’s a big capital outlay, and you’re only going to use it to 34% of it’s capacity, sharing can make the new purchase much easier to justify. But how will this fit into your grant? And then it’s got to be maintained – the little old chap who used to just do all that odd mix of electrickery and persuasion to every machine in the lab got retrenched in the last round. You can run it into the ground. But that means you won’t have a reliable, stable Thingatron all ready to run when you apply for the follow-on grant in two years.”

[…] (For more on this process, take a look at How to Write a Simple Project Budget.) […]

[…] Source: How to make a simple research budget […]

This is such a big help! Thank You!

No worries, Claudine. Happy to help.

Would you like to share the link of the article which was wrote about funding rules? I can’t find it. Many thanks!

Hello there – do you mean this post? https://theresearchwhisperer.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/reading-guidelines

Thank @tseen khoo, very useful tips. I also want to understand more about 3C 3F 3H. What do they stand for? Can you help me find out which posts talk about that. Thank again.

[…] mount up rapidly, even if you are in a remote and developing part of the world. Putting together a half decent budget early on and being aware of funding opportunities can help to avoid financial disaster half way […]

This is so amazing, it really helpful and educative. Happy unread this last week before my proposal was drafted.

Happy to help, Babayomi. Glad you liked it.

really useful! thanks kate

[…] “How to Make a Simple Research Budget,” by Jonathan O’Donnell on The Research Whisperer […]

[…] offering services that ran pretty expensive. until I found this one. It guided me through making a simple budget. The information feels sort of like a university graduate research paper but having analysed […]

[…] Advice on writing research proposals for industry […]

[…] research serves as the bedrock of informed budgeting. Explore the average costs of accommodation, transportation, meals, and activities in your chosen […]

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  • About Grants
  • How to Apply - Application Guide
  • Write Application

Develop Your Budget

Cost considerations, budgets: getting started.

  • Allowable direct vs. allowable F&A costs
  • Modular vs. Detailed Budgets

Modular Budgets

  • Detailed Budget: Personnel (Sec A & B)
  • Detailed Budget: Equipment, Travel, and Trainee Costs (Sec C, D, and E)
  • Detailed Budget: Other Direct Costs (Sec F)

Consortiums/Subawards

Understanding the out years.

  • Other resources

As you begin to develop a budget for your research grant application and put all of the relevant costs down on paper, many questions may arise. Your best resources for answering these questions are the grants or sponsored programs office within your own institution, your departmental administrative officials, and your peers. They can answer questions such as:

  • What should be considered a direct cost or indirect cost?
  • What is the fringe benefit rate?
  • What is the graduate student stipend rate?
  • What Facilities and Administrative (F&A) costs rate should I use?

Below are some additional tips and reminders we have found to be helpful for preparing a research grant application, mainly geared towards the SF424 (R&R) application. (Note: these tips do not supersede the budget instructions found in the relevant application instruction guide found on the How to Apply - Application Guide page.  

An applicant's budget request is reviewed for compliance with the governing cost principles and other requirements and policies applicable to the type of recipient and the type of award. Any resulting award will include a budget that is consistent with these requirements. Information on the applicable cost principles and on allowable and unallowable costs under NIH grants is provided in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, Section 7.2 The Cost Principles Statement under Cost Considerations /grants/policy/nihgps/HTML5/section_7/7_cost_consideration.htm . In general, NIH grant awards provide for reimbursement of actual, allowable costs incurred and are subject to Federal cost principles /grants/policy/nihgps/HTML5/section_7/7.2_the_cost_principles.htm .

The cost principles address four tests that NIH follows in determining the allowability of costs. Costs charged to awards must be allowable, allocable, reasonable, necessary, and consistently applied regardless of the source of funds. NIH may disallow the costs if it determines, through audit or otherwise, that the costs do not meet the tests of allowability, allocability, reasonableness, necessity, and consistency.  

  • II.1 (Mechanism of Support),
  • II.2 (Funds Available),
  • III.2 (Cost Sharing or Matching), and
  • IV.5 (Funding Restrictions).
  • Identify all the costs that are necessary and reasonable to complete the work described in your proposal.
  • Throughout the budgeting process, round to whole dollars and use only U.S. dollars.
  • Reviewers look for reasonable costs and will judge whether your request is justified by your aims and methods.
  • Reviewers will consider the person months you've listed for each of the senior/key personnel and will judge whether the figures are in sync with reviewer expectations, based on the research proposed.
  • Significant over- or under-estimating suggests you may not understand the scope of the work. Despite popular myth, proposing a cost-sharing (matching) arrangement where you only request that NIH support some of the funding while your organization funds the remainder does not normally impact the evaluation of your proposal. Only a few select programs require cost-sharing, and these programs will address cost-sharing in the funding opportunity.

Direct Costs: Costs that can be identified specifically with a particular sponsored project, an instructional activity, or any other institutional activity, or that can be directly assigned to such activities relatively easily with a high degree of accuracy.

F&A Costs: Necessary costs incurred by a recipient for a common or joint purpose benefitting more than one cost objective, and not readily assignable to the cost objectives specifically benefitted, without effort disproportionate to the results achieved. To facilitate equitable distribution of indirect expenses to the cost objectives served, it may be necessary to establish a number of pools of F&A (indirect) costs. F&A (indirect) cost pools must be distributed to benefitted cost objectives on bases that will produce an equitable result in consideration of relative benefits derived.

  • The total costs requested in your budget will include allowable direct costs (related to the performance of the grant) plus allowable F&A costs. If awarded, each budget period of the Notice of Award will reflect direct costs, applicable F&A, and in the case of SBIR or STTR awards, a "profit" or fee .
  • For most institutions the negotiated F&A rate will use a modified total direct cost base, which excludes items such as: equipment, student tuition, research patient care costs, rent, and sub-recipient charges (after the first $25,000). Check with your sponsored programs office to find out your negotiated direct cost base.
  • When calculating whether your direct cost per year is $500,000 or greater, do not include any sub-recipient F&A in the base but do include all other direct costs as well as any equipment costs.   NOTE:  Direct cost requests equal to or greater than $500,000 require prior approval from the NIH Institute/Center before application submission.  For more information, see NIH Guide Notice NOT-OD-02-004 .
  • For many SBIR/STTR recipients, 40% of modified total direct costs is a common F&A rate, although rates at organizations may vary.

Modular versus Detailed Budgets

The NIH uses 2 different formats for budget submission depending on the total direct costs requested and the activity code used. 

The application forms package associated with most NIH funding opportunities includes two optional budget forms—(1) R&R Budget Form; and, (2) PHS 398 Modular Budget Form. NIH applications will include either the R&R Budget Form or the PHS 398 Modular Budget Form, but not both. To determine whether to use a detailed versus modular budget for your NIH application, see the flowchart below.

Detailed Modular Flowchart

NIH uses a modular budget format to request up to a total of $250,000 of direct costs per year (in modules of $25,000, excluding consortium F&A costs) for some applications, rather than requiring a full detailed budget. The modular budget format is NOT accepted for​​

  • ​SBIR and STTR grant applications,
  • applications from foreign (non-U.S.) institutions (must use detailed budget even when modular option is available), or
  • applications that propose the use of human fetal tissue (HFT) obtained from elective abortions (as defined in  NOT-OD-19-128  for HFT) whether or not costs are incurred.

Creating a modular budget

  • Select the PHS398 Modular Budget form for your submission package, and use the appropriate set of instructions from the electronic application user's guide. You do not need to submit the SF424 (R&R) Budget form if you submit the PHS398 Modular Budget form.
  • Consider creating a detailed budget for your own institution's use including salaries, equipment, supplies, graduate student tuition, etc. for every year of funds requested. While the NIH will not ask for these details, they are important for you to have on hand when calculating your F&A costs base and writing your justification, and for audit purposes.
  • In order to determine how many modules you should request, subtract any consortium F&A from the total direct costs, and then round to the nearest $25,000 increment.

A modular budget justification should include:

  • Personnel Justification: The Personnel Justification should include the name, role, and number of person-months devoted to this project for every person on the project. Do not include salary and fringe benefit rate in the justification, but keep in mind the legislatively mandated salary cap when calculating your budget. [When preparing a modular budget, you are instructed to use the current cap when determining the appropriate number of modules.] 
  • Consortium Justification: If you have a consortium/subcontract, include the total costs (direct costs plus F&A costs), rounded to the nearest $1,000, for each consortium/subcontract. Additionally, any personnel should include their roles and person months; if the consortium is foreign, that should be stated as well.
  • Additional Narrative Justification: Additional justification should include explanations for any variations in the number of modules requested annually. Also, this section should describe any direct costs that were excluded from the total direct costs (such as equipment, tuition remission) and any work being conducted off-site, especially if it involves a foreign study site or an off-site F&A rate.

​See the  NIH Modular Research Grant Applications  page and the  NIH Grants Policy Statement  for more information.   

Detailed Budget: Personnel (Sections A & B)

Personnel make up sections A and B of the SF424 (R&R) Budget form. All personnel from the applicant organization dedicating effort to the project should be listed on the personnel budget with their base salary and effort, even if they are not requesting salary support.

  • Effort : Effort must be reported in person months. For help converting percent effort to person months, see Usage of Person Months FAQs .  
  • Salary Caps: NIH will not pay requested salary above the annual salary cap, which can be found at Salary Cap Summary . If salary is requested above the salary cap, NIH will reduce that line item to the salary cap, resulting in a reduced total award amount. In future years, if the salary cap increases, recipients may rebudget to pay investigator salaries up to the new salary cap, but NIH will not increase the total award amount. If you are preparing a detailed budget, you are instructed to base your request on actual institutional base salaries (not the cap) so that NIH staff has the most current information in hand at the time of award and can apply the appropriate salary cap at that time.
  • Fringe Benefits: The fringe benefits rate is based on your institution's policy; the NIH does not have a pre-set limit on fringe benefits. More information on what is included as fringe benefits can be found in the Grants Policy Statement at /grants/policy/nihgps/HTML5/section_12/12.8.1_salaries_and_fringe_benefits.htm . If you have questions about what rate to use, consult your institution's sponsored programs office.  
  • Senior/Key Personnel: The Senior/Key Personnel section should include any senior or key personnel from the applicant organization who are dedicating effort to this project. "Other Significant Contributors" who dedicate negligible effort should not be included. Some common significant contributors include: 1) CEOs of companies who provide overall leadership, but no direct contribution to the research; and 2) mentors for K awardees, who provide advice and guidance to the candidate but do not work on the project. Likewise, any consultants or collaborators who are not employed by the applicant organization should not be included in section A, but rather should be included in section F.3 of the budget (for consultants) or in section A of the consortium/subaward budget page (for collaborators).  
  • Postdoctoral Associates: Postdocs can be listed in either section A or B depending on their level of involvement in project design and execution. If listed in section B, include the individuals' names and level of effort in the budget justification section.  
  • Other Personnel: Other personnel can be listed by project role. If multiple people share the same role such as "lab technician", indicate the number of personnel to the left of the role description, add their person months together, and add their requested salaries together. The salaries of secretarial/clerical staff should normally be treated as F&A costs. Direct charging of these costs may be appropriate where a major project or activity explicitly budgets for administrative or clerical services and individuals involved can be specifically identified with the project or activity [see Exhibit C of OMB Circular A-21 (relocated to 2 CFR, Part 220)]. Be specific in your budget justifications when describing other personnel's roles and responsibilities.

Detailed Budget: Equipment, Travel, and Trainee Costs (Sections C, D, and E)

  • Generally equipment is excluded from the F&A base, so if you have something with a short service life (< 1 year), even if it costs more than $5,000, you are better off including it under "supplies".
  • If you request equipment that is already available (listed in the Facilities & Other Resources section, for example), the narrative justification must explain why the current equipment is insufficient to accomplish the proposed research and how the new equipment's use will be allocated specifically to the proposed research. Otherwise, NIH may disallow this cost.
  • General purpose equipment, such as desktop computers and laptops, that will be used on multiple projects or for personal use should not be listed as a direct cost but should come out of the F&A costs, unless primarily or exclusively used in the actual conduct of the proposed scientific research.
  • While the application does not require you to have a price quote for new equipment, including price quotes in your budget justification can aid in the evaluation of the equipment cost to support the project.
  • Trainee Costs: Leave this section blank unless otherwise stated in the funding opportunity. Graduate student tuition remission can be entered in section F.8.

Detailed Budget: Other Direct Costs (Section F)

  • Materials and Supplies: In the budget justification, indicate general categories such as glassware, chemicals, animal costs, including an amount for each category. Categories that include costs less than $1,000 do not have to be itemized.  
  • Animal Costs: While included under "materials and supplies", it is often helpful to include more specific details about how you developed your estimate for animal costs. Include the number of animals you expect to use, the purchase price for the animals (if you need to purchase any), and your animal facility's per diem care rate, if available.  Details are especially helpful if your animal care costs are unusually large or small. For example, if you plan to follow your animals for an abnormally long time period and do not include per diem rates, the reviewers may think you have budgeted too much for animal costs and may recommend a budget cut.  
  • Publication Costs: You may include the costs associated with helping you disseminate your research findings from the proposed research. If this is a new application, you may want to delay publication costs until the later budget periods, once you have actually obtained data to share.  
  • Consultant Services: Consultants differ from Consortiums in that they may provide advice, but should not be making decisions for the direction of the research. Typically, consultants will charge a fixed rate for their services that includes both their direct and F&A costs. You do not need to report separate direct and F&A costs for consultants; however, you should report how much of the total estimated costs will be spent on travel. Consultants are not subject to the salary cap restriction; however, any consultant charges should meet your institution's definition of "reasonableness".  
  • ADP/Computer Services: The services you include here should be research specific computer services- such as reserving computing time on supercomputers or getting specialized software to help run your statistics. This section should not include your standard desktop office computer, laptop, or the standard tech support provided by your institution. Those types of charges should come out of the F&A costs.  
  • Justify basis for costs, itemize by category.
  • Enter the total funds requested for alterations and renovations. Where applicable, provide the square footage and costs.
  • If A&R costs are in excess of $300,000 further limitations apply and additional documentation will be required.
  • The names of any hospitals and/or clinics and the amounts requested for each.
  • If both inpatient and outpatient costs are requested, provide information for each separately.
  • Provide cost breakdown, number of days, number of patients, costs of tests/treatments.
  • Justify the costs associated with standard care or research care. (Note: If these costs are associated with patient accrual, restrictions may be justified in the Notice of Award.) (See NIH Grants Policy Statement NIH Grants Policy Statement, Research Patient Care Costs )
  • Tuition: In your budget justification, for any graduate students on your project, include what your school's tuition rates are. You may have to report both an in-state and out-of-state tuition rate. Depending on your school stipend and tuition levels, you may have to budget less than your school's full tuition rate in order to meet the graduate student compensation limit (equivalent to the NRSA zero-level postdoctorate stipend level).  
  • Human Fetal Tissue (HFT) from elective abortions: If your application proposes the use of human fetal tissue obtained from elective abortions (as defined in NOT-OD-19-128 ), you must include a line item titled “Human Fetal Tissue Costs” on the budget form and an explanation of those costs in the budget justification.  
  • Other: Some types of costs, such as entertainment costs, are not allowed under federal grants. NIH has included a list of the most common questionable items in the NIH Grants Policy Statement ( /grants/policy/nihgps/HTML5/section_7/7_cost_consideration.htm ). If NIH discovers an unallowable cost in your budget, generally we will discount that cost from your total award amount, so it is in your best interest to avoid requesting unallowable costs. If you have any question over whether a cost is allowable, contact your sponsored programs office or the grants management specialist listed on the funding opportunity.

If you are using the detailed budget format, each consortium you include must have an independent budget form filled out.

  • In the rare case of third tier subawards, section F.5 "subawards/consortium/contractual" costs should include the total cost of the subaward, and the entire third tier award is considered part of the direct costs of the consortium for the purposes of calculating the primary applicant's direct costs.
  • Cost Principles. Regardless of what cost principles apply to the parent recipient, the consortium is held to the standards of their respective set of cost principles.
  • Consortium F&A costs are NOT included as part of the direct cost base when determining whether the application can use the modular format (direct costs < $250,000 per year), or determining whether prior approval is needed to submit an application (direct costs $500,000 or more for any year). NOTE: The $500K prior approval policy does not apply to applications submitted in response to RFAs or in response to other funding opportunities including specific budgetary limits above $500K.  
  • F&A costs for the first $25,000 of each consortium may be included in the modified total direct cost base, when calculating the overall F&A rate, as long as your institution's negotiated F&A rate agreement does not express prohibit it.
  • If the consortium is a foreign institution or international organization, F&A for the consortium is limited to 8%.
  • Consortiums should each provide a budget justification following their detailed budget. The justification should be separate from the primary recipient's justification and address just those items that pertain to the consortium.
  • We do not expect your budget to predict perfectly how you will spend your money five years down the road. However, we do expect a reasonable approximation of what you intend to spend. Be thorough enough to convince the reviewers that you have a good sense of the overall costs.
  • In general, NIH does not have policy on salary escalation submitted in an application. We advise applicants to request in the application the actual costs needed for the budget period and to request cost escalations only if the escalation is consistent with institutional policy. See Salary Cap Summary and https://grants.nih.gov/faqs#/fy2012_salary_cap_faqs.htm .
  • Any large year-to-year variation should be described in your budget justification. For example, if you have money set aside for consultants only in the final year of your budget, be sure to explain why in your justification (e.g. the consultants are intended to help you with the statistical interpretation of the data and therefore are not needed before the final year).
  • In general, NIH recipients are allowed a certain degree of latitude to rebudget within and between budget categories to meet unanticipated needs and to make other types of post-award changes. Some changes may be made at the recipient's discretion as long as they are within the limits established by NIH. In other cases, NIH prior written approval may be required before a recipient makes certain budget modifications or undertakes particular activities (such as change in scope). See NIH Grants Policy Statement - Changes in Project and Budget .

Other resources to help you create your budget

This page last updated on: September 11, 2019

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Budget Templates and Budget Justification Templates

The Sponsored Budget Template is an Excel-based tool, with Cornell-relevant equations already saved into over a dozen worksheets.

Worksheets include:

  • General Expense
  • Cost-Sharing
  • Salary 9 month
  • F&A Detail
  • Other typical budget categories

The "Quicktips" tab contains instructions.

Navigate among the worksheets using the arrows on the bottom left of your screen, or click on the tabs.

Download the Sponsored Budget Template (.xlsx)  | Download the Sponsored Budget Justification Template (.docx)

The sample budget template was conceived and created by a team of department administrative managers and OSP staff with the goal of helping researchers and support staff develop sponsored project proposal budgets.

For more information about developing budgets see the  Overview of Costs for Project Budget page. 

Budget, Costs, and Rates

Overview of costs for project budgets (budget and costing guide), employee benefit (fringe) rates, escalation rates, facilities & administrative (f&a) rates, postdoctoral associate minimum salary, grad student tuition, health benefits, and stipend, nih salary cap, per diem rates for travel, weill cornell medicine f&a and benefits rates, proposing cost share.

Join us for a discussion on Cornell’s Research Administration Support System (RASS) new proposal budgeting functionality.

At this session attendees will learn about:

  • Streamlining proposal budgets with RASS
  • General updates and new RASS features
  • Resources available

Presenters:

  • UBC Research + Innovation
  • Support for Researchers
  • Attracting Funding
  • Budgeting and Indirect Costs

Budget Templates

All funded research grants, contracts and agreements are required to include indirect cost recovery.

The required indirect cost recovery for research projects is:

  • 25% on all non-industry funding (governemnt and non-profits)
  • 40% of all direct costs on industry funding (any projects initiated before May 1, 2015 may continue to charge the previous rate of 25%)

The only exceptions to these rates are funds from any of the Tri-Council funding agencies (UBC recovers indirect costs for Tri-Council funds through the Federal Research Support Fund  formerly the Indirect Costs Program. The only exception is the SSHRC-administered Tri-Agency New Frontiers in Research Fund. Applicants to this fund should contact ORS about building indirect cost recovery into their application.) and funds through grant applications which specify an alternate rate. 

Many of the verified exceptions to the standard UBC rate of recovery are listed in the Indirect Costs of Research Verified Rates Table .

Since May 1, 2015, all discretionary powers for the recovery rate of indirect costs (for projects not covered by the standard or published verified rates) has rested with the Deans of the Faculties and not with the Vice-President, Research & Innovation Office.

Below is a sample budget development process.

A researcher creates a proposal for a research project with a government or non-profit partner with the following direct costs:

Direct Costs  

The following models below demonstrate how to present to the sponsor a budget for this project utilizing the 25% recovery rate for government and non-profit projects.

Unless the sponsor specifies in writing that they require the indirect costs of research to be presented as a separate line item, the indirect cost should be built into each budget line item, as is customary for budgets.

Preferred “Price” Model 

(25% Indirect Cost Built Into Pricing)   

Alternative “Cost” Model

(only if required by Sponsor) (25% Indirect Cost Separated)  

Tri-Council Matching or Partnered Grants

For Tri-Council grants requiring funding from one or more funding partners, the Tri-Council agency matches only the direct costs of the partners. Examples of these programs include, NSERC Collaborative Research and Development Grants, NSERC Idea to Innovation Grants, SSHRC Partnership Grants, CIHR Industry Partnered Collaborative Research Program, CIHR Proof of Principle Grants. In these cases, the agency may require that direct and indirect costs be shown separately in the budget submitted to the Tri-council agency. In all cases, an indirect cost recovery rate of 25% (for projects initiated after May 1, 2015, this rate will be 40% for industry partners) must be applied to the matching funds provided by the partner. Indirect costs should not be applied to the funds requested from the Tri-council agency. The only exception is the SSHRC-administered Tri-Agency New Frontiers in Research Fund. Applicants to this fund should contact ORS about building indirect cost recovery into their application

Departmental, Unit and Faculty-Specific Fees

Some departments or units require that an “administrative fee” be charged to each project. It’s expected that consistent recovery of indirect costs of research will alleviate the need for these additional fees. If these additional fees are required, however, indirect cost recovery must still be applied at the standard rate to all direct costs, including the administrative fee.

Sub-Awards to UBC

In multi-site projects, it’s the responsibility of the main site to apply on behalf of each sub-site the appropriate indirect cost recovery for that institution. As a sub-awardee, UBC requires 25% indirect costs recovery to be included in funds from the main site. The only exceptions to this are sub-awards from other academic institutions who’ve received grant funding (e.g. from Tri-Council agencies or NIH), in which UBC has approved the alternate rate. All industry projects must recover indirect costs at the standard rate of 40% , irrespective of where the industry sponsor receives its funding.

Machine and Equipment Purchase Grants

Grants for which 100% of the funds are to be applied toward the purchase of equipment, and not directly connected with a specific research project, are exempt from indirect-cost recovery.

Grad Coach

Research Proposal Example/Sample

Detailed Walkthrough + Free Proposal Template

If you’re getting started crafting your research proposal and are looking for a few examples of research proposals , you’ve come to the right place.

In this video, we walk you through two successful (approved) research proposals , one for a Master’s-level project, and one for a PhD-level dissertation. We also start off by unpacking our free research proposal template and discussing the four core sections of a research proposal, so that you have a clear understanding of the basics before diving into the actual proposals.

  • Research proposal example/sample – Master’s-level (PDF/Word)
  • Research proposal example/sample – PhD-level (PDF/Word)
  • Proposal template (Fully editable) 

If you’re working on a research proposal for a dissertation or thesis, you may also find the following useful:

  • Research Proposal Bootcamp : Learn how to write a research proposal as efficiently and effectively as possible
  • 1:1 Proposal Coaching : Get hands-on help with your research proposal

Free Webinar: How To Write A Research Proposal

PS – If you’re working on a dissertation, be sure to also check out our collection of dissertation and thesis examples here .

FAQ: Research Proposal Example

Research proposal example: frequently asked questions, are the sample proposals real.

Yes. The proposals are real and were approved by the respective universities.

Can I copy one of these proposals for my own research?

As we discuss in the video, every research proposal will be slightly different, depending on the university’s unique requirements, as well as the nature of the research itself. Therefore, you’ll need to tailor your research proposal to suit your specific context.

You can learn more about the basics of writing a research proposal here .

How do I get the research proposal template?

You can access our free proposal template here .

Is the proposal template really free?

Yes. There is no cost for the proposal template and you are free to use it as a foundation for your research proposal.

Where can I learn more about proposal writing?

For self-directed learners, our Research Proposal Bootcamp is a great starting point.

For students that want hands-on guidance, our private coaching service is recommended.

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Psst… there’s more!

This post is an extract from our bestselling short course, Research Proposal Bootcamp . If you want to work smart, you don't want to miss this .

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Creating a Budget

In general, while your research proposal outlines the academic significance of your study, the budget and budget narrative show that you have an understanding of what it will cost for you to be able to perform this research. Your proposed budget should identify all the expenses that are necessary and reasonable for the success of your project—no more and no less. The Office of Undergraduate Research understands that estimates, by definition, are imprecise, yet we encourage students applying for funding to research all aspects of their budgets with honest diligence.

If your research requires you to be in the field or in another city, state, or country, travel expenses may include transportation (airline, train, taxi, etc.), passport and visa fees, as well as fees for any vaccinations you may need to travel. Be sure to include anticipated major incidental expenses, such as printing, copying, fees for accessing archives, etc.

Please note that our funding restrictions prevent us from providing support for lab materials, equipment, software, hardware, etc.

Keep in mind these tips:

Convert all foreign currency figures to U.S. dollars.

Round all figures to whole dollars.

Make sure your budget and your proposal are consistent.

Identify areas where you are making efforts to save money!

Browse through these sample budgets for a better idea of how to outline your expenses and contact us if you have questions!

Sample Budget 1

Sample Budget 2

Sample Budget 3

Sample Budget 4

  • Research Portal
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  • Develop and Submit Proposal
  • Set Up Project
  • Manage Project
  • Project Closeout
  • Research Compliance
  • Fiscal Compliance
  • Policies and Guidance
  • Research Education
  • Systems/Portals
  • SPARCS Staff Contacts
  • C and G Staff Contacts
  • College and Unit Research Contacts

Budget Templates

Nc state budget templates.

Unity ID Required

  • Budget  (Modeled from NSF template)
  • Budget Justification
  • Budget – Detail Version
  • Budget – Summary Version

Sponsor-specific Budget Templates

Nih modular budget guidelines.

The modular grant is an NIH effort to streamline the proposal submission process. It is intended to focus the attention of investigators, their institutions, peer reviewers and NIH staff on science rather than budget details. It applies to research grant applications requesting up to $250,000 per year in direct costs.

US Department of Energy

Department of Energy Assistance awards announced in Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOA) typically require the completion of a PMC 159 Budget Justification form. This is a multi-worksheet Excel workbook, wherein each worksheet represents a different type of cost (Labor, Fringe Benefits, Equipment, Subcontracts, Indirect Costs). Each individual sheet must be completed and the totals generated on each sheet are linked to a summary budget display and a proposal budget form Standard Form 424A. This format was prepared for commercial entities, where labor costs are based upon set labor categories, labor rates and estimated labor hours. It also includes multiple forms of indirect cost calculations, instead of the single indirect cost (F&A) calculation used by universities.

In order to provide an accurate record of how cost estimates are prepared at NC State and to include explanations of the differences, it is recommended to use the  PMC 159 customized form . It includes a representation of our standard cost reimbursement budget display on a tab titled “CAS Institutional Bgt”.  It also contains a tab titled “Basis of Costs”, which explains the differences in how our costs are estimated. The tab titled “a. Personnel” has been modified to reflect estimated salaries based upon percent of effort, and annual or monthly salary amounts. All references to labor rates and labor hours have been removed. When using this form of the workbook, it is recommended to start by completing the CAS Institutional Bgt worksheet first, to ensure that an accurate estimated budget is prepared. This version also includes three optional worksheets to capture more details of proposed travel expenses (domestic and foreign), and the totals are linked to a “Travel Summary” tab. These are in addition to the standard tab for travel, which must always be completed. Experience has shown that DOE typically asks for additional detail on proposed travel and these three sheets are designed to easily capture that detail. They may be deleted from the workbook if not used.

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Top 7 Research Budget Templates with Samples and Examples

Top 7 Research Budget Templates with Samples and Examples

Tejas Prasanna

author-user

There is no magic formula for creating a research budget. Depending on the kind of research and the potential changes it can bring about, careful planning and allocation is necessary. Budgets can, thus, vary depending on the sponsors, besides other factors. However, every research budget has some essential guidelines. 

Research budgets depend on the project deliverables, timelines, and milestones. The resources required also depend on the scope of the projects and sponsors.

Best Templates for Planning Your Research Budget

Designing a research budget is not easy. You will need to consider the resources required and categorize them according to guidelines to ensure funding is not a problem. The categories may include the project’s necessary supplies and equipment and the wages you must pay your assistants. Research budgets are allocated for a year, but you can also plan for a quarter, depending on the project.

At SlideTeam, we have taken care of all these pain points and designed content-ready presentation templates that address each of these points. You save the time, the resources, and the tedium in having to make these presentations from scratch. 

What is even better is that each of the templates is 100% editable and customizable. The content-ready nature means you get a starting point and a structure to guide your presentation; the editability feature means you can customize the template to audience profile. 

Let’s explore these templates now. 

Template 1 - Impact matrix evaluation research solution budget

This PPT Template is the perfect solution for your research budgeting needs. The matrix suggests what solutions are essential with the help of relevant keys that assign priority levels. Priorities go from low to highest influence with increasing importance. They are color-coded, with white being the lowest and red being the highest influence. For instance, Maintain Awareness and Evaluation are red in many cases, as shown in the slide. So, that means that they bear a significant impact on the research budget. Similarly, Strategic and Budget Planning are color-coded white, which means they don't impact the research budget as much in some cases.

With the impact matrix and heatmap, mapping out your research budget will be a breeze.

Impact Matrix Evaluation Research Solution Budget

Get it now!

Template 2  Half-yearly research and development departmental budget

Research and Development departments can plan the budget required for projects for the two halves of the year using this PPT Template. The presentation template highlights areas for which you will need funding such as research and development, skills, innovation and patenting, and cooperation. You can also list your requirements for each area. For instance, under R&D and skills, you may need funding for medical research, chemical research, etc. Similarly, for innovation and patenting, you may need funding for product innovation and to cover patenting costs. Likewise, cooperation may involve setting up new laboratories and research centers. With this outlined, you can split the budget required for your research project for the two halves of the year.

Half Yearly Research and Development Departmental Budget

Download now!

Template 3 - Budget Estimate for Research and Development Project

This presentation template for the budget estimate for your research and development project is apt for arriving at the calculation for the four quarters in a year. You can define and assign tasks as per the requirements of the project and allocate a set budget for each. The tasks may involve conducting market research and competitive analysis or be innovative or developmental. In either case, you can use this template to set a fixed budget for each task in the research project.

Budget estimate for research and development project

Get it today!

Template 4 Clinical Trial Phases with Communication and Budget Research Design for Clinical Trials

Clinical trials involve many phases, and you should let your research associates know about each step. For instance, you could post the information on the company website and provide relevant insights during the pre-trial phase. Similarly, you can offer the welcome letter and training materials during the trial start-up. During the trial, you can send newsletters to your associates, giving them relevant information and other valuable insights. All this requires funding, and you will need to allocate a budget. However, you don't need to worry, as this PPT Preset has you sorted, with dedicated sections for the pre-trial, trial start-up, during-trial, and trial-end phases. It also has communication, insights summary, and budget sections. You can use the budget section in the matrix to allot a budget for each trial phase and each section, including communication and insights. 

Clinical Trial Phases with Communication and Budget

Download here!

Template 5  Market research strategy with budget and area

The PPT Template has all the core elements required for your market research strategy, including the budget and area. This slide lets you list your clients, the items, and when to send them. You can also list background information related to your research, the aim and objectives of the project, the areas covered, and the budget.

The presentation template also provides a dedicated space to list your brands and products and a timeline for completing the research.

Market Research Strategy with Budget and Area

Template 6 - Determine Budget for Psychology Research Proposal One-Pager Sample Example Document

This presentation template is an easy-to-use tool for determining the budget required for psychology research. With this slide, you can allocate a budget for each area, including diagnostic assessment, training, technology and tools, supplies, travel, and workforce. It is a practical, hands-on template with information required to plan the budget for conducting psychological tests and evaluations. Please note that depending on your geography, taxes might or might not deserve a separate column.  

Determine Budget for Psychology Research Proposal

Template 7 - Budgeting for Product Launch Market Research

Every company needs to conduct market research before launching a new product. The PowerPoint Presentation that you have here can help you plan the budget required for conducting such market research. It includes necessary information, including business and research objectives, priorities, methodologies, and forecasts. The presentation template also has the metrics required for the research, such as improving customer engagement, introducing new products, and increasing market share. For example, to improve customer engagement, you may be looking to improve marketing approaches and gather customer feedback. The methods you may use include conducting marketing mix studies and tests. Similarly, you may want to optimize your social media posts and profiles and conduct A/B tests when introducing new products. Improving your market share may involve analyzing the competition. You may even use this handy template for conducting market research, estimating, and forecasting budgets.

Budgeting for product launch market research

RESEARCH IS IMPORTANT BUSINESS

You can plan your research and the budget required using these templates. Remember that each new product launch has lots of research behind it. When going for a new launch, don’t just research the products and its uses, but also the markets – particularly, your target audience and how they will benefit from your brands. When allocating the budget for your research, don't forget to note your total resources and try to be as cost-effective as possible. You must consider the expected costs that you may incur and use these templates to work out a research budget that fits within your resources.

FAQs on Research Budget

What should be included in a research budget.

Research budgets should include all direct costs, and facilities and administrative costs (F&A). The facilities and administrative expenses are needed to achieve the primary objectives of the research. The project description should state the proposed budget and serve as a financial expression for the research. The idea is to ensure that the budget is comprehensive.

How do you create a research budget?

You can create a simple research budget by following these steps:

  • List activities that will help you carry out the research.
  • Check the rules for getting the funding required.
  • Check all costs involved.
  • Lay out the costs using a spreadsheet.
  • Justify your budget by asking why and for what you need the money and where you got your figures.

What is the role of budget in research?

A budget can provide a detailed and clear picture of the structure of the research project, not to mention that it also lets you know how well it can be managed. The research project budget usually lets you see whether it will go according to plan and if it is feasible. So, it must be complete and reasonable.

What is the average budget for a research project?

The budget for a research project depends on the type of research and the proposed difference it could make to a field of study. For instance, the average budget for a market research project may vary between $20,000 and $50,000. Similarly, larger scientific research projects may cost millions or even billions of dollars, as in pharmaceuticals.

Related posts:

  • Top 5 Startup Budget Templates with Samples and Examples
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  • Top 10 Cost Comparison Templates with Examples and Samples
  • Top 5 Budget Planner Templates with Examples and Samples

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Budget Templates

10+ research budget templates – word, pdf, excel.

Any type of research cannot do away with the fact that it needs a budget . Exhaustive and intensive research procedures are done to arrive at certain conclusions or prove educated guesses. Creating a sample budget for research means allocating an amount of money for the different research materials that need fund support.

research proposal budget template

Research Budget Template

research budget template

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Research Project Budget Template

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Research Budget Proposal Template

research budget proposal template

  • Apple Pages

Free Medical Research Budget Template

medical research budget

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research proposal budget

Free Budget for Research Development Template

budget for research development

How to Make a Simple Research Budget

  • List of Research Activities – Plotting a research budget outline could either be done before or after you’ve made a research draft or output. As you progress with your research, you would know the research activities that you need to fulfill for its completion. List all the prospective activities that you expect to do that’s covered by your research methodology.
  • Activity Costing – Each item on your sample list should be provided with either an exact or approximate cost. Budget templates in PDF file format suggest that you provide space for the exact and estimated monetary value for each activity needed for your research. Grant budget samples are particular with activity costing to evaluate whether costs should be lowered or increased.
  • Research Budget Template – It is important to secure a research budget template for all your research expenses. Film budget samples would tell you how important it is to keep track of how much money is spent and how much money left there is to spend. You can also see more templates like  Project Budget .

Free Research Project Budget Template

research project budget

Free Research Grant Budget Template

research grant budget

Free Research Trip Budget Template

research trip budget

Free Sample Research Budget Template

sample research budget

Common Expenses When Doing Research

  • Tangible Materials – Anything that’s all used up when performing research procedures make up the most common expenses when doing so. Travel budget templates may focus on expenses that are the basic need while traveling. Some tangible materials might include food, medical kits, and other travel essentials.
  • Printing Fees – Upon finalizing research work, researchers and target readers would need a hard and printed copy of a research paper. All budget report templates always make it to a point that printing fees should be the researcher’s priority upon completion of one’s research.
  • Extended Research Services – Research activities always have the possibility of branching out to other services that may require specific expertise and mastery. Transcription services, for example, play a vital role in research completion and this type of service would undeniably be subject to extra expenses. Budget in Excel can be modified so that they specify what kind of research service is utilized.

General FAQs

1. what is the research budget, 2. why is a budget important, 3. what are the key factors of a budget.

  • Plan out every penny with the help of a proper blueprint
  • Know how much you earn
  • Treat yourself once in a while
  • Base yourself in reality and make the budget
  • Be flexible with your expenses, so that you do not waste your funds.

4. What are Research expenses?

5. how to prepare a research budget.

  • List out your activities
  • Mention your goals and objectives
  • Know all the rules and guidelines
  • Plan out an action plan to reach your goals and objectives
  • Put it all in writing
  • Justify what your needs, resources, requirements, etc are.

More in Budget Templates

Research template for kids, animal research paper template, quantitative research template, educational research template, artist research template, action research template, artistic research template, longitudinal research template, prediction research template, education qualitative research template.

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Sample Budget Justifications

Sponsor requirements differ, and sample budget justifications should be seen only as a starting point. Guidelines for sponsor requirements are in the annotated budget justifications. Read the solicitation and the sponsor’s proposal preparation guidelines for each proposal's requirements.

For Research Sponsors

  • Sample Budget Justification for Non-Federal Research [DOCX]  - April 6, 2023
  • Annotated Budget Justification - Non-Federal Research
  • Sample Budget Justification for Federal Research  [DOCX]  - April 6, 2023
  • Annotated Budget Justification - Federal Research

For Non-Research Sponsors:

  • Sample Budget Justification for Non-Federal Non-Research [DOCX]  - July 29, 2022
  • Annotated Budget Justification - Non-Federal Non-Research
  • Sample Budget Justification for Federal Non-Research [DOCX]  - July 29, 2022
  • Annotated Budget Justification - Federal Non-Research
  • Uniform Guidance Fixed Rate Requirements
  • F&A Methodology
  • F&A Components
  • MIT Use of a de minimis Rate
  • Fund Account Overhead Rates
  • Allocation Rates
  • Determination of On-Campus and Off-Campus Rates
  • Employee Benefits (EB) Rates
  • Vacation Accrual Rates
  • Graduate Research Assistant Tuition Subsidy
  • Historical RA Salary Levels
  • MIT Facts and Profile Information
  • Classification of Sponsored Projects
  • Types of Sponsored Awards
  • How Are Sponsored Projects Generated?
  • Cost Principles and Unallowable Costs
  • Direct and Indirect Costs
  • Pre-Proposals / Letters of Intent
  • MIT Investigator Status
  • Components of a Proposal
  • Special Reviews
  • Applying Through Workspace
  • Proposal Preparation Checklist
  • Proposals and Confidential Information
  • Personnel Costs
  • Subcontracts and Consultants
  • Kuali Coeus Approval Mapping
  • Roles and Responsibilities
  • Submission of Revised Budgets
  • Standard Contract Terms and Conditions
  • Contractual Obligations and Problematic Terms and Conditions
  • Review and Negotiation of Federal Contract and Grant Terms and Conditions
  • Industrial Collaboration
  • International Activities
  • MIT Export Control - Export Policies
  • Nondisclosure and Confidentiality Agreements
  • Negative Confirmation On Award Notices
  • Routing and Acceptance of the Award Notice
  • COI and Special Review Hold Notice Definitions
  • Limiting Long-Term WBS Account Structures
  • SAP Project WBS Element Conditions
  • Kuali Coeus Electronic Document Storage (EDS)
  • Billing Agreements
  • PI Absence from Project
  • Cost Transfers
  • Equipment Threshold
  • Uniform Guidance and the FAR
  • MIT Standard Terms and Policies
  • Guidelines for Charging Faculty Summer Salary
  • Key Personnel
  • Limitations on Funds - Federal Contracts
  • Managing Salary Costs
  • Monitoring Project Budgets
  • Monthly Reconciliation and Review
  • No-Cost Extensions
  • Reporting Requirements
  • Return of Unexpended Funds to Foundations
  • Determining the Sponsor Approved Budget (SAB)
  • Working With the Sponsor Approved Budget (SAB)
  • Sponsor Approved Budget (SAB) and Child Account Budgets
  • Sponsor Approved Budget (SAB) and Prior Approvals
  • Submitting an SAB Change Request
  • When a PI Leaves MIT
  • Research Performance Progress Reports
  • Closing Out Fixed Price Awards
  • Closeout of Subawards
  • Record Retention
  • Early Termination
  • Reporting FAQs
  • Using SciENcv
  • AFOSR No-Cost Extension Process
  • Terms and Conditions
  • New ONR Account Set Ups
  • Department of Defense Disclosure Guidance
  • Department of Energy / Office of Science Disclosure Guidance
  • Introduction to Industrial Sponsors
  • General Considerations for Industrial Proposals
  • SRC Guidance to Faculty Considering Applying for SRC Funding
  • Find Specific RFP Information
  • Industrial Proposal Checklist
  • Proposal Formats
  • Special Requirements
  • Deadline Cycles
  • Model Proposals
  • Non-Competitive Industrial Proposals
  • Master and Alliance Agreements With Non-Standard Proposal Processes
  • Template Agreements
  • New Consortium Agreements
  • Competitive Industrial Proposals
  • Collaborative (No-cost) Research Agreements
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration Disclosure Guidance
  • NASA Graduate Research Fellowship Programs
  • NASA PI Status and Definitions
  • NIH Checklists and Preparation Guides
  • National Institutes of Health Disclosure Guidance
  • Human Subjects and NIH Proposals
  • NIH Data Management and Sharing
  • NIH Research Performance Progress Reports
  • Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) proposals
  • MIT Guidance Regarding the NSF CAREER Program
  • Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Supplements
  • National Science Foundation Disclosure Guidance
  • NSF Proposals: Administrative Review Stage
  • NSF Collaborations
  • NSF Pre-Award and Post-Award Actions
  • NSF Reporting
  • NSF Frequently Asked Questions
  • NSF Safe and Inclusive Working Environment
  • Process, Roles and Responsibilities
  • What Is Allowable/Eligible Cost Sharing?
  • MIT’s Preferred Cost Sharing Funds
  • Third-Party Cost Sharing
  • Showing Cost Sharing in a Proposal Budget
  • Sponsor Specific Instructions Regarding Location in the Proposal
  • Funding F&A Costs as Cost Sharing
  • Using Faculty Effort for Cost Sharing
  • Information about Completing the Cost Sharing Template
  • NSF Cost Sharing Policy
  • Tracking/Reporting Cost Sharing
  • Special Cost Sharing Topics
  • International Activities Examples
  • Rubicon Fellowships
  • Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowships
  • Criteria for Subrecipients
  • Subawards at Proposal
  • Requesting New Subawards
  • Managing Subawards
  • RAS Subaward Team Contacts
  • Funding and Approval
  • Proposal Phase
  • Award Set-up
  • Monitoring Research During Project Period
  • Closeout Phase
  • Voluntary Cost Sharing
  • Sponsor-Specific Guidance
  • Audits and Auditors
  • Upcoming Trainings and Events
  • Research Administration Practices (RAP)
  • NCURA Virtual Workshops and Webinars
  • Guide to RA Resources and Training
  • Career Paths
  • Newsletters
  • Tools and Systems
  • Award Closeout & Audits
  • Award Setup
  • Cost Sharing
  • Export Control
  • Financial Conflict of Interest
  • Kuali Coeus
  • Project Monitoring
  • Proposal Preparation & Submission
  • Research Sub Awards
  • Research Administration Email Lists
  • RAS Operations
  • VPR Research Administration Organization Chart
  • By department
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  • Research Administrator Day
  • News & Announcements
  • Onsite searching on the VPR public websites

COMMENTS

  1. PDF Writing a Proposal Budget

    What is a Proposal Budget and why is it needed? Before we get started talking about all the pieces of a budget, let's make sure that we're on the same page about what a budget actually is. A budget is a financial proposal that reflects the work proposed. It outlines the expected project costs in detail, and should mirror the project description.

  2. Free Budget Proposal Templates

    A budget proposal template documents the suggested financial budget plan for an organization, project, research, or grant. Rather than starting from scratch, you can leverage the pre-filled criteria in a budget proposal template to gain insight into the accuracy of anticipated expenses and revenue sources.

  3. How to make a simple research budget

    A good budget shows the assessors that you have thought about your research in detail and, if it is done well, it can serve as a great, convincing overview of the project. Here are five steps to create a simple budget for your research project. 1. List your activities. Make a list of everything that you plan to do in the project, and who is ...

  4. 8 Research Proposal Examples & Template to Use

    A well-structured research proposal includes a title page, abstract and table of contents, introduction, literature review, research design and methodology, contribution to knowledge, research schedule, timeline and budget. Visme's research proposal examples and templates offer a great starting point for creating engaging and well-structured ...

  5. Develop Your Budget

    Learn how to prepare a budget for your NIH research grant application, including cost considerations, direct and indirect costs, modular and detailed budgets, and other resources. Find out the budget criteria, limits, and policies for different funding opportunities and mechanisms.

  6. Research Proposal Budget: Get an Accurate Estimate for Your Research Plan

    The research proposal budget template is an invaluable tool for researchers. It provides a clear structure for creating a budget and allows the researcher to review the budget and make any necessary changes. This helps to ensure that the project is being completed in the most cost-effective manner possible. Additionally, the template can be ...

  7. PDF RESEARCH PROPOSAL BUDGET TEMPLATE

    RESEARCH PROPOSAL BUDGET TEMPLATE PROJECT NAME DATE CREATED RESEARCH ORGANIZATION LAST UPDATED FY1 RATE FY1 HRS FY2 RATE FY2 HRS FY3 RATE FY3 HRS FY4 HRS FY4 RATE WAGE TOTAL ... Any articles, templates, or information provided by Smartsheet on the website are for reference only. While we strive to keep the information up to date and correct, we

  8. How to Write a Research Proposal

    Research proposal examples. Writing a research proposal can be quite challenging, but a good starting point could be to look at some examples. We've included a few for you below. Example research proposal #1: "A Conceptual Framework for Scheduling Constraint Management" Example research proposal #2: "Medical Students as Mediators of ...

  9. Budget Templates and Budget Justification Templates

    The sample budget template was conceived and created by a team of department administrative managers and OSP staff with the goal of helping researchers and support staff develop sponsored project proposal budgets. ... Join us for a discussion on Cornell's Research Administration Support System (RASS) new proposal budgeting functionality. ...

  10. Research Budget Template

    Medical Research Budget Template. researchamerica.org. Download. A research proposal budget sample is in many ways similar to the research budget sample, only that at this stage, it is still a proposal. This sample is often written in a linear or tabular format and it details all the expenses that are associated with the proposal project.

  11. How to plan and write a budget for research grant proposal?

    Breakdown of the budget into item-wise and year-wise with cost calculation should be done. It should be ensured that costs are reasonable, allowable and related to the research proposal, so that the budget appears realistic. Travel expenses should be calculated as per the rules of the funding agency.

  12. Budget Templates

    Non-University Consultant. $3,600. Total Direct Costs. $160,000. The following models below demonstrate how to present to the sponsor a budget for this project utilizing the 25% recovery rate for government and non-profit projects. Unless the sponsor specifies in writing that they require the indirect costs of research to be presented as a ...

  13. Research Proposal Example (PDF + Template)

    Research Proposal Example/Sample. Detailed Walkthrough + Free Proposal Template. If you're getting started crafting your research proposal and are looking for a few examples of research proposals, you've come to the right place. In this video, we walk you through two successful (approved) research proposals, one for a Master's-level ...

  14. PDF Research project budget

    BUDGET SUMMARY The budget summary will autopopulate based on the figures you have provided in the budget breakdown. Proposal title: [insert project title here] Duration of project: [insert project duration here] If you plan to collect primary data, please provide the expected sample size: [insert sample size here] Fees £0 Expenses £0

  15. Creating a Budget

    Creating a Budget. In general, while your research proposal outlines the academic significance of your study, the budget and budget narrative show that you have an understanding of what it will cost for you to be able to perform this research. Your proposed budget should identify all the expenses that are necessary and reasonable for the ...

  16. 12+ Research Budget Proposal Templates in PDF

    A research proposal is a paper that proposes a research project, usually in the sciences or academia and generally constitutes a funding request for that study. A budget is one of the key components of a research proposal and serves as a blueprint for spending the funds from the project. An effective budget for the proposal outlines the proposed project in fiscal terms and helps reviewers ...

  17. Budget Templates

    Research and Sponsored Programs is responsible for approving budget(s) of all proposals to outside granting agencies and negotiates awards with funding agencies. Budget development should be detailed, realistic, and as comprehensive as possible to ensure that all costs of the project have been accounted for. ... The budget template includes ...

  18. Budget Templates

    Budget - Summary Version; Sponsor-specific Budget Templates NIH Modular Budget Guidelines. The modular grant is an NIH effort to streamline the proposal submission process. It is intended to focus the attention of investigators, their institutions, peer reviewers and NIH staff on science rather than budget details. It applies to research ...

  19. Top 7 Research Budget Templates with Samples and Examples

    This presentation template is an easy-to-use tool for determining the budget required for psychology research. With this slide, you can allocate a budget for each area, including diagnostic assessment, training, technology and tools, supplies, travel, and workforce. It is a practical, hands-on template with information required to plan the ...

  20. 10+ Research Budget Templates

    Here's a sample template you can use to help you budget your research project. Download this research project budget template instantly anytime, anywhere, at any device. Create a detailed statement outlining the estimated costs of the research and allot funds to important expenses. Check monthly budget templates for more.

  21. Sample Budget Justifications

    Sample Budget Justifications. Sponsor requirements differ, and sample budget justifications should be seen only as a starting point. Guidelines for sponsor requirements are in the annotated budget justifications. Read the solicitation and the sponsor's proposal preparation guidelines for each proposal's requirements.

  22. PDF How to Enter Proposal Budgets

    To enter a budget on a Research.gov . proposal initiated by a Principal Investigator (PI), access the Budget(s) landing page either by clicking the Budget(s) link on the proposal main page or by clicking the Budget(s) link on the proposal menu. Refer to the Budget Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on the Research.gov About Proposal Preparation and

  23. How to Write a Project Proposal (Examples & Templates)

    Here's a short selection of 8 easy-to-edit project proposal templates you can edit, share and download with Visme. ... do you research, use a template and cover letter. Tap into Visme's extensive template ... goals, payment and budget. After sharing your proposal, monitor Visme's analytics to see who has viewed or clicked on it. Customize ...