Step Ahead: Practical Suggestions for Proposal Prep
The Stanford Research Development Office (RDO) is pleased to offer Step Ahead: an opt-in email service with practical suggestions to support advance proposal development activities for the funding programs listed below.
The Step Ahead series is currently being run as a pilot for NIH S10 and NSF MRI proposal types. Complete checklists of all tips are shared below for convenience, and may be downloaded and customized as needed. These tips will be shared with Step Ahead subscribers on an ongoing basis to ease the planning burden of early-stage proposal preparation activities for the proposal type they have selected.
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NIH S10 advance preparation checklist - updated for 2026
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NSF MRI advance preparation checklist - MRI program is currently on hiatus. Future versions of this checklist may be updated if program is revised.
These lists may be updated at any time to reflect any changes in university or funding agency policies. Please check the "last updated" date at the top of the document, and revisit this website to ensure you have the most current version if you choose to download.
To subscribe and receive Step Ahead email reminders, please write to stanford_rdo@stanford.edu and indicate the proposal type you are interested in.
The Step Ahead series of email reminders is aimed at helping PIs integrate important steps in the pre-writing process into their schedule. If you'd like guidance on drafting the proposal itself, we encourage you to connect with your research development contact.