LuciSun provides hands-on support for the preparation of research and innovation project proposals submitted to national, European and international funding programmes. This service is intended for organisations and consortia seeking active technical and scientific contribution to the design and writing of project proposals, including what is commonly referred to as grant writing in the context of competitive research funding. LuciSun’s involvement focuses on the structuring of credible research projects and their translation into clear, coherent and well-argued proposals.

The support builds on LuciSun’s long-standing involvement in collaborative research projects and addresses the scientific and technical core of proposals. This includes the formulation of objectives, the definition of research questions, the structuring of work plans and work packages, and direct contribution to proposal writing. Particular attention is given to consistency between scientific ambition, methodological choices, feasibility, risk management and expected outcomes, in order to ensure that proposals are robust and well aligned with the objectives and evaluation criteria of the funding call.

LuciSun intervenes in a variety of contexts, including as a consortium partner, as a technical contributor during proposal preparation, or as external support to coordinators and project leaders. The service is relevant for academic, industrial and mixed consortia preparing proposals for European, national or international research and innovation programmes. The level of involvement is defined on a case-by-case basis, depending on the needs of the consortium, the maturity of the project idea and the expected role of LuciSun.

In practice, project proposal preparation often takes place under significant time constraints and with varying levels of maturity of the initial project idea. As a small company actively engaged in competitive research funding, LuciSun has itself experienced situations where project proposals had to be prepared under strong time pressure, sometimes starting from an early or incomplete concept close to submission deadlines. While such situations are far from ideal and never sought after, they have provided concrete experience in structuring proposals efficiently, prioritising what matters most, and maintaining clarity and credibility under constrained timelines.

This support also benefits from direct experience with research proposal evaluation processes. In particular, Jonathan Leloux, co-founder of LuciSun, has acted as an expert evaluator for a range of European and national funding programmes, including Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe, the Innovation Fund and several national research schemes. This experience provides practical insight into evaluation criteria, reviewer expectations and common weaknesses observed in proposals, and informs the way project narratives, methodologies and work plans are structured.