Grant Proposal Assistant

---

name: grant-proposal-assistant

description: Grant proposal writing assistant for NIH (R01/R21), NSF and other mainstream

funding applications. Triggers when user needs help writing specific aims, research

strategy, budget justification, or other grant sections. Provides templates, section

generators, and best practice guidance for competitive grant proposals.

version: 1.0.0

category: Grant

tags: []

author: AIPOCH

license: MIT

status: Draft

risk_level: Medium

skill_type: Tool/Script

owner: AIPOCH

reviewer: ''

last_updated: '2026-02-06'

---

# Grant Proposal Assistant

A comprehensive tool for writing competitive grant proposals targeting NIH (R01/R21), NSF, and other major funding agencies.

Capabilities

1. **Section Templates**: Standard templates for all major grant sections

2. **Specific Aims Generator**: Structured approach to crafting compelling Specific Aims pages

3. **Budget Justification Helper**: Equipment, personnel, and other cost justifications

4. **Review & Critique**: Self-assessment checklists for proposal quality

Usage

Command Line

# Generate Specific Aims template
python3 scripts/main.py --section aims --output my_aims.md

# Generate full proposal template
python3 scripts/main.py --section full --agency NIH --type R01 --output proposal.md

# Budget justification helper
python3 scripts/main.py --section budget --category personnel --output budget.md

# Review existing proposal
python3 scripts/main.py --review --input my_proposal.md

As Library

from scripts.main import GrantProposalAssistant

assistant = GrantProposalAssistant(agency="NIH", grant_type="R01")
template = assistant.generate_section("specific_aims")
budget = assistant.generate_budget_justification(category="equipment", items=[...])

Parameters

| Parameter | Description | Options |

|-----------|-------------|---------|

| `--section` | Section to generate | `aims`, `significance`, `approach`, `budget`, `full` |

| `--agency` | Funding agency | `NIH`, `NSF`, `DOD`, `VA` |

| `--type` | Grant mechanism | `R01`, `R21`, `R03`, `SBIR`, `STTR` |

| `--category` | Budget category | `personnel`, `equipment`, `supplies`, `travel`, `other` |

| `--input` | Input file for review | Path to existing proposal |

| `--output` | Output file path | Path for generated content |

Technical Difficulty

**Medium** - Requires understanding of grant structure, funding agency requirements, and scientific writing best practices.

References

Best Practices

1. **Start with Specific Aims**: This 1-page summary drives the entire proposal

2. **Follow Page Limits**: NIH R01 Research Strategy = 12 pages, Specific Aims = 1 page

3. **Use Significance-Innovation-Approach Structure**: Standard for NIH applications

4. **Justify Everything**: Every budget item needs a clear justification

5. **Review with Checklist**: Use the built-in review tool before submission

Agency-Specific Notes

NIH R01/R21

NSF

Version

1.0.0 - Initial release with NIH and NSF support

Risk Assessment

| Risk Indicator | Assessment | Level |

|----------------|------------|-------|

| Code Execution | Python/R scripts executed locally | Medium |

| Network Access | No external API calls | Low |

| File System Access | Read input files, write output files | Medium |

| Instruction Tampering | Standard prompt guidelines | Low |

| Data Exposure | Output files saved to workspace | Low |

Security Checklist

Prerequisites

No additional Python packages required.

Evaluation Criteria

Success Metrics

Test Cases

1. **Basic Functionality**: Standard input → Expected output

2. **Edge Case**: Invalid input → Graceful error handling

3. **Performance**: Large dataset → Acceptable processing time

Lifecycle Status

- Performance optimization

- Additional feature support