Research Grant Application Form

Streamline Your Research Grant Applications with Paperform

Securing research funding is one of the most critical—and time-consuming—tasks for university faculty and research institutions. Between tracking IRB approvals, coordinating with co-investigators, justifying complex budgets and articulating methodology, the grant application process often involves juggling multiple documents, email threads and spreadsheets. This Research Grant Application Form template brings everything together in one professional, easy-to-navigate form that helps you collect complete, structured applications from faculty members while maintaining the rigour funding bodies expect.

Built for academic research workflows

This template is designed specifically for university research offices, grant administrators and faculty members applying for institutional or external research funding. Instead of managing Word documents and PDF attachments that get lost in email chains, you'll have a single source of truth for each application—capturing investigator details, project summaries, methodology descriptions, IRB approval status, co-investigator information and detailed budget justifications in a structured, reviewable format.

Conditional logic guides applicants through the right questions based on their research type, funding category and IRB requirements, so you collect exactly what's needed without overwhelming researchers with irrelevant fields. Whether you're managing applications for seed grants, pilot studies or multi-year research programmes, this form adapts to your institutional requirements while keeping the process clear and efficient.

Why research administrators choose Paperform

Academic institutions need more than just a form builder—they need a platform that can handle complex workflows, integrate with existing systems and maintain the security and compliance standards expected in higher education. Paperform delivers on all fronts:

• Professional, on-brand forms that reflect your institution's credibility and make a strong first impression on applicants and review committees alike.
• Conditional logic and file uploads let you collect IRB certificates, CVs, letters of support and other documentation without separate submission portals.
• Real-time notifications alert grant administrators the moment applications come in, so you can route them to reviewers and keep timelines on track.
• Secure, compliant infrastructure with SOC 2 Type II compliance, data residency controls and SSO support for institutions that need enterprise-grade security.

From submission to approval with Stepper

Grant applications don't end at "Submit"—they kick off a complex approval and review process involving multiple stakeholders, committees and decision points. That's where Stepper comes in.

With Stepper, you can turn each grant application submission into an automated workflow that routes applications to the right reviewers, sends reminders for missing documentation, tracks approval status across committees and updates your research management system—all without manual copying and pasting. Imagine a PI submits their application, and Stepper automatically checks if IRB approval is pending, sends a task to the ethics committee, notifies co-investigators and creates a project folder in your document management system. When approvals come through, Stepper updates your grants database and triggers the next phase of onboarding—no code, no bottlenecks.

This kind of automation is especially valuable for research offices managing dozens or hundreds of applications across grant cycles, letting you focus on strategic priorities rather than administrative logistics.

Perfect for universities, research institutes and funding bodies

Whether you're a university research office managing internal seed funding, a research institute coordinating multi-PI projects, a nonprofit foundation accepting research proposals or an academic department administering faculty development grants, this template gives you a professional, repeatable process that scales with your needs.

Paperform integrates seamlessly with the tools research administrators already rely on—sync applications to Google Sheets or Airtable for tracking, send alerts to Slack or Microsoft Teams, push data into Salesforce or other CRMs used by advancement offices and trigger complex workflows via Stepper, Zapier or webhooks. You can even collect application fees or processing charges directly in the form using Stripe, PayPal or Square if your institution requires them.

Designed for clarity, built for compliance

Research grant applications are high-stakes documents that require precision, transparency and accountability. This template is structured to guide applicants through each section methodically—from principal investigator credentials and project objectives through methodology, timeline, budget and ethics compliance—ensuring nothing gets missed and every submission is review-ready.

With Paperform's calculation fields, you can build in real-time budget totals, percentage breakdowns and cost validations so applicants see exactly where they stand before they submit. Conditional email confirmations can send different follow-up instructions based on IRB status or funding tier, and custom success pages keep applicants informed about what happens next.

Trusted by leading institutions worldwide

Over 500,000 teams worldwide trust Paperform to handle mission-critical workflows, and academic institutions are no exception. With SOC 2 Type II compliance, GDPR readiness and flexible data residency options, Paperform meets the security and privacy standards expected in research environments—protecting sensitive project information, investigator credentials and institutional data.

Whether you're digitising your grant application process for the first time or replacing an outdated portal that's slowing your team down, this Research Grant Application Form template gives you a faster, more flexible and more professional way to manage research funding from application to approval.

Get started today and bring your research grant process into the modern era with Paperform and Stepper.