Generative AI Tools for Grant Development
The following are examples of tools that can assist with different aspects of grant development.
Disclaimer: This list is for informational resources only and does not imply endorsement. Additionally, please be aware that some of these tools may require paid subscriptions. Refer to the section on Key Policy Guidance on the Limitation of LLMs in Research Grant Development webpage for information about the Tri-Agency Council’s guidelines on the use of Gen AI for proposal development.
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Tool Type |
Examples |
Use in Grant Development |
|
Commercial LLMs (with web access) |
Drafting, summarizing, brainstorming. LLMs can be used to analyze funding announcements to extract the funding objectives, eligibility requirements, deadlines, and other important information. |
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Academic/Specialized Platforms |
Scopus AI |
Literature discovery, synthesis, citation checking, academic language editing. Refer to the U of A Library webpage Which AI Tool to Use for more details on the specific purpose of each of these models. |
Gemini App: Google’s Gemini App is a core Google Workspace Service supported by U of A’s IST. It provides a secure, institutionally-approved way to access a Gen AI tool. It is protected by the U of A’s existing agreement with Google, but only when the user is logged in with CCID. Refer to the Artificial Intelligence Data Safety Guidelines for more information.
For details on how to access the app, visit the IST webpage Getting started with Gemini App.
Prompting Fundamentals
The quality of outputs generated by Gen AI depends heavily on the clarity and structure of the inputs, or prompts. The systematic practice of prompt engineering is essential.
One widely-used prompt engineering framework in the academic domain is the CLEAR framework by Lo (2023)¹:
- Concise: be clear and specific. For example, instead of saying “I am looking for money for my research project”, you can say “Identify research grant opportunities between $50k-100k for alzheimer research projects available to Canadian academics in 2026”
- Logical: have logical structure to your prompts and be coherent. Example: “Act as a senior research administrator. I am an Early Career Researcher (ECR) in Food Sciences focusing on sustainable food production. Please identify funding opportunities that are targeted towards ECRs or new investigators, support pilot studies or feasibility trials, and are funded by federal or provincial agencies (specifically Alberta) or major private foundations”.
- Explicit: have clear output specifications. Example: “List 10 potential grant opportunities for a project on climate-smart livestock production. The output should be in a tabular form with the following columns - Funding Agency, Grant Name, Maximum Award Amount, Application Deadline, Eligibility Restrictions (e.g. career stage, citizenship) and URL”.
- Adaptive: be flexible and creative with your prompts. Experiment with various prompt formulations and phrasing. Example “The previous list included several grants requiring industry matching funds. Please revise the list to include only opportunities that do not require industry matching funds. Additionally, prioritize grants that allow for international collaboration”.
- Reflective: critically evaluate the outputs and improve your prompts. To help with evaluating and verifying the outputs generated by an AI tool, consult the Library webpage Evaluating AI Content.
For more detailed guidance, including examples of the CLEAR framework and tips for writing effective prompts, consult the U of A Library webpage Evaluating AI Content and the Google Workspace Learning Center: Tips to write prompts for Gemini.
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¹ Lo, L. S. (2023). The CLEAR path: A framework for enhancing information literacy through prompt engineering. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 49(4), 102720. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2023.102720