grant-budget-guide
Prepare and justify research grant budgets across funding agencies
Profile →npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills --skill grant-budget-guide --agent claude-code
Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.
Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.
# Grant Budget Guide A skill for preparing realistic, well-justified research grant budgets. Covers common budget categories across major funding agencies (NSF, NIH, ERC, EPSRC, NSERC), cost estimation methods, budget justification writing, common mistakes that trigger reviewer concerns, and strategies for handling budget cuts during negotiation. ## Budget Categories ### Standard Budget Structure Most funding agencies use similar budget categories, though terminology and rules vary. Understanding the universal structure helps when applying to any funder. ``` Standard Grant Budget Categories: 1. PERSONNEL (typically 50-70% of total) a. Principal Investigator (PI) salary + benefits b. Co-PI salary + benefits c. Postdoctoral researchers d. Graduate research assistants (stipend + tuition) e. Undergraduate assistants f. Research technicians / lab managers g. Administrative support (if justified) 2. EQUIPMENT (items > agency threshold, e.g., > $5,000) a. Major equipment purchases b. Fabrication costs c. Computer hardware (if specialized) Note: Standard office computers usually NOT allowed 3. TRAVEL a. Domestic conference travel b. International conference travel c. Fieldwork travel d. Co
- Budget Categories
- Standard Budget Structure
- Cost Estimation
- Personnel Cost Calculation
- Inflation and Multi-Year Projections
- Budget Justification Writing
- Structure and Tone
- Agency-Specific Rules
- Common Restrictions by Funder
- Common Budget Mistakes
- Red Flags That Concern Reviewers
- Handling Budget Cuts
- Negotiation Strategies
What does the grant-budget-guide skill do?
Prepare and justify research grant budgets across funding agencies
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills --skill grant-budget-guide --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.
Where does this skill come from?
From brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills, a repository with 3,244 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.
Is a popular skill a good skill?
Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.