thesis fund administration

• Investment thesis

What is an investment thesis?

Why you need a solid investment thesis, how to write an investment thesis , step one: determine your minimum viable fund size, step two: pinpoint your investment focus, step three: portfolio construction , how to present your fund thesis to lps, investment thesis example.

Breaking into the venture capital ecosystem is both challenging and competitive. Having a great investment thesis is key to running a successful VC fund. Without a clear investment strategy and effective portfolio construction , your fund won’t get very far.

In this article, we’ll cover how you can develop a strong investment thesis.

In private equity and venture capital , an investment thesis (sometimes called a fund thesis or fund strategy) outlines how you plan to use invested capital to generate returns. Your investment thesis clarifies how you’ll make money for the investors in your fund—it’s a definition of what your fund will do. 

Your investment thesis may include:

Your fund size

The number of companies in your portfolio

The stages and industries of those companies

The geographies those companies are located in

The differentiated way your fund will support your portfolio companies

Your average check size

The amount of capital reserved for follow-on investments

The return profile for your fund, based on the size of the stakes you’re trying to take in each company and your estimated success rate

How the fund will set itself apart from similarly sized or focused funds

An investment thesis tells a story by describing how each of these elements work together. 

Your fund’s investment thesis explains how you’ll cooperate with, compete with, and differentiate from other venture funds. An effective fund investment thesis is realistic and sustainable. It aligns with your investment team’s network of professional contacts (which provides access to deals), untapped opportunities in new and existing markets, and your LPs’ investment interests. 

Your fund thesis also supports compliance with the “ venture capital fund ” definition under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 , which is important if you plan to rely on the related regulatory exemption for private funds. 

Creating your own fund investment thesis involves determining fund size, investment focus, and portfolio construction. 

The size of your fund influences almost every element of your investment strategy: The number of companies in your portfolio, your check size, the amount of reserve capital you have, and the return profile for your fund. Fund size also affects the types of LPs you attract and helps determine your fund’s portfolio management fees, which then dictate the operational expenses you can realistically support. 

Competitive research

To determine your ideal fund size, start by researching funds with goals and benchmarks like yours to see how they’re faring. You may also want to research successful funds across a handful of different industries and sectors to see what works. You can learn more information about funds by subscribing to trade publications, reading press releases from funds when they close, or on social media.

Once you’ve settled on a fund size, the next step is to outline the stage, industry, and location you’ll invest in. Articulating your investment focus helps narrow your aim and convince limited partners (LP) with interests in these sectors and stages to get on board with your strategy. It also makes it easier for founders who meet your parameters to identify your fund as a potential investor—and discourages founders who aren’t a good fit from pitching your firm.

At what point in a company’s life cycle do you want to invest and offer guidance? If you’re interested in being a sounding board for early-stage companies who are just getting started, you might want to invest at the pre-seed , seed , or Series A stages. However, if you prefer to work with companies that already have steady revenue and an established business model, you’ll probably want to focus on a later stage. 

Ultimately, the stage where you can focus your investments will be a function of your fund size and the anticipated number of companies in your portfolio. So keep this top of mind when building out your minimal viable fund size.   

Which sectors are you interested in? Do you plan to target a specific industry—like healthcare, fintech, or real estate—or focus on companies across a handful of different industries? 

Where are the companies you’ll be investing in? What particular challenges and assets do they have because of where they operate? You may choose to invest in local companies if you already have a deep network of contacts nearby. On the other hand, if you’re open to traveling, or want to capitalize on emerging, international, or underserved markets, you may want to expand your reach. This may also apply if your fund’s investment thesis is based on industry, for example, so you may be agnostic to geography. 

Other considerations

Depending on your investment goals, you might have other criteria to look at, like a company’s social impact, environmental influence, or commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

A thoughtful portfolio is critical to running a successful fund and shaping your overall investment thesis. Your strategy for portfolio construction signals to LPs how you plan to allocate their capital across investments. Your fund’s investment portfolio is essentially the roadmap for the life of the fund. It spells out the number of companies you’ll invest in, the amount of capital you’ll pour into each company, your target ownership for each company, how much you’ll set aside for initial investments, and how much you’ll reserve for follow-on investments.

Portfolio construction is made up of the following elements: 

Investment focus

Diversification: Types of companies you’ll invest in and what percent of the fund will be for non-qualifying investments or investments outside the thesis

Check size: The amount you’ll invest in each company

Investment horizon: How long you have to allocate the capital and how long you’ll hold each investment

Expected returns: How much you expect to return on the capital invested

Investor requirements: Maximum or minimum contributions

A good rule of practice is to ensure that your investments align with your portfolio construction model before making each investment decision, and then actively thereafter. Set aside time to regularly evaluate whether your investments align with your model, and where to course-correct. If your investments deviate from your original thesis, you’ll need to adjust your model or reset your focus. This is particularly important to track if you include a specific investment thesis in your fund’s legal documents.

Learn more about how to create a portfolio construction strategy

Most VCs prepare versions of their fund thesis that go into different levels of detail, ranging from a one-sentence elevator pitch, like the example below, to a full pitch deck.

You should be able to sum up your fund strategy in one or two straightforward sentences. Here’s an example investment thesis from a hypothetical venture fund:

“Krakatoa Ventures is raising a $25 million seed fund to back U.S.-based startups focused on climate technology and earth sciences. The fund will capitalize a highly specialized network of climate scientists the general partners developed during their two decades of academic study in volcanology and climatology.”

→Ready to make a full pitch deck for LPs? Prepare for your next meeting with investors using our free pitch deck template and example pitch decks .

This example highlights a key aspect of a great fund strategy: It shouldn’t be a thesis that just anybody can go out and execute. Your edge, such as your personal experience and network, are integral parts of the plan. Articulate why you’re better positioned than anyone else to execute your investment thesis.

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A Guide to Fund Administration

Key insights and best practices.

Fund administration has become an increasingly popular way for fund managers to outsource their accounting, financial, and reporting duties. What exactly is it, and how does it compare to onboarding an in-house administration team? In this interview with Finally Fund Admin, we’ll go over some of the basics of fund administration.

What is Fund Administration?

Fund administration is a third-party service that assists funds on their administrative functions. The services provided include, but are not limited to:

• Tax filings
• Capital calls and distributions
• Asset valuations
• Investor communications
• Limited partner reporting
• Accounting and audits

Outsourcing administrative functions frees up time for fund managers to focus on analyzing investment opportunities and marketing and fundraising for the fund. With the growth of the venture capital and private equity industries, fund administration has also cemented itself as a key service for funds.

The Logistics

Fund administrators may get involved as early as the fund formation stage to assist clients with entity structuring. They provide templates for legal documents and connect fund managers with legal counsel for additional customization. As funds launch and wind up, fund administrators may work with accountants to provide specific tax expertise to clients.

Funds are provided with client portals for their limited partners and assigned account managers with signatory authority for administrative documents. Capital calls and distributions are made through client portals, which are linked to the funds’ bank accounts. Fund managers may authorize account managers to handle communications with limited partners, legal counsel, and accountants directly. 

Fund Administration vs. In-House Administration

While larger funds may prefer to onboard in-house administration teams under their management companies, smaller funds may find this too costly to do so. Fund administration is a fraction of the cost of hiring employees to manage administrative functions. Additionally, fund administrators are typically well-connected to external legal counsel and accountants (who may offer discounts on services), meaning that fund managers can save time and money on finding other professionals for their funds.

What is the downside of fund administration? Some funds may be so specialized and structured in such unique ways that conventional methods of administration might not work. Since fund administration is designed on economies of scale, if your fund requires special ways of administration, then you may want to consult with your fund administrator to see if they are capable of handling your business needs. They may refer you to legal counsel to see if there is a solution that works for everyone.

Is Fund Administration For You?

If you are still in the early stages of planning your fund, you may want to build out your fund thesis before consulting with a fund administrator on the points mentioned above. While fund administrators may assist you on many aspects of planning, such as entity structuring with legal counsel, it is up to you to design the operational model for your fund. This includes your plans for:

• Marketing your fund
• Fundraising from limited partners
• Investing in portfolio companies
• Constructing a distribution scheme for capital contributions
• Onboarding employees

Fund administrators will ask you about these plans so that they can set up an administration model for you. This includes the way your account manager will handle your investor communications, the way legal counsel will structure your documents, and the way accountants will structure your tax strategy. 

Which Fund Administrator Should You Choose?

If you have been following fund administration news, you may have heard of the collapse of Assure, which was caused by both internal mismanagement and the inconsistent provision of fund administration services. Other competitors are currently facing down rounds in valuation and are operating at a loss. 

Funds can have a lifespan of more than ten years, so it is important to make sure that your fund administrator will still be in business when you wind up. In choosing a fund administrator, make sure that it offers high quality services at a price that makes sense for its business model. Feel free to ask your fund administrator about its pricing model and profit margin.

Final Words

If you are looking for an efficient, cost-effective way to manage your fund’s administrative functions, then fund administration may be for you. Fund administrators can provide you with a network of legal professionals and accountants to assist you at various stages, from structuring your fund at the very beginning to providing complex tax advisory services upon distribution and at later stages. Once you develop your fund thesis, you can start looking into whether fund administration works with your operational model.

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Home » Blog » Fund Management » What is an Investment Thesis and 3 Tips to Make One

What is an Investment Thesis and 3 Tips to Make One

• July 10, 2022
• Lanturn Content Team
• Fund Management

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Whether you are a start-up founder or a first-time fund manager, learning how to write an investment thesis, can greatly assist you in attracting venture capital. Venture capital is a promising route, it can provide you with access to cash and expert advisors who can assist with day-to-day operations. Furthermore, venture capitalists can help guide you on your journey towards becoming the next big thing. In this article, we will provide you with tips for crafting an investment thesis, and offer insights into fund management and investing.

As a business-friendly region for aspiring fund managers and startups, Singapore is no stranger to venture capital, as evidenced by the total number of Singapore-based startups backed by venture capital reaching  S$11.2 billion in the first nine months of 2021 , doubling the whole amount raised in 2020. Although the number is predicted to increase in the coming years, it is crucial to remember that venture capital investors are highly selective; they will not invest in a company without thorough due diligence and vetting.

What is an investment thesis?

Would you invest in a business with no vision, guiding principles, or viability? Most likely, you will pass on the idea, no matter how much return is promised. This is why an investment thesis becomes crucial.

An investment thesis is a proposal that venture capitalists and investors make regarding a particular investment or entire asset class before investing in it. The thesis states their belief about why a particular investment will give them a good return in the future. Therefore, meticulous research is required to predict potential growth and determine the current market sentiment. If the thesis remains valid, then the investment should be continued, even in a downturn. Meanwhile, if the thesis turns out to be false, the asset can be sold and the investor can move on.

If you are a startup founder seeking investment, you must check if the goal of your startup is aligned with the investment thesis of the investor even before you pitch to them, so as not to waste time. For example, if your startup is about saving the climate, you should find an investor whose investment thesis is about impact investing. Other examples of investment thesis could be about a positive outlook on crypto or about investing in real estate.

You can  get a fundraising consultant  to help you with this.

How to make an investment thesis?

An investment thesis is not something that can be done on a whim. It must be well-thought-out. Here are three steps that you should take in creating an investment thesis:

Determine the cause of the trend

In crafting an investment thesis, you should elaborate on the trends that support your view of why this new venture would be a success. For instance, if you want people to back your new fintech venture, you may want to state that in today’s digital age, people are increasingly spending their time online and becoming dependent on mobile devices, including when it comes to their finances. They want everything to be instant and within reach, just by the tap of a finger.

This presents an opportunity for fintech to fill the demand, especially as mobile and internet penetration continues to increase worldwide. This section should support your view on why investing in fintech will pay off down the line. Remember to include market size potential or appetite for the service to bolster your argument.

Moreover, you should assess whether the industry itself has a place in the foreseeable future. As the world becomes more interconnected, it can be said that the probability of digital banking and fintech adoption is relatively high. Such a view was further realised during the pandemic when lockdowns and social distancing measures meant customers needed to find a new way to fulfil their financial needs — ultimately leading to a boom in fintech usage.

Assess the existing trend

After researching the cause of a given trend and market sentiment, it is time to make the case for why investors should back companies that will fit the investment thesis.

For instance, people started to rely on their smartphones, which became all-encompassing devices that answered every need at about the same time that internet penetration seemed to increase every year. It was in this environment that Grab, a booking platform for taxis in Southeast Asia, first started. Since then, they have transformed into the Super App that it is known for today, providing car rides, food, and even grocery shopping and investing services.

Becoming the first in Southeast Asia allowed Grab to establish market share and dominance long before other competitors. While it is true that Gojek was established in 2010, they relied on traditional call centre service for the first few years of operations and just started using an app in 2015. Additionally, they did not expand their Southeast Asia operations until much later, unlike Grab, which expanded to Singapore a year into operations.

This applies to all businesses and startups, not just digital native companies. For example, if you want to open a coffee shop, you must know the potential market in your area and list down the reasons why your coffee shop has potential. Perhaps it is located in a trendy and upcoming neighbourhood surrounded by commercial and residential properties, or you have a Korean-inspired flavour, piggybacking on the buzz surrounding anything Korean nowadays.

By highlighting these differentiating factors in your investment thesis, you effectively showcase why your venture has a competitive edge and the potential to succeed amidst the existing trend. This will attract investor interest and support for your startup.

Consider the risks involved

While starting a business may offer you a fantastic upside, it is still a risky endeavour. Even if you have the experience, starting something new does not always go according to plan. Therefore, it is often said that becoming an entrepreneur is not for the faint of heart. Not everyone has the stomach to ride the ups and downs of establishing a new venture.

You may have grand plans in your head, but executing them into reality is a different ball game. That is why you need to list the possible worst-case scenarios that might occur in your startup and how you will address them to minimise their risk. This will give your investors confidence in your business, meaning that your business is not a flash-in-the-pan startup idea but a well-thought-out one with viability in the future.

Harking back to the fintech example, the risks could be cyber-attacks on the platform or hesitancy to adopt digital platforms, particularly among older generations, which may impact market reach and investment return. Your investment thesis should include ways to deal with such incidents, including hiring and training security experts and regularly holding workshops for seniors in urban and rural areas.

An investment thesis is a written document that explains why you believe investing in a specific asset will yield a good return in the long run. The belief should be backed by comprehensive research and analysis, not driven by a fear of missing out on the current investment trends or following the tips of an influencer. The document will function as a guide or reference to keep your emotions in check on the roller coaster ride of investing.

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Writing a Credible Investment Thesis

Only a third of acquiring executives actually write down the reasons for doing a deal.

By David Harding and Sam Rovit

• November 15, 2004

Every deal your company proposes to do—big or small, strategic or tactical—should start with a clear statement how that particular deal would create value for your company. We call this the investment thesis. The investment thesis is no more or less than a definitive statement, based on a clear understanding of how money is made in your business, that outlines how adding this particular business to your portfolio will make your company more valuable. Many of the best acquirers write out their investment theses in black and white. Joe Trustey, managing partner of private equity and venture capital firm Summit Partners, describes the tool in one short sentence: "It tells me why I would want to own this business."

Perhaps you're rolling your eyes and saying to yourself, "Well, of course our company uses an investment thesis!" But unless you're in the private equity business—which in our experience is more disciplined in crafting investment theses than are corporate buyers—the odds aren't with you. For example, our survey of 250 senior executives across all industries revealed that only 29% of acquiring executives started out with an investment thesis (defined in that survey as a "sound reason for buying a company") that stood the test of time. More than 40% had no investment thesis whatsoever (!). Of those who did, fully half discovered within three years of closing the deal that their thesis was wrong.

Studies conducted by other firms support the conclusion that most companies are terrifyingly unclear about why they spend their shareholders' capital on acquisitions. A 2002 Accenture study, for example, found that 83% of executives surveyed admitted they were unable to distinguish between the value levers of M&A deals. In Booz Allen Hamilton's 1999 review of thirty-four frequent acquirers, which focused chiefly on integration, unsuccessful acquirers admitted that they fished in uncharted waters. They ranked "learning about new (and potentially related) business areas" as a top reason for making an acquisition. (Surely companies should know whether a business area is related to their core before they decide to buy into it!) Successful acquirers, by contrast, were more likely to cite "leading or responding to industry restructuring" as a reason for making an acquisition, suggesting that these companies had at least thought through the strategic implications of their moves.

Not that tipping one's hat to strategy is a cure-all. In our work with companies that are thinking about doing a deal, we often hear that the acquisition is intended for "strategic" reasons. That's simply not good enough. A credible investment thesis should describe a concrete benefit, rather than a vaguely stated strategic value.

A credible investment thesis should describe a concrete benefit, rather than a vaguely stated strategic value. This point needs underscoring. Justifying a deal as being "strategic" ex post facto is, in most cases, an invitation to inferior returns. Given how frequently we have heard weak "strategic" justifications after a deal has closed, it's worth passing along a warning from Craig Tall, vice chair of corporate development and strategic planning at Washington Mutual. In recent years, Tall's bank has made acquisitions a key part of a stunningly successful growth record. "When I see an expensive deal," Tall told us, "and they say it was a 'strategic' deal, it's a code for me that somebody paid too much."

And although sometimes the best offense is a good defense, this axiom does not really stand in for a valid investment thesis. On more than a few occasions, we have been witness to deals that were initiated because an investment banker uttered the Eight Magic Words: If you don't buy it, your competitors will.

Well, so be it. If a potential acquisition is not compelling to you on its own merits, let it go. Let your competitors put their good money down, and prove that their investment theses are strong.

Let's look at a case in point: [Clear Channel Communications' leaders Lowry, Mark and Randall] Mayses' decision to move from radios into outdoor advertising (billboards, to most of us). Based on our conversations with Randall Mays, we summarize their investment thesis for buying into the billboard business as follows:

Clear Channel's expansion into outdoor advertising leverages the company's core competencies in two ways: First, the local market sales force that is already in place to sell radio ads can now sell outdoor ads to many of the same buyers, and Clear Channel is uniquely positioned to sell both local and national advertisements. Second, similar to the radio industry twenty years ago, the outdoor advertising industry is fragmented and undercapitalized. Clear Channel has the capital needed to "roll up" a significant fraction of this industry, as well as the cash flow and management systems needed to reduce operating expenses across a consolidated business.

Note that in Clear Channel's investment thesis (at least as we've stated it), the benefits would be derived from three sources:

• Leveraging an existing sales force more extensively
• Using the balance sheet to roll up and fund an undercapitalized business
• Applying operating skills learned in the radio trade

Note also the emphasis on tangible and quantifiable results, which can be easily communicated and tested. All stakeholders, including investors, employees, debtors and vendors, should understand why a deal will make their company stronger. Does the investment thesis make sense only to those who know the company best? If so, that's probably a bad sign. Is senior management arguing that a deal's inherent genius is too complex to be understood by all stakeholders, or simply asserting that the deal is "strategic"? These, too, are probably bad signs.

Most of the best acquirers we've studied try to get the thesis down on paper as soon as possible. Getting it down in black and white—wrapping specific words around the ideas—allows them to circulate the thesis internally and to generate reactions early and often.

The perils of the "transformational" deal. Some readers may be wondering whether there isn't a less tangible, but equally credible, rationale for an investment thesis: the transformational deal. Such transactions, which became popular in the exuberant '90s, aim to turn companies (and sometimes even whole industries) on their head and "transform" them. In effect, they change a company's basis of competition through a dramatic redeployment of assets.

The roster of companies that have favored transformational deals includes Vivendi Universal, AOL Time Warner (which changed its name back to Time Warner in October 2003), Enron, Williams, and others. Perhaps that list alone is enough to turn our readers off the concept of the transformational deal. (We admit it: We keep wanting to put that word transformational in quotes.) But let's dig a little deeper.

Sometimes what looks like a successful transformational deal is really a case of mistaken identity. In search of effective transformations, people sometimes cite the examples of DuPont—which after World War I used M&A to transform itself from a maker of explosives into a broad-based leader in the chemicals industry—and General Motors, which, through the consolidation of several car companies, transformed the auto industry. But when you actually dissect the moves of such industry winners, you find that they worked their way down the same learning curve as the best-practice companies in our global study. GM never attempted the transformational deal; instead, it rolled up smaller car companies until it had the scale to take on a Ford—and win. DuPont was similarly patient; it broadened its product scope into a range of chemistry-based industries, acquisition by acquisition.

In a more recent example, Rexam PLC has transformed itself from a broad-based conglomerate into a global leader in packaging by actively managing its portfolio and growing its core business. Beginning in the late '90s, Rexam shed diverse businesses in cyclical industries and grew scale in cans. First it acquired Europe's largest beverage—can manufacturer, Sweden's PLM, in 1999. Then it bought U.S.-based packager American National Can in 2000, making itself the largest beverage-can maker in the world. In other words, Rexam acquired with a clear investment thesis in mind: to grow scale in can making or broaden geographic scope. The collective impact of these many small steps was transformation. 14

But what of the literal transformational deal? You saw the preceding list of companies. Our advice is unequivocal: Stay out of this high-stakes game. Recent efforts to transform companies via the megadeal have failed or faltered. The glamour is blinding, which only makes the route more treacherous and the destination less clear. If you go this route, you are very likely to destroy value for your shareholders.

By definition, the transformational deal can't have a clear investment thesis, and evidence from the movement of stock prices immediately following deal announcements suggests that the market prefers deals that have a clear investment thesis. In "Deals That Create Value," for example, McKinsey scrutinized stock price movements before and after 231 corporate transactions over a five-year period. The study concluded that the market prefers "expansionist" deals, in which a company "seeks to boost its market share by consolidating, by moving into new geographic regions, or by adding new distribution channels for existing products and services."

On average, McKinsey reported, deals of the "expansionist" variety earned a stock market premium in the days following their announcement. By contrast, "transformative" deals—whereby companies threw themselves bodily into a new line of business—destroyed an average of 5.3% of market value immediately after the deal's announcement. Translating these findings into our own terminology:

• Expansionist deals are more likely to have a clear investment thesis, while "transformative" deals often have no credible rationale.
• The market is likely to reward the former and punish the latter.
• The dilution/accretion debate. One more side discussion that comes to bear on the investment thesis: Deal making is often driven by what we'll call the dilution/accretion debate. We will argue that this debate must be taken into account as you develop your investment thesis, but your thesis making should not be driven by this debate.

Sometimes what looks like a successful transformational deal is really a case of mistaken identity. Simply put, a deal is dilutive if it causes the acquiring company to have lower earnings per share (EPS) than it had before the transaction. As they teach in Finance 101, this happens when the asset return on the purchased business is less than the cost of the debt or equity (e.g., through the issuance of new shares) needed to pay for the deal. Dilution can also occur when an asset is sold, because the earnings power of the business being sold is greater than the return on the alternative use of the proceeds (e.g., paying down debt, redeeming shares or buying something else). An accretive deal, of course, has the opposite outcomes.

But that's only the first of two shoes that may drop. The second shoe is, How will Wall Street respond? Will investors punish the company (or reward it) for its dilutive ways?

Aware of this two-shoes-dropping phenomenon, many CEOs and CFOs use the litmus test of earnings accretion/dilution as the first hurdle that should be put in front of every proposed deal. One of these skilled acquirers is Citigroup's [former] CFO Todd Thomson, who told us:

It's an incredibly powerful discipline to put in place a rule of thumb that deals have to be accretive within some [specific] period of time. At Citigroup, my rule of thumb is it has to be accretive within the first twelve months, in terms of EPS, and it has to reach our capital rate of return, which is over 20% return within three to four years. And it has to make sense both financially and strategically, which means it has to have at least as fast a growth rate as we expect from our businesses in general, which is 10 to 15% a year.

Now, not all of our deals meet that hurdle. But if I set that up to begin with, then if [a deal is] not going to meet that hurdle, people know they better make a heck of a compelling argument about why it doesn't have to be accretive in year one, or why it may take year four or five or six to be able to hit that return level.

Unfortunately, dilution is a problem that has to be wrestled with on a regular basis. As Mike Bertasso, the head of H. J. Heinz's Asia-Pacific businesses, told us, "If a business is accretive, it is probably low-growth and cheap for a reason. If it is dilutive, it's probably high-growth and attractive, and we can't afford it." Even if you can't afford them, steering clear of dilutive deals seems sensible enough, on the face of it. Why would a company's leaders ever knowingly take steps that would decrease their EPS?

The answer, of course, is to invest for the future. As part of the research leading up to this book, Bain looked at a hundred deals that involved EPS accretion and dilution. All the deals were large enough and public enough to have had an effect on the buyer's stock price. The result was surprising: First-year accretion and dilution did not matter to shareholders. In other words, there was no statistical correlation between future stock performance and whether the company did an accretive or dilutive deal. If anything, the dilutive deals slightly outperformed. Why? Because dilutive deals are almost always involved in buying higher-growth assets, and therefore by their nature pass Thomson's test of a "heck of a compelling argument."

As a rule, investors like to see their companies investing in growth. We believe that investors in the stock market do, in fact, look past reported EPS numbers in an effort to understand how the investment thesis will improve the business they already own. If the investment thesis holds up to this kind of scrutiny, then some short-term dilution is probably acceptable.

Reprinted with permission of Harvard Business School Press. Mastering the Merger: Four Critical Decisions That Make or Break the Deal , by David Harding and Sam Rovit. Copyright 2004 Bain & Company; All Rights Reserved.

David Harding (HBS MBA '84) is a director in Bain & Company's Boston office and is an expert in corporate strategy and organizational effectiveness.

Sam Rovit (HBS MBA '89) is a director in the Chicago office and leader of Bain & Company's Global Mergers and Acquisitions Practice.                                              

10. Joe Trustey, telephone interview by David Harding, Bain & Company. Boston: 13 May 2003. Subsequent comments by Trustey are also from this interview.

11. Accenture, "Accenture Survey Shows Executives Are Cautiously Optimistic Regarding Future Mergers and Acquisitions," Accenture Press Release, 30 May 2002.

12. John R. Harbison, Albert J. Viscio, and Amy T. Asin, "Making Acquisitions Work: Capturing Value After the Deal," Booz Allen & Hamilton Series of View-points on Alliances, 1999.

13. Craig Tall, telephone interview by Catherine Lemire, Bain & Company. Toronto: 1 October 2002.

14. Rolf Börjesson, interview by Tom Shannon, Bain & Company. London: 2001.

15. Hans Bieshaar, Jeremy Knight, and Alexander van Wassenaer, "Deals That Create Value," McKinsey Quarterly 1 (2001).

16. Todd Thomson, speaking on "Strategic M&A in an Opportunistic Environment." (Presentation at Bain & Company's Getting Back to Offense conference, New York City, 20 June 2002.)

17. Mike Bertasso, correspondence with David Harding, 15 December 2003.

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The essential role of fund administrators in investment funds

What are fund administrators?

Fund administrators are specialised service providers that handle the administrative and operational aspects of investment funds, including private equity, hedge funds, pension funds, and other types of funds. They ensure that the fund’s day-to-day operations run smoothly, allowing fund managers to focus on investment strategies and portfolio management.

Director | Head of Advisory and Analytics

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Why fund administrators matter

Fund administrators are responsible for a fund’s overall operational efficiency. They streamline fund operations by managing a variety of tasks such as accounting, reporting, and compliance. This operational support is crucial for maintaining efficiency and accuracy in fund management, helping to reduce administrative burdens on fund managers.

Investment funds are subject to rigorous regulatory requirements. Fund administrators provide compliance and regulatory assurance by helping funds to ensure their compliance with these regulations, thereby mitigating the risk of legal issues and fines. Administrators must stay up-to-date with changes in laws and regulations, providing peace of mind to fund managers and investors alike.

Fund administrators are also responsible for preparing and delivering detailed reports on fund performance, financial statements, and investor communications. Accurate and timely reporting is essential for maintaining transparency and building trust with investors.

Managing relationships with investors is another critical function of fund administrators. A fund administrator’s role will involve handling investor inquiries, managing subscriptions and redemptions, and ensuring that all investor communications are clear and professional. This helps maintain positive investor relations and satisfaction.

And, last but certainly not least, there is the integral part that fund managers play in risk management. Effective risk management is vital to the success of any investment fund. Fund administrators assist in identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks associated with fund operations. Their expertise in risk management helps protect the fund’s assets and ensures long-term stability.

Key services provided by fund administrators

Accurate accounting is the backbone of fund administration. Fund administrators manage the fund’s accounting records, including tracking assets and liabilities, calculating net asset values (NAVs), and preparing financial statements.

Fund administrators ensure that the fund complies with all relevant regulations. These regulatory compliance duties include monitoring regulatory changes, filing necessary reports, and ensuring that the fund adheres to industry standards.

Regular performance reporting is essential to keeping investors informed. Fund administrators prepare detailed reports that provide insights into the fund’s performance, asset allocation, and other key metrics.

From handling subscriptions and redemptions to managing investor communications, fund administrators provide comprehensive investor services. They ensure that all investor-related processes are handled efficiently and transparently.

Managing tax obligations can be complex for investment funds. Fund administrators provide tax services, including tax reporting, filing, and compliance, ensuring that the fund meets all tax-related requirements.

The importance of technology in fund administration

The role of technology in fund administration cannot be overstated. Advanced software and technology platforms enable fund administrators to automate routine tasks, enhance data accuracy, and provide real-time reporting. This not only improves operational efficiency, but also helps in maintaining compliance and managing risks more effectively.

The heart of an investment fund’s team

Fund administrators play a crucial role in the smooth operation and success of investment funds. By handling administrative tasks, ensuring compliance, managing investor relations, and providing accurate reporting, they allow fund managers to focus on their core responsibilities of investment strategy and portfolio management.

As the investment landscape continues to evolve, the expertise and services provided by fund administrators will remain indispensable, ensuring that funds operate efficiently, transparently, and in compliance with regulatory requirements.

For fund administrators seeking to enhance their operational efficiency and investor satisfaction, partnering with a reliable external fund advisory team is a strategic decision that can yield significant long-term benefits.

Achieve trust, transparency and security with a single platform. A leading solution for companies looking to digitise and automate their risk management, leveraging Intelligence, Diligence and Security.

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Fund administrators are specialised service providers that handle the administrative and operational aspects of investment funds.

Due diligence in private equity: Assessing risk to gain reward

In the competitive and high-stakes world of private equity, thorough due diligence is indispensable.

Outsourcing due diligence: Considerations for asset owners

Due diligence is one area in which organisations can immediately reap the benefits of outsourcing.

Investment Fund Administration

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The Academy for Investment Fund Executive Education and Development ( www.fundsacademy.ie ) was established with the support of funding from the Human Capital Initiative: Pillar 3. It is a joint initiative between academia (SETU Waterford and Munster Technological University - Cork) and the regionally-based investment fund administration sector (lead partners State Street International and BNY Mellon).

Our very first project is to develop and deliver an MBS in Investment Fund Administration. This is your route to an advanced qualification that will underpin your future career and development within the investment fund administration industry.

Automation and technology are changing the way we work and the fund administration sector is not immune. In order to future proof your career, identifying and developing those skills that are not easily automatable is key. The skills that will remain in demand are those that require judgement, skills that are transferrable to a variety of tasks and skills that are non-routine with an emphasis on cognitive and interactive tasks. The MBS in Investment Fund Administration had been designed to address general and sector specific skills and knowledge required to advance your career in the investment fund administration sector.

A core principle of the programme is collaboration: an interaction between academia and industry. Companies that are part of the investment fund administration sector have been involved in all aspects of the development of the programme, from high level programme learning outcomes to individual module content. This ensures that the programme and its delivery meets the needs of those currently in the industry. The intention is not to replicate in-house training programmes but to add to those programmes and provide participants with the intellectual and skills platform required to enhance their career prospects.

In order to be eligible for this programme, you need to have a level 8 honours degree and some work experience within the investment fund sector.

Recognition of Prior Learning

If you do not have a level 8 honours degree then it is possible that you may be eligible if you can provide evidence of a broader portfolio of training, learning and experience. This process is call RPL (recognition of prior learning) and both SETU Waterford and MTU can help you navigate these processes. 

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Home > Colleges and Schools > Business > Business Administration ETDs

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

Theses and dissertations published by graduate students in the Business Administration program, College of Business, Old Dominion University, since Fall 2016 are available in this collection. Backfiles of all dissertations (and some theses) have also been added.

In late Fall 2025, all theses will be digitized and available here. In the meantime, consult the Library Catalog to find older items in print.

Theses/Dissertations from 2023 2023

Dissertation: Two Essays on Industry Tournament Incentives , Sarah Almisher

Dissertation: Two Essays on Investor Sentiment , Amin Amoulashkarian

Dissertation: Two Essays on Retail Trading , Qiqi Liang

Dissertation: Two Essays in Real Estate Dynamics , Navid Safari

Dissertation: Firm Capabilities, Great Power Competition, and the Structural Reshaping of Globalization , Samuel Wilson

Theses/Dissertations from 2022 2022

Dissertation: Three Essays on Stock Price Informativeness, Stock Price Momentum, and Firm Investment Efficiency , Chen Chen

Dissertation: Exploring Blockchain-Based Digital Transformation In Organizations , Weiru Chen

Dissertation: Two Essays on Antecedents and Effects of Award-Winning CEOS , Veronika Ciarleglio

Dissertation: Two’s a Crowd? Implications of Economic Geography for Corporate Governance , Matthew Farrell

Dissertation: Two Essays on the Effects of CEO Social Activism , Habib Islam

Dissertation: Two Essays on the Role of Empathy in Consumer Response to User-Generated Content , Mohammadali Koorank Beheshti

Dissertation: Three Essays on the Effects of Other Customer Brand Tie and Employee Behavior on Consumer Behavior , Saeed Zal

Dissertation: Three Essays on CEO Traits, Corporate Investment Decisions, and Firm Value , Rongyao Zhang

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

Dissertation: Two Essays on Antecedents and Effects of Board Female Representation Non-Conformity , Fatemeh Askarzadeh

Dissertation: Application of Optimization Techniques in Corporate Cash Management , Venkateswara Reddy Dondeti

Dissertation: Two Essays on Corruption, FDI, and Digitalization , Mahdi Forghani Bajestani

Dissertation: Two Essays on the Information Embedded in Flow of Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) , Hamed Yousefi

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

Dissertation: The Influence of Mating Motives on Reliance on Form Versus Function in Product Choice , Seyed Hamid Abbassi Hosseini

Dissertation: Three Essays on CEO Characteristics and Corporate Bankruptcy , Rajib Chowdhury

Dissertation: The Effects of CEO Dismissal Risk and Skills on Risky Corporate Decisions and CEO Compensation , Son T. Dang

Dissertation: Essay 1: How We Feel: The Role of Macro-Economic Sentiment in Advertising Spending-Sales Relationship; Essay 2: It Was the Best of Times; It Was the Worst of Times: The Effect of Emotional Uncertainty and Arousal on Healthy Food Choices , Leila Khoshghadam

Dissertation: The Accumulation of IT Capability And Its Long-Term Effect on Financial Performance , Jin Ho Kim

Dissertation: Three Essays on the Roles of Review Valence and Conflict in Online Relationships , Ran Liu

Dissertation: Two Essays on the Microstructure of the Housing Market: Agents' Diffused Effort and Sellers' Behavior Bias , Zhaohui Li

Dissertation: Two Essays on CEO Overconfidence in Relation to Speed of Adjustment of Firm Financial Policy and CEO Inside Debt , Xiang Long

Dissertation: Pricing the Cloud: An Auction Approach , Yang Lu

Dissertation: Two Essays on Consumer Envy , Murong Miao

Dissertation: Two Essays on Negotiations Between Entrepreneurs and Angel Investors , Aydin Selim Oksoy

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

Dissertation: Two Essays on Bitcoin Price and Volume , Mohammad Bayani Khaknejad

Dissertation: Two Essays on Investor Attention, Investor Sentiment, and Earnings Pricing , Qiuye Cai

Dissertation: Success Factors Impacting Artificial Intelligence Adoption --- Perspective From the Telecom Industry in China , Hong Chen

Dissertation: Early Information Access to Alleviate Emergency Department Congestion , Anjee Gorkhali

Dissertation: Two Essays on the Consumer Acculturation Process – A Need for and Development of a Consumer Acculturation Measure , Kristina Marie Harrison

Dissertation: Three Essays on CEO Characteristics and Corporate Decisions , Trung Nguyen

Dissertation: Two Essays on the Effects of Organization Capital on Firm Behavior , Andrew Root

Dissertation: Underlying Factors Behind Generation of Different Types of User-Generated Content - Impact of Individual and Brand/Product Level Factors in Generation of Brand-Oriented Content and Community-Oriented Content , Kemal Cem Soylemez

Dissertation: Customers’ Goal-Related Behavior in Loyalty Programs , Junzhou Zhang

Theses/Dissertations from 2018 2018

Dissertation: Security Risk Tolerance in Mobile Payment: A Trade-off Framework , Yong Chen

Dissertation: Numerical Framing and Emotional Arousal as Moderators of Review Valence and Consumer Choices , Anh Dang

Dissertation: Three Essays on CEO Risk Preferences, and Ability, Corporate Hedging Decisions, and Investor Sentiment , Sonik Mandal

Dissertation: Two Essays on the Creation and Success of New Ventures , Amirmahmood Amini Sedeh

Dissertation: Effectiveness of Social Media Analytics on Detecting Service Quality Metrics in the U.S. Airline Industry , Xin Tian

Dissertation: Two Essays on Value Co-Creation , Hangjun Xu

Theses/Dissertations from 2017 2017

Dissertation: Two Essays on Forced CEO Turnover During Envy Merger Waves, and Dividends , Bader Almuhtadi

Dissertation: The Role of Consumer Ethnocentrism on the Effects of Domestic vs Foreign Product Failure on Post Consumption Emotions and Complaint Behaviors , Kittinand Bandhumasuta

Dissertation: The Impact of Help-Self and Help-Others Appeals Upon Participation in Clinical Research Trials , Susan Lewis Casey

Dissertation: Is Every Tweet Created Equal? A Framework to Identify Relevant Tweets for Business Research , Thad Chee

Dissertation: Three Essays on Mutual Funds, Fund Management Skills, and Investor Sentiment , Feng Dong

Dissertation: Two Essays on the Impact of Institutional Structures on Entrepreneurship: Country Level Analysis , Mehdi Sharifi Khobdeh

Dissertation: Two Essays on the Antecedents and Effects of Internationalizing Out of Emerging and Developed Economies , Mark Robert Mallon

Dissertation: From Placebo to Panacea: Exploring the Influence of Price, Suspicion, and Persuasion Knowledge on Consumers’ Perception of Quality , Vahid Rahmani

Dissertation: Essays on the El Niño Anomaly and Stock Return Predictability , Zhijun Yang

Theses/Dissertations from 2016 2016

Dissertation: The Effect of XBRL and Social Media on Information Asymmetry: Evidence from Bank Loan Contracts , Dazhi Chong

Dissertation: Two Essays on CEO Inside Debt Holding in Relation to Firm Payout Policy and Financial Reporting , Asligul Erkan

Dissertation: Two Essays on The Internationalization Speed of New Ventures , Orhun Guldiken

Dissertation: Two Essays on Shareholder Base, Firm Behavior, and Firm Value , Yi Jian

Dissertation: Valence or Volume? Maximizing Online Review Influence Across Consumers, Products, and Marketing , Elika Kordrostami

Dissertation: Essays on the Equity Risk Premium , Mohamed Mehdi Rahoui

Dissertation: A Study of the Impact of Information Blackouts on the Bullwhip Effect of a Supply Chain Using Discrete-Event Simulations , Elizabeth Rasnick

Dissertation: Two Essays on Investor Emotions and Their Effects in Financial Markets , Jiancheng Shen

Dissertation: Two Studies on The Use of Information Technology in Collaborative Planning, Forecasting & Replenishment (CPFR) , David McCaw Simmonds

Dissertation: Founder CEOs and Initial Public Offerings: The Role of Narratives, Institutions and Cultural Context , Christina Helen Tupper

Dissertation: Ambidexterity: The Interplay of Supply Chain Management Competencies and Enterprise Resource Planning Systems on Organizational Performance , Serdar Turedi

Dissertation: Two Essays on Short Selling , Zhaobo Zhu

Dissertation: Buying Love Through Social Media: How Different Types Of Incentives Impact Consumers’ Online Sharing Behavior , Yueming Zou

Theses/Dissertations from 2015 2015

Dissertation: Three Essays on Dividend Policy , Mehmet Deren Caliskan

Dissertation: "The Magic Formula: Scent and Brand"- The Influence of Olfactory Sensory Co-Branding on Consumer Evaluations and Experiences , Ceren Ekebas

Dissertation: The Value of Integrated Information Systems for U.S. General Hospitals , Liuliu Fu

Dissertation: Two Essays on Managerial Horizon, Cash Holdings and Earnings Management , Sanjib Guha

Dissertation: Three Essays on Opportunistic Claiming Behavior in a Services Setting: Customers and Front Line Employees Perspectives , Denis Khantimirov

Dissertation: Spillover Effects of Brand Alliance and Service Experience on Host Brands in Loyalty Program Partnerships , Gulfem Cigdem Kutlu

Dissertation: Measuring Consumer Expectations of Salesperson Unethicality: A Scale Development , Amiee Mellon

Dissertation: Essays on International Risk-Return Trade-Off Relations , Liang Meng

Dissertation: Two Essays on Investor Attention and Asset Pricing , Nadia Asmaa Nafar

Dissertation: International Venture Capital Firms Syndication and Performance: A Social Network Perspective , Amir Pezeshkan

Dissertation: Three Essays on Institutions, Entrepreneurship, and Development , Adam Smith

Theses/Dissertations from 2014 2014

Dissertation: An Empirical Examination of the Antecedents and Consequences of Earnings Management in Emerging Markets , Shuji Rosey Bao

Dissertation: Dynamic Capabilities and Resilient Organizations Amid Environmental Jolts , Stav Fainshmidt

Dissertation: An Empirical Examination of the Moderators of Direct Versus Indirect Comparative Advertising , Chun-Kai Hsu

Dissertation: Two Essays on Attracting Foreign Direct Investment: From Both a National and Firm Level Perspective , Ryan Lawrence Mason

Dissertation: The Effect of Online Reviews on Attitude and Purchase Intention: How Consumers Respond to Mixed Reviews , Chatdanai Pongpatipat

Dissertation: Three Essays on the Enterprise Strategy for Multinational Firms , Veselina Plamenova Vracheva

Dissertation: The Antecedents and Effects of Strategic Caring: A Cross-National Empirical Study , Thomas Weber

Theses/Dissertations from 2013 2013

Dissertation: International Banking sector Linkages: Did the Global Financial Crisis Strengthen or Weaken the Linkages? , James Edward Benton

Dissertation: Three Essays on Corporate Liquidity, Financial Crisis, and Real Estate , Kimberly Fowler Luchtenberg

Dissertation: Three Essays on Immigrant Entrepreneurship , Kaveh Moghaddam

Dissertation: The Response of Commercial Banks to Credit Stimuli , Denise Williams Streeter

Theses/Dissertations from 2012 2012

Dissertation: An Examination of Middle Manager Innovation Behaviors and Institutional Factors Impact on Organizational Innovation in the USA and Mexico , J. Lee Brown III

Dissertation: Essays on Foreign Reverse Mergers and Bond ETF Mispricing , Charles William Duval

Dissertation: Three Essays on Strategic Risk Taking , Krista Burrill Lewellyn

Dissertation: Two Essays on Executive Pay and Firm Performance , Thuong Quang Nguyen

Dissertation: A Study of Risk-Taking Behavior in Investment Banking , Elzotbek Rustambekov

Dissertation: A Study of Failures in the US Banking Industry , Joseph Trendowski

Dissertation: Two Essays on Behavioral Finance , Quang Viet Vu

Theses/Dissertations from 2011 2011

Dissertation: Three Essays on Individual Currency Traders , Boris Sebastian Abbey

Dissertation: Cross-listing Premium or Market Timing , Moustafa M. Abu El Fadl

Dissertation: Warranty and Price as Quality Signals: The effect of Signal Consistency and Unexpectedness on Product Perception , Sultan Alaswad Alenazi

Dissertation: The Behavior and Choices of Serial Bidders in M&A Transactions: A Prospect Theory Approach , Ahmed Essam El-Din El-Bakry

Dissertation: Two Essays on the Effect of Macroeconomic News on the Stock Market , Ajay Kongera

Dissertation: Intercultural Accommodation of Ethnic Minority Consumers: An Empirical Examination of the Moderating Effects in Service Encounters , Sarah Mady

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DYLAN LOBO, WEALTH MANAGER

Editor’s picks, hot or not: royal london keeps rutter’s old fund top with giant pension allocation, m&g exits platform market in major wealth restructure, what does dodd’s retirement mean for artemis future, mps versus multi-asset funds: which perform best, blue whale’s yiu: ‘i’m not nvidia’s investor relations team’, ai rising summer school: do asset managers need a one-stop gen ai system, fca scrutinises dfm feedback amid sdr extension rumours, who exactly is behind the £47 million bid for thesis.

There are some familiar figures behind the acquisition, with several LGT Capital private equity vehicles and property investors, the Slowe family, providing part of the funding.

In a deal that involves many complicated layers, a relatively unknown start-up has made a £47 million bid for Thesis Asset Management this week.

Regit Bidco was formed for this specific deal on 30 March by Ventiga Members, Thesis’ management team, comprising David Tyerman, Stephen Mugford and Sarah Noone, alongside family office J Leon. Once the deal completes, Thesis will be the sole direct subsidiary of Bidco.

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Grant Proposals (or Give me the money!)

What this handout is about.

This handout will help you write and revise grant proposals for research funding in all academic disciplines (sciences, social sciences, humanities, and the arts). It’s targeted primarily to graduate students and faculty, although it will also be helpful to undergraduate students who are seeking funding for research (e.g. for a senior thesis).

The grant writing process

A grant proposal or application is a document or set of documents that is submitted to an organization with the explicit intent of securing funding for a research project. Grant writing varies widely across the disciplines, and research intended for epistemological purposes (philosophy or the arts) rests on very different assumptions than research intended for practical applications (medicine or social policy research). Nonetheless, this handout attempts to provide a general introduction to grant writing across the disciplines.

Before you begin writing your proposal, you need to know what kind of research you will be doing and why. You may have a topic or experiment in mind, but taking the time to define what your ultimate purpose is can be essential to convincing others to fund that project. Although some scholars in the humanities and arts may not have thought about their projects in terms of research design, hypotheses, research questions, or results, reviewers and funding agencies expect you to frame your project in these terms. You may also find that thinking about your project in these terms reveals new aspects of it to you.

Writing successful grant applications is a long process that begins with an idea. Although many people think of grant writing as a linear process (from idea to proposal to award), it is a circular process. Many people start by defining their research question or questions. What knowledge or information will be gained as a direct result of your project? Why is undertaking your research important in a broader sense? You will need to explicitly communicate this purpose to the committee reviewing your application. This is easier when you know what you plan to achieve before you begin the writing process.

Diagram 1 below provides an overview of the grant writing process and may help you plan your proposal development.

Applicants must write grant proposals, submit them, receive notice of acceptance or rejection, and then revise their proposals. Unsuccessful grant applicants must revise and resubmit their proposals during the next funding cycle. Successful grant applications and the resulting research lead to ideas for further research and new grant proposals.

Cultivating an ongoing, positive relationship with funding agencies may lead to additional grants down the road. Thus, make sure you file progress reports and final reports in a timely and professional manner. Although some successful grant applicants may fear that funding agencies will reject future proposals because they’ve already received “enough” funding, the truth is that money follows money. Individuals or projects awarded grants in the past are more competitive and thus more likely to receive funding in the future.

Some general tips

• Begin early.
• Apply early and often.
• Don’t forget to include a cover letter with your application.
• Answer all questions. (Pre-empt all unstated questions.)
• If rejected, revise your proposal and apply again.
• Give them what they want. Follow the application guidelines exactly.
• Be explicit and specific.
• Be realistic in designing the project.
• Make explicit the connections between your research questions and objectives, your objectives and methods, your methods and results, and your results and dissemination plan.
• Follow the application guidelines exactly. (We have repeated this tip because it is very, very important.)

Before you start writing

Identify your needs and focus.

First, identify your needs. Answering the following questions may help you:

• Are you undertaking preliminary or pilot research in order to develop a full-blown research agenda?
• Are you seeking funding for dissertation research? Pre-dissertation research? Postdoctoral research? Archival research? Experimental research? Fieldwork?
• Are you seeking a stipend so that you can write a dissertation or book? Polish a manuscript?
• Do you want a fellowship in residence at an institution that will offer some programmatic support or other resources to enhance your project?
• Do you want funding for a large research project that will last for several years and involve multiple staff members?

Next, think about the focus of your research/project. Answering the following questions may help you narrow it down:

• What is the topic? Why is this topic important?
• What are the research questions that you’re trying to answer? What relevance do your research questions have?
• What are your hypotheses?
• What are your research methods?
• Why is your research/project important? What is its significance?
• Do you plan on using quantitative methods? Qualitative methods? Both?
• Will you be undertaking experimental research? Clinical research?

Once you have identified your needs and focus, you can begin looking for prospective grants and funding agencies.

Finding prospective grants and funding agencies

Whether your proposal receives funding will rely in large part on whether your purpose and goals closely match the priorities of granting agencies. Locating possible grantors is a time consuming task, but in the long run it will yield the greatest benefits. Even if you have the most appealing research proposal in the world, if you don’t send it to the right institutions, then you’re unlikely to receive funding.

There are many sources of information about granting agencies and grant programs. Most universities and many schools within universities have Offices of Research, whose primary purpose is to support faculty and students in grant-seeking endeavors. These offices usually have libraries or resource centers to help people find prospective grants.

At UNC, the Research at Carolina office coordinates research support.

The Funding Information Portal offers a collection of databases and proposal development guidance.

The UNC School of Medicine and School of Public Health each have their own Office of Research.

Writing your proposal

The majority of grant programs recruit academic reviewers with knowledge of the disciplines and/or program areas of the grant. Thus, when writing your grant proposals, assume that you are addressing a colleague who is knowledgeable in the general area, but who does not necessarily know the details about your research questions.

Remember that most readers are lazy and will not respond well to a poorly organized, poorly written, or confusing proposal. Be sure to give readers what they want. Follow all the guidelines for the particular grant you are applying for. This may require you to reframe your project in a different light or language. Reframing your project to fit a specific grant’s requirements is a legitimate and necessary part of the process unless it will fundamentally change your project’s goals or outcomes.

Final decisions about which proposals are funded often come down to whether the proposal convinces the reviewer that the research project is well planned and feasible and whether the investigators are well qualified to execute it. Throughout the proposal, be as explicit as possible. Predict the questions that the reviewer may have and answer them. Przeworski and Salomon (1995) note that reviewers read with three questions in mind:

• What are we going to learn as a result of the proposed project that we do not know now? (goals, aims, and outcomes)
• Why is it worth knowing? (significance)
• How will we know that the conclusions are valid? (criteria for success) (2)

Be sure to answer these questions in your proposal. Keep in mind that reviewers may not read every word of your proposal. Your reviewer may only read the abstract, the sections on research design and methodology, the vitae, and the budget. Make these sections as clear and straightforward as possible.

The way you write your grant will tell the reviewers a lot about you (Reif-Lehrer 82). From reading your proposal, the reviewers will form an idea of who you are as a scholar, a researcher, and a person. They will decide whether you are creative, logical, analytical, up-to-date in the relevant literature of the field, and, most importantly, capable of executing the proposed project. Allow your discipline and its conventions to determine the general style of your writing, but allow your own voice and personality to come through. Be sure to clarify your project’s theoretical orientation.

Develop a general proposal and budget

Because most proposal writers seek funding from several different agencies or granting programs, it is a good idea to begin by developing a general grant proposal and budget. This general proposal is sometimes called a “white paper.” Your general proposal should explain your project to a general academic audience. Before you submit proposals to different grant programs, you will tailor a specific proposal to their guidelines and priorities.

Organizing your proposal

Although each funding agency will have its own (usually very specific) requirements, there are several elements of a proposal that are fairly standard, and they often come in the following order:

• Introduction (statement of the problem, purpose of research or goals, and significance of research)

Literature review

• Project narrative (methods, procedures, objectives, outcomes or deliverables, evaluation, and dissemination)
• Budget and budget justification

Format the proposal so that it is easy to read. Use headings to break the proposal up into sections. If it is long, include a table of contents with page numbers.

The title page usually includes a brief yet explicit title for the research project, the names of the principal investigator(s), the institutional affiliation of the applicants (the department and university), name and address of the granting agency, project dates, amount of funding requested, and signatures of university personnel authorizing the proposal (when necessary). Most funding agencies have specific requirements for the title page; make sure to follow them.

The abstract provides readers with their first impression of your project. To remind themselves of your proposal, readers may glance at your abstract when making their final recommendations, so it may also serve as their last impression of your project. The abstract should explain the key elements of your research project in the future tense. Most abstracts state: (1) the general purpose, (2) specific goals, (3) research design, (4) methods, and (5) significance (contribution and rationale). Be as explicit as possible in your abstract. Use statements such as, “The objective of this study is to …”

Introduction

The introduction should cover the key elements of your proposal, including a statement of the problem, the purpose of research, research goals or objectives, and significance of the research. The statement of problem should provide a background and rationale for the project and establish the need and relevance of the research. How is your project different from previous research on the same topic? Will you be using new methodologies or covering new theoretical territory? The research goals or objectives should identify the anticipated outcomes of the research and should match up to the needs identified in the statement of problem. List only the principle goal(s) or objective(s) of your research and save sub-objectives for the project narrative.

Many proposals require a literature review. Reviewers want to know whether you’ve done the necessary preliminary research to undertake your project. Literature reviews should be selective and critical, not exhaustive. Reviewers want to see your evaluation of pertinent works. For more information, see our handout on literature reviews .

Project narrative

The project narrative provides the meat of your proposal and may require several subsections. The project narrative should supply all the details of the project, including a detailed statement of problem, research objectives or goals, hypotheses, methods, procedures, outcomes or deliverables, and evaluation and dissemination of the research.

For the project narrative, pre-empt and/or answer all of the reviewers’ questions. Don’t leave them wondering about anything. For example, if you propose to conduct unstructured interviews with open-ended questions, be sure you’ve explained why this methodology is best suited to the specific research questions in your proposal. Or, if you’re using item response theory rather than classical test theory to verify the validity of your survey instrument, explain the advantages of this innovative methodology. Or, if you need to travel to Valdez, Alaska to access historical archives at the Valdez Museum, make it clear what documents you hope to find and why they are relevant to your historical novel on the ’98ers in the Alaskan Gold Rush.

Clearly and explicitly state the connections between your research objectives, research questions, hypotheses, methodologies, and outcomes. As the requirements for a strong project narrative vary widely by discipline, consult a discipline-specific guide to grant writing for some additional advice.

Explain staffing requirements in detail and make sure that staffing makes sense. Be very explicit about the skill sets of the personnel already in place (you will probably include their Curriculum Vitae as part of the proposal). Explain the necessary skill sets and functions of personnel you will recruit. To minimize expenses, phase out personnel who are not relevant to later phases of a project.

The budget spells out project costs and usually consists of a spreadsheet or table with the budget detailed as line items and a budget narrative (also known as a budget justification) that explains the various expenses. Even when proposal guidelines do not specifically mention a narrative, be sure to include a one or two page explanation of the budget. To see a sample budget, turn to Example #1 at the end of this handout.

Consider including an exhaustive budget for your project, even if it exceeds the normal grant size of a particular funding organization. Simply make it clear that you are seeking additional funding from other sources. This technique will make it easier for you to combine awards down the road should you have the good fortune of receiving multiple grants.

Make sure that all budget items meet the funding agency’s requirements. For example, all U.S. government agencies have strict requirements for airline travel. Be sure the cost of the airline travel in your budget meets their requirements. If a line item falls outside an agency’s requirements (e.g. some organizations will not cover equipment purchases or other capital expenses), explain in the budget justification that other grant sources will pay for the item.

Many universities require that indirect costs (overhead) be added to grants that they administer. Check with the appropriate offices to find out what the standard (or required) rates are for overhead. Pass a draft budget by the university officer in charge of grant administration for assistance with indirect costs and costs not directly associated with research (e.g. facilities use charges).

Furthermore, make sure you factor in the estimated taxes applicable for your case. Depending on the categories of expenses and your particular circumstances (whether you are a foreign national, for example), estimated tax rates may differ. You can consult respective departmental staff or university services, as well as professional tax assistants. For information on taxes on scholarships and fellowships, see https://cashier.unc.edu/student-tax-information/scholarships-fellowships/ .

Explain the timeframe for the research project in some detail. When will you begin and complete each step? It may be helpful to reviewers if you present a visual version of your timeline. For less complicated research, a table summarizing the timeline for the project will help reviewers understand and evaluate the planning and feasibility. See Example #2 at the end of this handout.

For multi-year research proposals with numerous procedures and a large staff, a time line diagram can help clarify the feasibility and planning of the study. See Example #3 at the end of this handout.

Revising your proposal

Strong grant proposals take a long time to develop. Start the process early and leave time to get feedback from several readers on different drafts. Seek out a variety of readers, both specialists in your research area and non-specialist colleagues. You may also want to request assistance from knowledgeable readers on specific areas of your proposal. For example, you may want to schedule a meeting with a statistician to help revise your methodology section. Don’t hesitate to seek out specialized assistance from the relevant research offices on your campus. At UNC, the Odum Institute provides a variety of services to graduate students and faculty in the social sciences.

In your revision and editing, ask your readers to give careful consideration to whether you’ve made explicit the connections between your research objectives and methodology. Here are some example questions:

• Have you presented a compelling case?
• Have you made your hypotheses explicit?
• Does your project seem feasible? Is it overly ambitious? Does it have other weaknesses?
• Have you stated the means that grantors can use to evaluate the success of your project after you’ve executed it?

If a granting agency lists particular criteria used for rating and evaluating proposals, be sure to share these with your own reviewers.

Example #1. Sample Budget

Jet travel $6,100 This estimate is based on the commercial high season rate for jet economy travel on Sabena Belgian Airlines. No U.S. carriers fly to Kigali, Rwanda. Sabena has student fare tickets available which will be significantly less expensive (approximately $2,000).

Maintenance allowance $22,788 Based on the Fulbright-Hays Maintenance Allowances published in the grant application guide.

Research assistant/translator $4,800 The research assistant/translator will be a native (and primary) speaker of Kinya-rwanda with at least a four-year university degree. They will accompany the primary investigator during life history interviews to provide assistance in comprehension. In addition, they will provide commentary, explanations, and observations to facilitate the primary investigator’s participant observation. During the first phase of the project in Kigali, the research assistant will work forty hours a week and occasional overtime as needed. During phases two and three in rural Rwanda, the assistant will stay with the investigator overnight in the field when necessary. The salary of $400 per month is based on the average pay rate for individuals with similar qualifications working for international NGO’s in Rwanda.

Transportation within country, phase one $1,200 The primary investigator and research assistant will need regular transportation within Kigali by bus and taxi. The average taxi fare in Kigali is $6-8 and bus fare is $.15. This figure is based on an average of $10 per day in transportation costs during the first project phase.

Transportation within country, phases two and three $12,000 Project personnel will also require regular transportation between rural field sites. If it is not possible to remain overnight, daily trips will be necessary. The average rental rate for a 4×4 vehicle in Rwanda is $130 per day. This estimate is based on an average of $50 per day in transportation costs for the second and third project phases. These costs could be reduced if an arrangement could be made with either a government ministry or international aid agency for transportation assistance.

Email $720 The rate for email service from RwandaTel (the only service provider in Rwanda) is $60 per month. Email access is vital for receiving news reports on Rwanda and the region as well as for staying in contact with dissertation committee members and advisors in the United States.

Audiocassette tapes $400 Audiocassette tapes will be necessary for recording life history interviews, musical performances, community events, story telling, and other pertinent data.

Photographic & slide film $100 Photographic and slide film will be necessary to document visual data such as landscape, environment, marriages, funerals, community events, etc.

Laptop computer $2,895 A laptop computer will be necessary for recording observations, thoughts, and analysis during research project. Price listed is a special offer to UNC students through the Carolina Computing Initiative.

NUD*IST 4.0 software $373.00 NUD*IST, “Nonnumerical, Unstructured Data, Indexing, Searching, and Theorizing,” is necessary for cataloging, indexing, and managing field notes both during and following the field research phase. The program will assist in cataloging themes that emerge during the life history interviews.

Administrative fee $100 Fee set by Fulbright-Hays for the sponsoring institution.

Example #2: Project Timeline in Table Format

Example #3: Project Timeline in Chart Format

Some closing advice

Some of us may feel ashamed or embarrassed about asking for money or promoting ourselves. Often, these feelings have more to do with our own insecurities than with problems in the tone or style of our writing. If you’re having trouble because of these types of hang-ups, the most important thing to keep in mind is that it never hurts to ask. If you never ask for the money, they’ll never give you the money. Besides, the worst thing they can do is say no.

UNC resources for proposal writing

Research at Carolina http://research.unc.edu

The Odum Institute for Research in the Social Sciences https://odum.unc.edu/

UNC Medical School Office of Research https://www.med.unc.edu/oor

UNC School of Public Health Office of Research http://www.sph.unc.edu/research/

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Holloway, Brian R. 2003. Proposal Writing Across the Disciplines. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Levine, S. Joseph. “Guide for Writing a Funding Proposal.” http://www.learnerassociates.net/proposal/ .

Locke, Lawrence F., Waneen Wyrick Spirduso, and Stephen J. Silverman. 2014. Proposals That Work . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Przeworski, Adam, and Frank Salomon. 2012. “Some Candid Suggestions on the Art of Writing Proposals.” Social Science Research Council. https://s3.amazonaws.com/ssrc-cdn2/art-of-writing-proposals-dsd-e-56b50ef814f12.pdf .

Reif-Lehrer, Liane. 1989. Writing a Successful Grant Application . Boston: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

Wiggins, Beverly. 2002. “Funding and Proposal Writing for Social Science Faculty and Graduate Student Research.” Chapel Hill: Howard W. Odum Institute for Research in Social Science. 2 Feb. 2004. http://www2.irss.unc.edu/irss/shortcourses/wigginshandouts/granthandout.pdf.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Thesis provides custody and trade execution services to UK investors and their advisors.

Warning! Investors should be aware that the legitimate TM Stockwell Fund has recently become the target of an online scam, and a clone of this fund may be being offered to investors fraudulently. This has been reported to, and is currently being investigated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). For more information, please visit the FCA website:

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Sanlam UK buys Thesis Asset Management

Sanlam UK is to acquire Thesis Asset Management in a deal that will bring the firm’s private client discretionary assets under management (AuM) to £4.2 billion (€4.9 billion).

With a presence in the south of England, Thesis AM has £1.2 billion in AuM and a team of 30 investment professionals and supporting staff.

Sanlam UK will take on Thesis AM’s private client business, distribution network, direct support teams and its financial planning business Pallant.

According to Sanlam UK’s chief executive Jonathan Polin, Thesis is a high quality business and an “important strategic fit” for Sanlam in the UK.

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Polin stated that Sanlam has “high ambitions” to become a “leader in client-centric wealth management”. He called the acquisition of Thesis “an important milestone” toward realising this objective.

The amount Sanlam UK has paid for Thesis remained undisclosed at the time of writing.

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Funds Academy

Now accepting applications for September 2024. To make an application please select an institution or scroll down for further information on the programme.

Early to mid-stage career professionals who are ambitious to develop their careers further.

The investment fund administration sector is characterised by very well qualified individuals who have deep specialist knowledge of their area of expertise.

This programme provides participants with the opportunity to broaden their knowledge of the industry and acquire skills that will assist them as they assume management and leadership roles in their careers.

In order to be eligible for this programme, you need to have a level 8 honours degree and 12 months work experience within the investment fund sector. If you do not have a level 8 honours degree then it is possible that you may be eligible if you can provide evidence of a broader portfolio of training, learning and experience. This process is call RPL (recognition of prior learning) and both SETU and MTU can help you navigate these processes.

• The programme is being offered in 2 institutions, Munster Technological University (MTU) and South East Technological University (SETU). While you will register with one institution there will be opportunities to meet participants on the ‘sister’ programme in the other institution.
• The programme is a unique mix of professional development and sector specific knowledge that will help you to advance your career.
• Multiple exit options means that you will get an award for what you have learned.
• The programme offers the flexibility of online learning with the benefit of an onsite experience also. This allows participants to develop their own personal network within the industry and develop their team and organisational skills through group assessments
• Different forms of assessment with a reduced emphasis on exams. This does not mean that there are less assessments but you will not have to experience the stress of exams, your grade will not be dependent on your performance over a 2 hour window and you will have greater control over assessment completion.

The programme is a blend of modules including:

• management development
• aspects of the funds industry
• critical thinking & analysis

These are the types of modules that will enhance your knowledge of the industry and develop key skills to allow your career to thrive in an increasingly more complicated world.

Whilst it is not possible to specify precisely who will be teaching you, the lecturing team is made up of a mix of experienced academics and industry professionals. This will allow you to hear a variety of perspectives and to get the benefit of deep sectoral knowledge along with the latest research in the field.

Uniquely, the programme is being delivered across two institutions, SETU – Waterford Campus and MTU – Cork Campus. However, you need to choose one of these locations. The same modules will be offered in both locations and the assessment methods will also be the same.

In making your decision, you may need to consider the requirement to attend on-campus for some of the lectures and your travel time to these campus-based locations

Very few of us like exams and this number gets smaller as we get older. In any case, exams are not suited to assessing many modules, this is especially true where modules address complex issues that do not lend themselves to short, bite-sized answers. On this programme, the assessment approach is the following.

• Group Assignments 
• Presentations
• Reflections

The awards attached to this programme are all at level 9 on the National Qualifications Framework. We would be delighted if everyone would complete the award to its completion to attain the MBS in Investment Fund Administration. However, we recognise that life can get in the way and to embark on a full masters award can be a daunting task.

In order to make that hill a little easier to climb, the programme has two embedded awards: a Level 9 Certificate (minor award) in Business (30 credits), a Postgraduate Diploma in Business (30 more credits, 60 in total) and the MBS in Investment Fund Administration (the final 30 credits, 90 in total).

Studying on a part-time basis it is very achievable to obtain 30 credits in an academic year, over 2 semesters. It is possible to complete the masters award in a little over 2 years – the final 30 credits on the Masters award are not lecture based therefore you have greater control over when you complete the programme. 

For the programme commencing in the academic year 22/23, the full cost of the part-time programme for Irish/EU applicants is €5,900 (MTU) and €6,250 (SETU) and €12,000 (MTU) and €11,500 (SETU) for non-Irish/non-EU applicants.

However, for those starting the programme in the academic year 2022/23, the programme is substantially subsidised through the Human Capital Initiative (Pillar 3). A reduced fee for Irish/EU applicants of €500 applies. This reduced fee is available for up to a maximum of 20 eligible applicants in each of SETU and MTU for enrollment for September 2022. Please note, that this programme does require participants to be physically present for some pre-specified classes during each semester and is categorised as a part-time programme.

Once we have accepted 20 people in each enrollment cycle at each institution, we do not intend to offer in excess of these 20 places on the programme to Irish/EU applicants, unless an applicant has declared that, in the event of the programme being over-subscribed, they would pay the full unsubsidised fee.

Applications for September 2024 are now open. Please select an institution  (SETU or MTU) from the buttons above. Places are limited to 10 per institution so early applications are encouraged.

Any applicants that meet the entry criteria will be offered places on ‘a first come first served’ basis.  

Programme Modules

The funds industry.

• Contemporary issues in the Funds Industry
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• Governance of Investment Funds
• Fund Reporting and Risk Management

Management Development

• Strategic Leadership
• Managing People
• Professional Development
• Managing Technological Change

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• Asset Management Techniques
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• Finance Research Methods
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How to Write a Dissertation or Thesis Proposal

Published on September 21, 2022 by Tegan George . Revised on July 18, 2023.

When starting your thesis or dissertation process, one of the first requirements is a research proposal or a prospectus. It describes what or who you want to examine, delving into why, when, where, and how you will do so, stemming from your research question and a relevant topic .

The proposal or prospectus stage is crucial for the development of your research. It helps you choose a type of research to pursue, as well as whether to pursue qualitative or quantitative methods and what your research design will look like.

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Table of contents

What should your proposal contain, dissertation question examples, what should your proposal look like, dissertation prospectus examples, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about proposals.

Prior to jumping into the research for your thesis or dissertation, you first need to develop your research proposal and have it approved by your supervisor. It should outline all of the decisions you have taken about your project, from your dissertation topic to your hypotheses and research objectives .

Depending on your department’s requirements, there may be a defense component involved, where you present your research plan in prospectus format to your committee for their approval.

Your proposal should answer the following questions:

• Why is your research necessary?
• What is already known about your topic?
• Where and when will your research be conducted?
• Who should be studied?
• How can the research best be done?

Ultimately, your proposal should persuade your supervisor or committee that your proposed project is worth pursuing.

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Strong research kicks off with a solid research question , and dissertations are no exception to this.

Dissertation research questions should be:

• Focused on a single problem or issue
• Researchable using primary and/or secondary sources
• Feasible to answer within the timeframe and practical constraints
• Specific enough to answer thoroughly
• Complex enough to develop the answer over the space of a paper or thesis
• Relevant to your field of study and/or society more broadly
• What are the main factors enticing people under 30 in suburban areas to engage in the gig economy?
• Which techniques prove most effective for 1st-grade teachers at local elementary schools in engaging students with special needs?
• Which communication streams are the most effective for getting those aged 18-30 to the polls on Election Day?

An easy rule of thumb is that your proposal will usually resemble a (much) shorter version of your thesis or dissertation. While of course it won’t include the results section , discussion section , or conclusion , it serves as a “mini” version or roadmap for what you eventually seek to write.

Be sure to include:

• A succinct introduction to your topic and problem statement
• A brief literature review situating your topic within existing research
• A basic outline of the research methods you think will best answer your research question
• The perceived implications for future research
• A reference list in the citation style of your choice

The length of your proposal varies quite a bit depending on your discipline and type of work you’re conducting. While a thesis proposal is often only 3-7 pages long, a prospectus for your dissertation is usually much longer, with more detailed analysis. Dissertation proposals can be up to 25-30 pages in length.

Writing a proposal or prospectus can be a challenge, but we’ve compiled some examples for you to get your started.

• Example #1: “Geographic Representations of the Planet Mars, 1867-1907” by Maria Lane
• Example #2: “Individuals and the State in Late Bronze Age Greece: Messenian Perspectives on Mycenaean Society” by Dimitri Nakassis
• Example #3: “Manhood Up in the Air: A Study of Male Flight Attendants, Queerness, and Corporate Capitalism during the Cold War Era” by Phil Tiemeyer

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If you want to know more about AI for academic writing, AI tools, or research bias, make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

Research bias

• Survivorship bias
• Self-serving bias
• Availability heuristic
• Halo effect
• Hindsight bias
• Deep learning
• Generative AI
• Machine learning
• Reinforcement learning
• Supervised vs. unsupervised learning

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The research methods you use depend on the type of data you need to answer your research question .

• If you want to measure something or test a hypothesis , use quantitative methods . If you want to explore ideas, thoughts and meanings, use qualitative methods .
• If you want to analyze a large amount of readily-available data, use secondary data. If you want data specific to your purposes with control over how it is generated, collect primary data.
• If you want to establish cause-and-effect relationships between variables , use experimental methods. If you want to understand the characteristics of a research subject, use descriptive methods.

A thesis or dissertation outline is one of the most critical first steps in your writing process. It helps you to lay out and organize your ideas and can provide you with a roadmap for deciding what kind of research you’d like to undertake.

Generally, an outline contains information on the different sections included in your thesis or dissertation , such as:

• Your anticipated title
• Your abstract
• Your chapters (sometimes subdivided into further topics like literature review , research methods , avenues for future research, etc.)

A well-planned research design helps ensure that your methods match your research aims, that you collect high-quality data, and that you use the right kind of analysis to answer your questions, utilizing credible sources . This allows you to draw valid , trustworthy conclusions.

The priorities of a research design can vary depending on the field, but you usually have to specify:

• Your research questions and/or hypotheses
• Your overall approach (e.g., qualitative or quantitative )
• The type of design you’re using (e.g., a survey , experiment , or case study )
• Your sampling methods or criteria for selecting subjects
• Your data collection methods (e.g., questionnaires , observations)
• Your data collection procedures (e.g., operationalization , timing and data management)
• Your data analysis methods (e.g., statistical tests  or thematic analysis )

A dissertation prospectus or proposal describes what or who you plan to research for your dissertation. It delves into why, when, where, and how you will do your research, as well as helps you choose a type of research to pursue. You should also determine whether you plan to pursue qualitative or quantitative methods and what your research design will look like.

It should outline all of the decisions you have taken about your project, from your dissertation topic to your hypotheses and research objectives , ready to be approved by your supervisor or committee.

Note that some departments require a defense component, where you present your prospectus to your committee orally.

Formulating a main research question can be a difficult task. Overall, your question should contribute to solving the problem that you have defined in your problem statement .

However, it should also fulfill criteria in three main areas:

• Researchability
• Feasibility and specificity
• Relevance and originality

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George, T. (2023, July 18). How to Write a Dissertation or Thesis Proposal. Scribbr. Retrieved September 3, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/dissertation/thesis-dissertation-proposal/

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Experiences of a London PhD student and beyond

Thesis acknowledgements: Samples and how to write your own thesis or dissertation acknowledgements

Writing a thesis can be tricky. That’s why I’m starting a new series covering each section of the thesis, from thesis acknowledgements all the way to conclusions. I’ll be guiding you through the whole process, from what to include in your thesis to how to write it, along with examples from defended theses to help you to write your own.

We’ll begin by covering thesis acknowledgments. The acknowledgements section appears at the start of the thesis so it is often one of the first parts that everyone tries to tackle. As this will likely be your first taste of your thesis it can often feel quite intimidating to write!

Thankfully it’s also one of the easiest parts of the thesis to complete, which may help to give you a boost for the rest.

In this post we’ll cover everything to do with thesis acknowledgements: samples, what to include and how to write them. At the end I’ll also outline a 60 minute exercise which will get you preparing a first draft of your own! I’ve also got a similar post to craft your thesis title, which you can check out here .

I’m writing this post with a PhD thesis in mind but it could work just as well if you’re looking for help including acknowledgements in your Master’s or undergraduate thesis/ dissertation.

What is the purpose of the acknowledgements section in a thesis?

The acknowledgements section of your thesis is an opportunity to reflect on the people who have supported and shaped your PhD experience.

Don’t worry, although your examiners will be interested to read your acknowledgements section, you won’t really get judged on it in your PhD viva. This section is for you to share as little, or as much, as you want about everyone involved in your PhD journey.

The acknowledgements are a very personal section of your thesis and each PhD student will have different things they want to include. For example, many people wonder: How do I thank my family in a thesis? And the acknowledgements section is the answer!

Note – You can also use a thesis dedication to thank your family. This is a separate section to your thesis acknowledgements and is entirely optional. It’s usually just a single line, just like you might find at the front of some books. Most people don’t include a separate dedication section but you can if you want to go that extra step.

What to include in your thesis acknowledgements

There are usually no formal requirements dictating what to include in your acknowledgements. However, do double check for any potential rules at your specific institution.

In general the acknowledgements are the section of your thesis where you have some creative liberty and are not bound by rigid research protocols or guidelines.

Many students choose to use the acknowledgements section to thank people (or organisations) who:

• Introduced them to the topic
• Helped with their PhD application
• Funded the project
• Supervisors
• Technicians
• Partners, friends or family
• Or anyone else who made an impression along the way!

But remember, you can include whatever you want! For example in my own PhD acknowledgements, which you’ll read further down this post, I thanked the university for providing a green outdoor space for us.

Acknowledge whoever and whatever influenced your own PhD experience.

You may find it helpful to start by writing a list of everyone you wish to thank.

How do you write an acknowledgements section?

Since there are no guidelines to worry about, it is really up to you how you write your own thesis acknowledgements. You have a lot of freedom for what to include and how to write it.

However you may find the following suggested phases helpful as a starting point.

Who you want to thank…

• “First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to…”
• “I must thank…”
• “A special thanks to…”
• “I would like to highlight two truly exceptional people from…”
• “I want to thank…”
• “In addition, I would like to mention”
• “I would also like to extend my thanks to…”
• “I want to give my deepest appreciation to…”
• “Finally, but the most importantly, I would like to thank…”

…then, why you want to thank them

It can be nice to also include why you’re thanking these people, using phrases such as:

• “…for the opportunity to be a part of this project”
• “…for always being there when I needed his support, reviewing my progress constantly, and guiding me through my PhD studies”
• “….for being a great bunch of people in and out of the lab”
• …”for all the guidance, support and outstanding feedback”
• “… who took their time to help teach me…”
• “…for her unlimited support and unconditional guidance during my PhD journey”
• “…were always there for discussions about anything that I was unsure on”
• “…whom has offered invaluable advice that will benefit me throughout my life”
• “…for supporting me since my undergraduate, and for the valuable discussions we had along the road”
• “…for making the past 4 years much more enjoyable and keeping me sane throughout the whole process”

Here is a whole example from an accepted PhD thesis:

Firstly, I want to thank [supervisor’s name(s)] for giving me the opportunity to work on this project, providing valuable guidance and feedback, and challenging me to grow as a scientist.  Excerpt from Dr Wane’s thesis acknowledgements, available via this page or use this direct download link .

Some people will choose to use full names and titles for any professional acknowledgements and first names for any personal ones. Again, this is up to you.

To help illustrate the variety of thesis acknowledgement formats, we’ll shortly be coming on to some examples of acknowledgment sections from successfully defended theses.

Before then I want to cover some of the main questions relating to how to write your own thesis acknowledgements section:

How long should you spend writing your thesis acknowledgements?

My suggestion is to spend only an hour or two making a first draft. I suggest doing this well ahead of your final deadline so that you have time to come back to it. Even so, I’d certainly look to spend far less than one day’s work on it in total.

It is a “nice to have” and means a lot to a lot of people, but remember you’re really only writing this section for yourself. I probably spent about two hours writing mine in total, simply because it wasn’t a priority for me.

What order should you write your acknowledgements in?

A typical way to write your acknowledgements is to go from the most formal/academic relationships to the least.

It is normal to start with any funding bodies, then formal people like your PhD supervisors, then move through labmates, friends and family. But again, there are generally no rules!

How long should the acknowledgements section be?

You can include as much or as little as you want. My own PhD acknowledgements section was just under a page long and it consisted of 386 words or 1892 characters (without spaces).

Here is how it was formatted:

But let’s not just look at my thesis. Using Imperial’s publicly accessible database I went through 25 published PhD theses for you.

The average (mean) length of these 25 theses was 365 words and 1793 characters without spaces. Writing an acknowledgements section of length 350-450 words was the most common:

The shortest acknowledgements sections was 122 words(653 characters) long. The longest one consisted of 1022 words and 5082 characters. Hopefully this illustrates that you’re not really bound by any limits. Write as much or as little as you want for this section.

Sample thesis acknowledgements

My own phd thesis acknowledgement.

My own PhD thesis is available here *, the acknowledgements section is on page 5. Here is the complete version of my acknowledgements section:

I would like to acknowledge both EPSRC and the Class of 1964 Scholarship for their financial support. It has been an honour to be the inaugural recipient of the Class of 1964 Scholarship and I am indebted to the donors in providing me complete academic freedom in this research. An immense thank you to my PhD supervisors: Jonathan Jeffers, Ulrich Hansen and Julian Jones. Support and guidance throughout the project from you all has been invaluable. JJ in particular you’ve been a fantastic primary supervisor. Thank you to all the academics who helped me get to this stage. The late Dr Kajal Mallick and his Biomedical Materials course at the University of Warwick was a huge influence and without which I would have never followed this path. My “pre-doc” supervisors in Dr Helen Lee of University of Cambridge and in particular the remarkable Prof Judith Hall OBE of Cardiff University from whom I learned so much. Thanks to Alison Paul and Michael Lim for being so supportive when I was considering applying for PhDs. It has been an amazing experience working between two research groups across different departments, thanks to everyone from the Biomechanics and JRJ groups I’ve worked with and from whom I’ve learned so much. Thank you of course to the Hybrids team I’ve worked so closely on this project with: Fra, Gloria, Agathe, Maria, Silvia, it’s been great fun working with you all! Gloria in particular thanks for you all your help, support and friendship: your inclusivity is appreciated by many. Saman, I’ve been so pleased to have you working on DVC with me and being able to discuss ideas with you really has been invaluable. I am grateful to everyone I’ve collaborated with externally: Farah, Amin and Brett (Natural History Museum) plus Andy and Behzad (Royal Veterinary College), thank you all for your support and input. Thanks also to everyone I’ve met through the Environmental Society at Imperial in particular Chelcie: your friendship and support have added a lot to my life. Thanks to Imperial for providing space for the ESoc garden, taking a break and enjoy nature in this space has certainly improved my work. Thanks of course to my family for their support. Finally, thank you Jo for always being so supportive and helping me every step of the way. My PhD thesis, available here . Acknowledgements are on page 5.

*For me the thesis was a means to an end. I wanted my PhD and didn’t want to spend too long agonising over each page. Therefore, it is possible there are typos in there, if you read any of it: firstly well done, I haven’t looked at it much since submitting the final copy, secondly, please don’t tell me about any typos you find!

Other PhD thesis acknowledgement examples

Below are the other 24 published and openly accessible STEM PhD theses I found for this article.

For each person’s thesis, either follow the first link to be taken to the landing page or follow the second link to directly download their thesis: I gave you a choice in case you don’t want stuff to start downloading automatically from a random text link!

The list is formatted as follows:

• [Link to thesis page on repository], [which page the acknowledgements appear on], [direct link to download the thesis]
• Dr Shipman’s thesis , for the acknowledgements go to page 3. Direct download here .
• Longest acknowledgements section of the list at 1022 words.
• Dr Li’s thesis , page 11. Direct download here .
• Dr Podgurschi’s thesis , page 5. Direct download here .
• Dr Medjeral-Thomas’ thesis page 3. Direct download here .
• Dr Sztuc’s thesis , page 5. Direct download here .
• Dr Yap’s thesis , page 5. Direct download here .
• Dr Sukkar’s thesis , page 9. Direct download here .
• Dr Lo’s thesis , page 11. Direct download here .
• Dr Sullivan’s thesis , page 5. Direct download here .
• Dr Tawy’s thesis , page 3. Direct download here .
• Dr Wane’s thesis , page 2. Direct download here .
• Dr Addison’s thesis , page 4. Direct download here .
• Dr Wang’s thesis , page 5. Direct download here .
• Dr Sebest’s thesis , page 3. Direct download here .
• Dr Hopkins’ thesis , page 7. Direct download here .
• Dr Bates’s thesis , page 4. Direct download here .
• Dr Somuyiwa’s thesis , page 6. Direct download here .
• Dr Reynolds’ thesis , page 5. Direct download here .
• My labmate’s thesis, who wrote the acknowledgements in a different style to the rest by using bullet points.
• Shortest acknowledgements section of the list at 122 words.
• Dr Manca’s thesis , acknowledgements on page 5. Direct download here .
• Dr Liu’s thesis , page 5. Direct download here .
• Dr Hotinli’s thesis , page 7. Direct download here .

My top tips for writing your own thesis acknowledgements

• Don’t spend too long on them. The acknowledgements section is really not worth spending too much time on. Even worse, since they appear at the start of your thesis, it is tempting to write your acknowledgements first. This can be fine, or, it can be an opportunity for lots of unnecessary procrastination. Which I why I instead suggest that you…
• Write your acknowledgements at the end of your first draft of the thesis. There is no need to write your thesis in the order it is presented. If you write your acknowledgements at the end you’ll be less likely to spend precious time on a section which really doesn’t warrant too much brain power.
• Don’t stress about it. The acknowledgements are merely for yourself and for anyone close to you that you want to thank. There are far more important sections for you to be particular about!
• Remember: You can make changes after you submit the copy for your viva. As with everything in your thesis, you can make changes after you submit the thesis for your viva. The real “final” copy is when you submit your thesis to the university for archiving. Which is even more reason to not spend too much time writing it the first time around.

Draft your own thesis or dissertation acknowledgements in 60 minutes

Hopefully you now feel inspired to start writing your own thesis acknowledgments!

For the exercise below I’d suggest setting a stop-watch on your phone and move on to the next section when the alarm goes, even if you’ve not fully finished. The aim is to have a rough draft at the end which you can polish off at a later point in time.

• Read a few of the example thesis acknowledgements above to get a feel for the structure ( 15 mins )
• List everyone (or everything!) you wish to thank – including any personal and professional acknowledgements in addition to funding bodies if relevant ( 10 mins )
• Decide on a rough order in which to thank them ( 5 mins )
• Craft some sentences using the phrases mentioned above ( 30 mins )

Congratulations you’re now well on your way to having one section of your PhD thesis completed!

I hope this post has been useful for constructing your own thesis or dissertation acknowledgements. It is the first in a series of posts aiming to help your thesis writing by delving into each section in depth. Be sure to let me know if you have any questions or suggestions for other content which you would find useful.

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