Donald Mc Donagh is an experienced independent EU research and innovation funding advisor and proposal writer based in Ireland. He has over 10 years of experience supporting universities, companies, and other organizations to apply for and secure funding from EU programs like Horizon 2020 and FP7. He has significant experience writing successful proposals across various domains including biotechnology, health, and agriculture. Donald also has over 20 years of previous experience working in technical research and business development roles in the Irish food industry.

1. Donald Mc Donagh
CILLNUA Consulting Tel: +353 (0)87-0696132 donald@cillnua.eu
Independent EU R&I funding advisor, proposal writer
Experienced in various domains ranging over bioeconomy, agri-food, health, biotechnology and life sciences.
In-depth knowledge of Irish, UK and EU research funding systems.
Proposal writing activity targeted to SMEs, companies, HEIs and community organisations for national and EU
programmes.
I have worked in a variety of EU grant funding support roles over the past ten years extending across
university research and consultancy sectors in Ireland, UK and Spain. I have written successful FP7/Horizon
2020 proposal submissions in biotech, health, nanotechnology and Marie Curie thematic areas.
An earlier career extending over 20 years within the Irish food industry, in technical R&D and commercial
business development roles, primarily within the Ingredients area.
Strong analytical, communication, report writing and business development skills
B.Sc. (Microbiology), M.Sc. (Biotechnology)
Target EU Programmes include:
- H2020 SME Instrument:
Targeting highly innovative SMEs showing a strong ambition to develop grow and internationalise.
- H2020 Fast Track to Innovation:
Fast Track to Innovation promotes any innovation activities close-to-the-market and is open to all types of
participants (especially from industry).
- H2020 MSCA European Industrial Doctorates (EID):
EID aims to meet the objectives of Innovative Training Networks (ITN) by involving the non-academic sector
in doctoral training so that skills better match public and private sector needs.
- H2020 Biobased Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI-JU)
A public-private partnership between the EU and the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC)
- H2020 Societal Challenge 2 (SC2)
Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research and the
bioeconomy
Testimonials:
- Andrea Erxleben, Stokes Lecturer in Medicinal Chemistry, NUI Galway
Donald helped me significantly with a H2020 MSCA-IF application. His support in writing the impact section,
training objectives and dissemination plans was invaluable. He also gave very good advice on how to
communicate the technical aspects of the grant proposal effectively. My application was successful and I
would like to thank Donald for all his assistance.
- Larry Fitzhenry, Lecturer at WIT
Donald was of considerable help during the coordination and development of a funding proposal for a H2020
MSCA-ETN application. With over twenty collaborators, Donald's input was invaluable in terms of
organization, scope and focus of the proposal. His ability to align the goals of the research projects with those
of the funding call and to identify both strengths and weaknesses in the proposal ensured that we scored over
92% on our submission. I will make sure to seek Donald's assistance for any future funding applications.
Proposal Track Record

2. CILLNUA Consulting Tel: +353 (0)87-0696132 donald@cillnua.eu
Position: Innovation Grants Consultant - PNO Consultants, UK
FP7-KBBE-212 (CSA): BIO-TIC - €2M – AWARDED (14.0)
My role: Proposal Writer
FP7-Health-2012 (CSA): CARDIOSCAPE - €0.5M – AWARDED (2-stage)
My role: Proposal Writer
FP7-PEOPLE-2012-ITN: NCLAMPS – Above threshold (84%)
My role: Proposal Writer
Position: Senior FP7 Consultant - Accelopment, Zurich
FP7-NMBP-2012: UNION - €5M – AWARDED (stage 2)
My role: Proposal Co-Writer
Position: Freelance Proposal Writer - TCBB
FP-7-R4SME-2012: COMFERT – Above threshold (11.5)
My role: Proposal Writer
Position: Specialist Advisor - Plymouth University, UK
FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IOF: CORESIL – Above threshold (83.9)
My role: High proposal support (multiple reviews)
FP7-MSCA-CIG-2013: -WAVE IMPACT – AWARDED
My role: High proposal support (multiple reviews)
FP7-ERC-2013-CoG: BuildER – B grade
My role: High proposal support (multiple reviews)
Position: Research Programme Officer - TCD
H2020-Health-PHC-2015: SENSIOR – Above threshold (12.5)
My role: High proposal support (multiple reviews)
H2020-MSCA-IF-2015: TNFS (Health) – Above threshold (82.0)
My role: High proposal support (multiple reviews)
H2020-ERC-2015-StG: PANTHER – B grade
My role: Proposal preparation/review
H2020-ERC-2016-StG: InflAMD (Medical)
My role: Proposal review
Position: Research Funding Manager - SSPC/UL
H2020-MSCA-IF-2015: TSPO METALLODRUGS – AWARDED (91.8)
(1 of 3 supported on this Call)
My role: High proposal support (multiple reviews)
H2020-MSCA-ITN-2016 (ETN): ORBITAL – Above threshold (92.6%)
My role: Proposal review
Position: Proposal Writer- Inventya
Innovate UK: Accelerating Innovation in Rail – RAS - £300K – AWARDED
My role: Proposal Writer
Innovate UK: Emerging & Enabling Technologies – DeHeat- £100K - AWARDED
My role: Proposal Writer
Position: EC Expert Evaluator
H2020-BBI JU-2017
FP7-KBBE-2013-7
My LinkedIn profile