Research proposals and engagement
Make a research grant lay summary video
Make a research grant lay summary video by supplying your project aims, plain-language summary and intended audience. AutoScribble helps turn that proposal into an editable whiteboard script. Explain the problem, what you plan to investigate and why the question matters, while keeping proposed work clearly separate from findings that have already been established elsewhere in your source.
Audience: Grant applicants and public engagement teams
Edit your script before generating the video.
Editable starter prompt
Create a 120-second, 16:9 whiteboard lay summary for [audience] about our proposed research project. Use the grant summary and aims below. Distinguish established background, the unanswered question and the work we plan to undertake. Explain the purpose of the approach in plain language before using specialist terms. Keep proposed activities in future or conditional wording as appropriate, and preserve uncertainty around possible benefits. Do not invent results, funding commitments or impact figures. End with the question the project aims to clarify and any supplied next-step wording. [Paste your source material here]
A lay summary needs to make the project understandable without implying that its hoped-for benefits are guaranteed. Choose a point of entry, explain the research question and describe the planned approach at a useful level. Keep specialist detail only where it helps the audience understand what the project would do and how its contribution will be explored.
Mark what is known and what is proposed
Divide your source into established background, the gap your project addresses and the work you plan to carry out. Use that distinction to control the script’s tense. A planned study should remain planned, and a hoped-for application should remain a possibility. This gives the video a clear narrative without presenting the grant’s objectives as completed achievements.
Explain the approach without a methods catalogue
Select the part of the research plan that helps a nonspecialist understand how the question will be investigated. Describe the purpose of that approach before using its technical name. Avoid listing equipment, work packages or specialist terms unless they matter to the message. Use a simple conceptual sequence based on the actual proposal rather than invented examples of future results.
Close with the question the project will address
Return to why the project matters and what it aims to clarify. If the grant or engagement brief includes a specific audience action, supply its exact wording. Otherwise, a clear statement of the proposed contribution is enough. Review the two-minute landscape draft for unexplained terminology, shifts from possibility to certainty and any implication that funding or success is already secured.
Illustrative storyboard
A possible scene sequence
A proposal explanation that keeps the research question separate from future outcomes.
- Scene 1
Visual
A familiar context introduces the problem.
Narration
Here is the problem that motivates the proposed project.
- Scene 2
Visual
An open question appears within that context.
Narration
This is the gap the team plans to investigate.
- Scene 3
Visual
A simple plan links the proposed stages.
Narration
The project would use this approach to explore the question.
- Scene 4
Visual
The research aim returns with appropriate conditional wording.
Narration
The aim is to clarify this issue through the proposed work.
Example storyboard; your generated video will vary.
Questions
- Can I mention the project’s hoped-for impact?
- Yes, using the proposal’s qualified wording. Explain why the research could matter without presenting possible applications or benefits as results the project has already delivered.
- Should I include the budget and work packages?
- Only when they serve the intended audience and brief. A short lay summary usually needs the purpose and approach more than a complete administrative account of the proposal.
- How can I make the language accessible without losing meaning?
- Provide plain-language definitions of essential terms and explain why each method is being used. Keep the research question precise even when the surrounding vocabulary becomes simpler.
Review the generated wording and visuals before using your video. See pricing and credits.