This is a short report summarizing the key takeaways from a workshop co-organized by the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), the University of Bristol, Elizabeth Blackwell Institute for Health Research, and the MoreBrains Cooperative. The aim of the online workshop was to develop actions to improve the processes that take place before research is submitted for funding (pre-award processes), such as the timing of proposal calls and deadlines, transparency and guidance, phrasing and language use, selection and training of reviewers, and planning for “evaluating the evaluators” or “evaluating the evaluation process”.