Skills (approximately 3 months - ouch):

• Science 5
• Laboratory Operations 5
• Research 5
• Research Project Management (RPM) 5
• Special Science Skill(s), depending on the type of research to 4 or 5 (e.g. Electromagnetic Physics, Electronic Engineering, Graviton Physics, Nuclear Physics, Race-specific Starship Engineering...)
• Connection (helps to get a your standing higher up to deal with the serious agents)

Upside of the skills is that you will be able to research up to 6 BPOs at a time - nice for the lab rats . Theoretically you can also do this with minimum skills, but that also means that you can sit and wait for a year without seeing any real cheap isk results.

You can start multiple reserach projects in the same field with different agents (even though you can only have one project per agent) - this way you only have to train one specific skill and save a little bit of time (e.g. if you are eager for the Crow BPO - go for Caldari Starship Engineering)


Research corporations

Amarr

• Carthum Conglomerate
• Viziam
• Khanid Innovations

Caldari

• Ishukone Corporation
• Kaalakiota Corporation
• Lai Dai Corporation

Gallante

• Creodron
• Duvolle Laboratories
• Roden Shipyards

Minmatar

• Boundless Creation
• Core Complexion
• Thukker Mix

Unless you go for T2 ship BPOs, you won't find a difference in the research corporation you join. For Hulk BPOs you have to go with Gallante.


Study Field Hints

• Get the highest level agent available. If you are still working on standing with the research corp, but can access the lvl 3 R&D agents, then you can get that first agent.
• RPs are generated on a daily basis so they increase each day by a set amount. Increasing this amount is essential to get a ton of RPs, which again result in a higher chance for a big hit. Some fields have modificators for RPs (e.g. Starship Engineering). Since everyone gets those though, you do not get a real advantage out of it. 300+ pts from one agent look nice though.
• Look for a decent field with few competitors. Everyone and their mom has starship engineering going, so chances here are rather small. Of the less competited ones a lot are like this for a reasons. But manage to get that Cargo Expander II BPO and you are a made man.
• Risky gambling: Go for fields that currently are marked with "nothing predictable" in the info box of the research agent. This means that there are currently no rewards and most players will skip it out of principle. However, if something is being added in the future and you bet on the right horse - you are looking at some nice profit.
• If you use a level 3 agent to research a specific field, you will also need to have the science skill in that field trained to 3 (lvl 4 agent - lvl 4 science skill...). Since you want to maximize your daily RP amount, go for the level 4 agents - the significant RP difference is worth the extra days it takes.
• Look at the top agents in your research corp and their fields - then decide what to research. If you want a level 4 electronic engineering agent, don't start a project in starship engineering with the only level 4 agent that offers electronic engineering. Cheap EVE Online ISK
  

RPs and how to increase them

• Science skill, agent level and effective quality of the agent determine the RPs you gain. Exact formula: RP/day = Field multiplier*(1+EQ of agent/100)*(My skill+AgentLvl^2)
• Running missions for your R&D agent doubles the RPs you receive for that day and can be done once a day. They are about as boring as the game gets and usually end up costing you additional ISK, but every bit helps.

Requirements

Buy EVE Online ISK
Persons: 3
Ships: 2 frigates, 1 indy


Strategy

The two frigates camp at a gate in safe space while scanning the cargo of all passing indies. As soon as you discover a well stocked indy, have the frigates lack it down and destroy it - followed by your indy looting the cans. EVE ISK

While you are bound to lose the two frigates the gain of an indy shipment of BPs/Tech 2 is well worth it. Cheap ISK Shop