Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - Grand Challenges

Design New Solutions to Data Integration for Malaria Elimination (Round 18) 

Despite the acknowledgement of the role of surveillance in malaria elimination, the full potential of available information communication technology (ICT), data systems, harmonization, analytics and visualization has not yet been effectively applied to the challenge of malaria elimination. 

The foundation is looking for proposals of innovative solutions for improving data availability and use in decision-making for malaria elimination that focus on innovation in interoperability: solutions that will reduce the time for data harmonization by automation or skill set simplification. 

The Foundation is especially interested in applicants and solutions that come from sectors beyond malaria, or even outside health. Solutions do not have to be brand new; they can be an existing method or tool used in another context repurposed and applied. 

Winning proposals should:

• Focus on simplicity of methods using routinely available data
• Explain the rationale for targeting specific countries or regions
• Describe approach for interoperability with country data systems including DHIS2
• Provide evidence that the activity is aligned to relevant national strategies on eHealth
• State the expected improvements over existing solutions, and how this will be evaluated
• Address cost of the solution and a description of how it can be brought to scale and be sustainable in the malaria-endemic developing world context
• Explain how the solution will strengthen existing health systems instead of building a parallel system
• If the solution involves building on or integrating a reporting system for additional disease areas, explain how it will strengthen malaria elimination decision-making

Deadline - 9 November 2016 

Budget - Phase I grants will be for $100,000 USD for a grant period of 18 months. Phase I projects that show promise will be eligible to apply for follow-on funding, called "Phase II".

Eligibility - There is no geographical restriction for applicants. The foundation encourages scientists worldwide to submit their ideas. 

Full details - http://gcgh.grandchallenges.org/challenge/design-new-solutions-data-integration-malaria-elimination-round-18

NLM Express Research Grants in Biomedical Informatics (R01)

Purpose and areas of focus 

• support for innovative research in biomedical informatics
• informatics problem areas in the application domains of health care, public health, basic biomedical research, bioinformatics, biological modeling, translational research and health information management in disasters
• informatics projects of interest to NLM involve the application of computer and information sciences concepts to information problems in a biomedical domain
• also supports research projects focused on biomedical (rather than informatics) research questions, but approached exclusively by novel or advanced informatics techniques applied to information and data produced by others.
• high priority on innovation in the research

Scope of NLM's research interests

• Information & knowledge processing
• Advanced information retrieval, knowledge discovery in databases, discovery mining, and other techniques for in silico discovery
• Incorporation of machine intelligence into decision tools and resources
• Modeling and presentation approaches to enhance decisions, learning or understanding
• Innovative approaches for ensuring accuracy, privacy and security of clinical and biomedical research data

Budget - $250,000 per year in direct costs.

Period - maximum project period is 4 years

Eligibility - Non-domestic (non-U.S.) Entities (Foreign Institutions) are eligible to apply.


Deadline - October 5th 2016 

Full details - http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-13-300.html 

Master's Scholarships at BRAC University, Bangladesh funded by TDR

TDR supports 7 universities from low- and middle-income countries to provide PhD and Masters degrees focused on implementation research in malaria, TB and neglected tropical diseases to improve health in those regions. 

The supported university for Asia is James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Bangladesh. 

The scheme provides a full academic scholarship. Items covered by the scholarship include full time tuition and board, cost of dissertation research / field work, return air travel from home country to institution and contribution towards the purchase of essential textbooks / learning materials. 

How to apply

• Interested candidates must apply for admission into the postgraduate programme via the university website  -http://admissions.bracu.ac.bd/academia/admissionRequirement/getAdmissionRequirement/631736

• Applications and admission enquiries should be sent directly to the institution, TDR will not receive or process applications or enquiries about admissions

Full details 
http://www.who.int/tdr/capacity/strengthening/postgraduate/en/ 

The Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences

The Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences awards $100,000 to a promising  biomedical research researcher.  

• To apply you must be nominated by a colleague from an accredited institution.
• You need to have shown outstanding achievement in the field of biomedical research. 
• You must be under 52 years old as of January 1st 2017.

Application/nomination details

• No self-nominations will be accepted.
• Nomination materials must be in English
• Full details - http://fnih.org/what-we-do/current-lectures-awards-and-events/lurie-prize

What is needed

1. The candidate’s name, title, institution, birthdate, earned degrees, and contact information (mailing address, telephone number, e-mail address).
2. The nominator’s name, title, institution, earned degree(s), and contact information (mailing address, telephone number, e-mail address).
3. A 50 word citation of the basis for nomination.
4. A 250 word description of the candidate’s contributions
5. The candidate's curriculum vitae (CV) including no more than 10 citations of publications on which the nomination is based

How to apply

The nomination is online -https://www.grantrequest.com/SID_373/?SA=SNA&FID=35047  

Deadline - Wednesday, September 14, 2016,

Understanding Infectious Disease Dynamics With Mathematical Models, Statistical Methods, and Computational Tools

Public health administrators need new and improved methods and computational tools to better understand and respond to emerging and reemerging infectious diseases.

To help, NIAID has joined a long-running funding opportunity announcement (FOA) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences that supports research to develop mathematical models, statistical methods, and computational tools to study interactions between infectious agents and their hosts, disease spread, prediction systems, and response strategies.

The strongest applications will approach this challenge from both sides—infectious disease research and mathematical/statistical model research.

Infectious disease research can focus on public health preparedness, surveillance and detection, disease dynamics, response strategies, antimicrobial resistance and vaccine escape, human social behavior, animals as vectors, and even virtual reality.

Your research should also focus on conceptual development of models, model verification and validation, and software dissemination to relevant public health communities. The software products you develop need to be fully documented and easy to access, modify, and extend. Additionally, the software packages should be interoperable, portable to a variety of common platforms, and consistent with existing ontologies and controlled vocabularies. You’ll need to test, verify, and maintain the products as well.

NIAID is especially interested in funding research to:

• Develop, validate, and implement mathematical and statistical models for transmitting naturally occurring infectious diseases and bioterrorism agents.
• Develop mathematical and statistical models to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions involving surveillance and containment, vaccination, antimicrobials, social distancing, and other control strategies for infectious diseases.
• Develop publicly accessible software and computational tools for the developed models and methods for studying infectious diseases that will assist public health decision makers.
• This FOA uses the R01 activity code, which means the maximum project period you can propose is five years. There is no budget cap, but make sure your application budget matches the needs of your proposed project.

Standard application due dates (including standard AIDS dates) apply. The next deadline for non-AIDS applications is October 5, 2016, and for AIDS applications it is September 7, 2016.

For complete details, read the February 22, 2016 Guide announcement. Also, check out the Models of Infectious Disease Agent StudyExternal Web Site Policy website to learn more about the program’s past outcomes and ongoing research.

NIAID’s scientific/research contact for this program is Dr. Misrak Gezmu. Contact her if you have questions about our participation in the program.

Preferred Name:	Dr Misrak Gezmu
E-mail:	misrak.gezmu@nih.gov
Location:	BG 5601FL RM 4B62 5601 FISHERS LN ROCKVILLE MD 20852
Mail Stop:	9820
Phone:	240-669-5232
Fax:	301-480-0912
IC:	NIAID (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)
Organization:	BIOSTATISTICS RESEARCH BRANCH (HNM93)

DEVELOPMENT OF INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY TO MEASURE INDIVIDUAL DIETARY INTAKE ( BMGF)

Grant purpose - To fund the development of two new forms of dietary assessment technology, based on image capture and, possibly, image recognition and field testing to validate new technology against reference dietary intake assessment methods.

Image recognition software should be applied, if possible, to identify foods consumed. Food intake and food composition data should be linked to enable conversion of food intake to nutrient intake. Technology must be appropriate for a LIC setting. 

Key Funding Criteria 

• Field testing in at least one LIC in Asia and/or sub-Saharan Africa
• Demonstrated track record of successful projects in this area 
• Appropriateness of proposed dietary intake assessment technology for low-income settings (for example, in settings that do not have electricity or internet connection) and are socially acceptable

Budget - Submissions up to $1,500,000.00 USD in funding will be considered.


Duration - grant duration of less than two and a half years

Geographic area - Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, LIC settings ( both rural and urban settings) 

For more details - http://www.gatesfoundation.org/How-We-Work/General-Information/Grant-Opportunities/Innovative-Technology-RFP 

Global Health Program for Fellows and Scholars

The Global Health Program for Fellows and Scholars provides supportive mentorship, research opportunities and a collaborative research environment for early stage investigators from the U.S. and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), to enhance their global health research expertise and their careers. 

Fogarty is currently seeking applications for consortia to develop and support global health research training programs. Applicants should form a consortium that may include up to 4 U.S. academic institutions and six or more additional collaborating institutions or research project sites in LMICs.

Fogarty will fund up to five consortia to develop and support global health research training programs that meet the following objectives:

• Provide mentored research training for pre-doctoral and pre-professional degree students and post-doctoral and recent post-professional degree students (trainees) from the U.S. and low- and middle- income countries (LMICs) in global health research at established biomedical and health research sites in LMICs, particularly those supported by the NIH.
• Provide all trainees with instruction and training in rigorous research design, research ethics and statistical analysis through mentored research training.
• Provide training opportunities in diverse areas of research relevant to the health priorities of collaborating LMICs and the mission areas of component NIH Institutes and Centers participating in this FOA.
• Provide knowledge and skills to prepare trainees for careers in health research.
• Strengthen global health programs at U.S. academic institutions and help to sustain health research at institutions in LMICs.

The program will provide research training opportunities in priority health areas in LMICs such as communicable diseases including HIV/AIDS; chronic non-communicable diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, lung diseases, blood diseases, mental health, and neurological diseases and stroke; women’s health; and behavioral and social aspects of health and illness.  Cross-cutting global health research areas are also encouraged.

Deadline - August 16, 2016,

Budget - Application budgets are limited to up to $1.1 million direct costs/year per award

Duration - up to 5 years 

More information  - http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-TW-16-002.html