Global Infectious Disease Research Training Program (D43)

Global Infectious Disease Research Training Program (D43)

Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) Number: PAR-17-057

Companion Funding Opportunity: PAR-17-058  D71 International Research Training Planning Grant

Funding Opportunity Purpose

This Funding Opportunity Announcement encourages applications for the Global Infectious Disease (GID) Research Training Program from U.S. and low- and middle-income country (LMIC) institutions. The application should propose a collaborative training program that will strengthen the capacity of an LMIC institution to conduct infectious disease research. FIC will support research-training programs that focus on major endemic or life-threatening emerging infectious diseases, neglected tropical diseases, infections that frequently occur as co-infections in HIV infected individuals or infections associated with non-communicable disease conditions of public health importance in LMICs.

Key Dates

Open Date (Earliest Submission Date): June 27, 2017

Letter of Intent Due Date(s): 30 days prior to the application due date

Application Due Date: July 27, 2017 by 5:00 PM local time of applicant organization.

Applicants are encouraged to apply early to allow adequate time to make any corrections to errors found in the application during the submission process by the due date.

Scientific Merit Review: October 2017, October 2018, October 2019

Advisory Council Review: January 2018, January 2019, January 2020  

Earliest Start Date: March 2018, March 2019, March 2020

Grand Challenges Explorations Deadline 9-Nov-2016

Grand Challenges Explorations

This is a reminder that the application deadline for the latest round of Grand Challenges Explorations is November 9, 2016, 11:30 A.M. US Pacific Day Light Time.

Two-page proposals are being accepted online on the following topics:

• Assess Family Planning Needs, Preferences and Behaviors to Inform Innovations in Contraceptive Technologies
• Develop Novel Platforms to Accelerate Contraceptive Drug Discovery
• Design New Solutions to Data Integration for Malaria Elimination
• Accelerate Development of New Therapies for Childhood Cryptosporidium Infection

Initial grants will be US $100,000 each, and projects showing promise will have the opportunity to receive additional funding of up to US $1 million. Full descriptions of the new topics and application instructions in Chinese, English, French, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish are available here.

We are looking forward to receiving innovative ideas from around the world and from all disciplines. If you have a great idea, please apply. If you know someone else who may have a great idea, please forward this message.

Thank you for your commitment to solving the world's greatest health and development challenges.

The Grand Challenges Team
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Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) - workshop to help prepare applications for their grants

The European Commission’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) support research training and career development focused on innovation skills. The programme funds worldwide and cross-sector mobility that implements excellent research in any field. There are MSCA grants for all stages of a researcher's career, from PhD candidates to highly experienced researchers.

This one-day workshop on November 24 2016 will provide detailed information on the eligibility and application criteria for the MSCA Individual Fellowships and the MSCA Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE). 

This workshop is open to researchers planning to apply to the 2017 Marie-Curie Individual Fellowship (IF) Call and the 2017 Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE) Call.

MSCA Individual Fellowships

The Marie-Skłodowska Curie Actions (MSCA) International Individual Fellowship programme is a mobility research grant scheme that is open to post-doctoral researchers from all over the world. Any Experienced Researcher, from a recent PhD graduate to an emeritus professor, can apply for a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship to be hosted at a research-performing organisation in Europe. Europe-based researchers can be hosted by research-performing organisation in ASEAN. This is one of Europe’s most competitive and prestigious awards. The generous annual budget includes funding for salary, mobility costs, research costs, and a contribution to the overhead costs of their host organisation. The next call for applications will open on 11 April 2017 with a deadline of 14 September 2017.  

Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE)

RISE aims at international and inter-sector collaboration through promoting research and innovation exchanges of staff.  RISE will support short-term mobility of research and innovation staff at all career levels, from the most junior (post-graduate) to the most senior (management), including administrative and technical staff. RISE offers an opportunity to expand and strengthen research networks, to share knowledge and skills, and to strengthen institutional links with Europe. The next call for application will open on 1 December 2016 with a deadline of 5 April 2017. 

Participation in the workshop is free of charge but registration is required. Participation is limited to 60 people only.

Register for the workshop here - https://europeanresearchdayasean2016.splashthat.com/ 

Date, time and location - Thursday,  November  24 2016, 8.30am – 6.00pm

Sofitel Hotel Sukumvit, Bangkok

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - Grand Challenges

Accelerate Development of New Therapies for Childhood Cryptosporidium Infection (Round 18)

Diarrhea caused by infection with Cryptosporidium species (primarily Cryptosporidium hominis or C. parvum) is becoming increasingly appreciated as a major contributor to diarrhea morbidity and mortality in children in the developing world.

This call is soliciting new tools and technologies that have potential i) to overcome the technical barriers in working with Cryptosporidium that have historically hampered progress, and ii) to improve our ability to develop and translate active compounds into effective therapies for treatment of pediatric cryptosporidiosis. 

The goal of this call is to develop broadly applicable approaches that can be used to accelerate development of therapeutic interventions, rather than to support the development of specific interventions themselves.

Examples of projects - 

• New methods for the identification and validation of drug targets in Cryptosporidium,as well as methods for interrogating validated targets within the context of whole cell phenotypic assays (e.g. target-based reporter assays);
• Novel methods for genetic manipulation of the Cryptosporidium genome, particularly those that allow regulated gene expression;
• Systematic approaches to explore opportunities for host-directed therapies, based on a rational understanding of parasite metabolism and parasite/host interactions;
• Validation of small animal disease models that are more tractable than the calf or gnotobiotic piglet, but which model human infection and disease (particularly valuable if immunocompetent and/or supportive of C. hominis infection);

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/accelerate-development-new-therapies-childhood-cryptosporidium-infection-round-18

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/