The GHIT Fund announces the Request for Proposals (RFP) for the development of new medicines, vaccines, diagnostics for infectious diseases that are prevalent in the developing world. Proposed projects should address health needs in the developing world or fill a gap in global health technologies for infectious diseases. The proposed collaboration projects should be no more than two years in duration and may focus on a broad array of R&D activities, including:

- Lead optimization

- Preclinical Development (in-vivo studies, formulation development, chemistry and process validation)

- Clinical Development (Phase 1, 2, or 3 studies, manufacturing scale-up)

- Parallel or concurrent development of multiple interventions (e.g., development of new drugs alongside improved diagnostic tools for disease control, advancing multiple promising drug candidates concurrently)

- Activities to support licensure and WHO prequalification

Researcher Challenges grants from Going Global Partnerships support international research partnerships between the UK and other countries, with a focus on women’s resilience to climate change. Grants are open to higher education institutions and non-profit research institutions in the UK, with a view to collaborating with institutions in Iraq, Mexico, Morocco or Peru.

Overall call objectives

Under the core theme of supporting women’s resilience to climate change, the grants aim to:

• establish new networks and collaborations and bring together various backgrounds and disciplines
• strengthen the voices of early-career researchers in the climate change community
• develop relevant research around women’s resilience to climate change
• generate innovative ideas for businesses to support women’s resilience to climate change
• enhance capacity of early-career researchers, with a specific focus on women and climate change.

Key details

Grant amount: up to £30,000

Grant length: 12 months, starting January 2025

Countries involved: UK lead institution, partnering with Iraq, Mexico, Morocco or Peru

Open to: higher education institutions and not-for-profit research institutions, establishments and organisations

Clarification deadline: 5 August 2024

Application deadline: 30 August 2024

The Polio Research Committee  is calling for research proposals supporting the Polio Endgame Strategy 2022-2026. Research proposals supporting the strategic plan may be submitted to the Committee for review and funding. Preference will be given to proposals developed by GPEI partner agencies and their research collaborators. However, other institutions may also submit proposals if they address our research priorities.

The current priority of the Polio Research Committee is to generate new data or information in the following areas:

Vaccine schedule immunogenicity

• Immunogenicity of poliovirus vaccination options after withdrawal of all oral poliovirus vaccines

Surveillance

• Assessment of length of poliovirus environmental circulation after withdrawal of all oral poliovirus vaccines
• Development and evaluation of new methods for poliovirus surveillance in areas with poor access

Product development

• Development and evaluation of innovative IPV formulations or administration techniques (new mucosal adjuvants, virus-like particle [VLPs] vaccine, IPV patches, etc.)

Epidemiology/virology

• Evaluation of factors favouring emergence of vaccine derived polioviruses

Monitoring & evaluation

• Development and evaluation of new methods for assessment of quality (& coverage) of polio  vaccination mass campaigns

Basic immunology

• Assessment of length of priming following IPV administration

Containment

• Research supporting containment objectives and policies

Submission of proposals

The deadline for submission of proposals for the next round of review is 20 September 2024.

Submissions should be sent to polioresearch@who.int and include the completed application form,

In order to be considered, applicants must submit a complete research proposal by the deadline. To guide the development of your proposal, please read the detailed guidelines on how to prepare a proposal for submission to the Polio Research Committee. Applications that are incomplete or have missing parts will not be considered. If a proposal is considered to meet our priorities, it will be forwarded to the Committee for their consideration.

Find out more and apply

The objective of the ODA (Official Development Assistance) Global Innovation Fellowships is to provide opportunities to UK-based early- and mid-career researchers from across the humanities and social sciences to develop their skills, networks and careers in the creative and cultural, public, private and policy sectors to address challenges that require innovative approaches and solutions. Through the ODA Global Innovation Fellowships, researchers in the SHAPE community will be supported to create new and deeper links beyond academia, so enabling knowledge mobilisation and translation, as well as individual skills development. Career stage: Early-career, Mid-career

In order to participate and for the webinar to be structured as effectively as possible for you, we ask that you submit a short paragraph outlining your proposal and any questions that you may have, as well as indicate that the applicant and their partner organisation can attend the week before the webinar. To submit that information and register to attend the webinar please contact: international@thebritishacademy.ac.uk

Scheme overview

The objective of the ODA (Official Development Assistance) Global Innovation Fellowships is to provide opportunities to UK-based early- and mid-career researchers from across the humanities and social sciences to develop their skills, networks and careers in the creative and cultural, public, private and policy sectors to address challenges that require innovative approaches and solutions. Through the ODA Global Innovation Fellowships, researchers in the SHAPE community will be supported to create new and deeper links beyond academia, so enabling knowledge mobilisation and translation, as well as individual skills development.

This is the first call for this ODA strand of the programme, offering opportunities for ODA Global Innovation Fellowship award-holders to embed themselves with a partner organisation. The partner organisation must be based in any of the following countries: Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Philippines, South Africa, Turkey, Thailand, Vietnam and any country from this list of Least Developed Countries. Applications that are not considered ODA-eligible will not be taken forward through the assessment process.

This programme is part of the £337m International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF), which is designed to enable potential and foster prosperity. It puts research and innovation at the heart of the UK’s international relationships, supporting UK researchers and innovators to work with peers around the world on the major themes of our time. It is managed by the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT) and delivered by a consortium of the UK’s leading research and innovation bodies. In the context of this call, funding from the International Science Partnerships Fund is funded by ODA therefore applications for this funding must be ODA-eligible.

Applications are invited in any of the following areas:

• Environment, sustainability and nature
• Transformative technologies
• Health and wellbeing
• Cities and urbanisation
• Global order, geopolitics and international affairs

Successful candidates will be selected on the basis of the quality and interest of the activity or range of activities and outputs proposed in the application. Award-holders will be expected to play a role in promoting the approaches and methods that are the focus of their award, and consider the potential for engagement between academic and non-academic environments. Eligible activities and outputs can involve, but are not limited to:

• Evidence notes – reports, notes and responses to key challenges/approaches for developing connections with policy leaders or innovators
• Data analysis – identifying and analysing datasets that may be relevant to enhancing understanding and framing new solutions
• Case studies – exploring practical or policy-orientated solutions, engagement between academic and non-academic environments and the wider benefits to individuals/communities/regions
• Briefings/blogs/podcasts/videos and other outputs to reach a variety of audiences and environments, including policymakers (where relevant)
• Conferences/workshops/webinars/toolkits and other training opportunities which enable knowledge exchange

Scheme opens date: 13 June 2024

Application deadline: 6 November 2024

Starting period of award: ODA Global Innovation Fellowships are expected to commence by September 2025. An earlier start date of March or April 2025 may be possible, in this case the applicant will need to explain how they will plan and manage their relocation on this faster timeline.

Level of award: These Fellowships are offered as awards for up to £150,000 for 12 months in duration (with Full Economic Costing at 80%).

For full information on the ODA Global Innovation Fellowships Scheme, please view our scheme notes.

NIHR are looking for applications to the annual Global Health Research (GHR) – Researcher-led programmes funding opportunity, launched in July 2024. GHR – Researcher-led funds research that aims to improve health outcomes for the most vulnerable people in low and middle income countries (LMICs). Research must address evidence needs that are locally identified and prioritised, and must promote health equity, aligning with the aims of Sustainable Development Goal 3. Applications can span from broad, ambitious programmes of research to projects with a narrower scope.

GHR – Researcher-led replaces the previously run GHR Units and Groups Programmes and commissions research through 3 programme bands.

This is a two-stage funding opportunity.