New £multi-million initiative announced for ageing research: CALL FOR PROPOSALS NOW OPEN

A new £multi-million initiative of the British Council and the British Embassy in Israel investing in world-leading research jointly undertaken by scientists in Britain and Israel has been announced.

The partnership (which previously focused on Regenerative Medicine to which it committed almost £8 million to 19 cutting edge projects directly involving over 100 researchers in both countries) is supported by the Dunhill Medical Trust and is now turning its attention to ageing and has opened to proposals.

The Call is divided into two strands:

·         The effect of ageing on human health: preventive,  disease modifying and regenerative medicine approaches to medical conditions and the ageing process. BIRAX invites proposals addressing diverse effects of ageing on human health, exploring the basic mechanisms underlying ageing-related disease. The research proposals can address these issues using its environment. Multidisciplinary research plans based on synergising collaborations between the partnering researchers are recommended.

Proposals under this category should be relevant to at least one of the following research fields: cardiovascular disease, diabetes, neurodegenerative diseases, arthritis, age related frailty and other geriatric syndromes and age related multimorbidity.

·         Ageing and Technology: precision medicine and big data in ageing research. Proposals under this theme will aim to identify innovative biomarkers, algorithms, computational and measurement techniques and to promote advances in precision medicine that would allow the prevention or mitigation of age related conditions or harmful effects associated with ageing. Proposals that build on effective collaboration between basic and clinical research and big data and those facilitating the translation of basic research to clinical practice will be prioritised.

The call’s documents and the online application form can be found on the British Council’s website.

The deadline for applications is 15 October, 22:00 GMT.

Please do circulate to colleagues who may be interested and monitor the King’s College London website to register for the upcoming BIRAX Ageing conferences (3-6 September).

Frequently asked questions

NIHR Research and Innovation for Global Health Transformation (RIGHT) – Call 1

https://www.nihr.ac.uk/funding-and-support/funding-opportunities/research-and-innovation-for-global-health-transformation-right-call-1/8641

Delivering challenge-led research that will primarily benefit the health and wealth of the poorest individuals living in low and middle income countries (LMICs), the incoming NIHR Research and Innovation for Global Health Transformation (RIGHT) programme is part of the nation’s commitment to Official Development Assistance (ODA) and complements recent investment in NIHR Global Health Research Groups and Units.

The initial challenges announced by this new programme are in three areas of unmet need and underinvestment in LMICs –

• epilepsy,
• infection-related cancer and
• severe stigmatising skin diseases.

Full information will be released when the call opens on 21 June 2018.

Interest can be registered in advance by email.

Note that likely also to be announced on 21 June are NIHR calls in:

• Digital Medicine
• End of Life Care and
• Precision Medicine

https://acmedsci.ac.uk/grants-and-schemes/grant-schemes/gcrf-networking-grants

Applicants can be from any discipline, and applications should focus on building a collaborative network. Therefore proposals should be submitted jointly by a lead overseas researcher from a developing country and a lead researcher based in the UK.

It is mandatory for the overseas researcher to be resident in a country on the DAC list. See the DAC list for a full list of eligible countries. As Chile, Seychelles and Uruguay graduated from the DAC list in 2017, they are not eligible to apply for the scheme.

Each application must have only one UK based core partner in the network and they should be the UK researcher who jointly submits the application.

There will be funding for 40 awards per year (20 per round) of up to £25,000.

This scheme is targeted at experienced researchers who are looking to form new international collaborations.

The aims of the networking grants are to:

• Pump prime new interdisciplinary partnerships between research communities, policy makers and practitioners in developing countries and in the UK.
• Provide opportunities for researchers drawn from a wide spectrum of disciplines and backgrounds, particularly those who may not previously have considered the applicability of their work to development issues, to forge new links and generate new research ideas and innovative approaches to addressing global challenges.
• Establish sustainable partnerships between UK researchers and those in developing countries to serve as a foundation for sharing knowledge and skill transfer to allow them in the future to conduct excellent research with impact.
• Strengthen research and training capacity and capability in developing countries across a range of different disciplines.

The Networking Grants are broadly themed and the main activities that will be supported through these grants include hosting collaborative meetings, visits or workshops.

A proportion of the grant can focus on building pilot data or conducting archival research or fieldwork.

These networking activities will be problem-orientated and solution focused and will generate new ideas and innovative approaches to addressing global challenges.

The networks formed through these grants can be newly constructed collaborations, or may build on an existing network but focusing on a new project.

The networks must be interdisciplinary in nature and the primary benefit must be to promote growth and development in developing countries.

To be eligible to apply, both applicants must:

• Have completed a PhD or have experience at an equivalent level
• Have proven research experience in their field
• Hold a permanent position at an eligible institution (in the UK or a DAC-listed country), or a fixed term contract for the duration of the award
• Lead applicants must not be affiliated to a private or commercial organisation. Applications will not be considered if there is more than one UK co-applicant or an overseas applicant not from a DAC-listed country.

This grant forms part of the UK’s Official Development Assistance (ODA), which promotes economic development and welfare in developing countries. In order for applications to be eligible for this grant, applicants must clearly show that their proposal’s aims are in-line with those of the ODA. These include strengthening global peace and security, promoting global prosperity and tackling extreme poverty. The delivery partners for this scheme have provided some ODA guidance for applicants, which can be downloaded from the right side of this page.

Projects must start between 1 January 2019 and 31 March 2019, and the funding will last for one year.

The maximum amount available is £25,000 of which £5,000 can be used for consumables for obtaining pilot data, archival research or fieldwork.
The remainder can be used to contribute towards travel and subsistence costs, costs associated with networking events, administrative support and access to technical support.

Grants cannot be used to pay for salary costs or to employ research assistants, PhD students or postdoctoral staff.

Please see full terms and conditions and sample form and previous awards at the URL above.

8 August 2018

Academy of Medical Sciences / British Academy / Royal Academy of Engineering / Royal Society

Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) Networking Grants Round 3 (of 5)

https://acmedsci.ac.uk/grants-and-schemes/grant-schemes/gcrf-networking-grants

Applicants can be from any discipline, and applications should focus on building a collaborative network. Therefore proposals should be submitted jointly by a lead overseas researcher from a developing country and a lead researcher based in the UK.

It is mandatory for the overseas researcher to be resident in a country on the DAC list. See the DAC list for a full list of eligible countries. As Chile, Seychelles and Uruguay graduated from the DAC list in 2017, they are not eligible to apply for the scheme.

Each application must have only one UK based core partner in the network and they should be the UK researcher who jointly submits the application.

There will be funding for 40 awards per year (20 per round) of up to £25,000.

This scheme is targeted at experienced researchers who are looking to form new international collaborations.

The aims of the networking grants are to:

• Pump prime new interdisciplinary partnerships between research communities, policy makers and practitioners in developing countries and in the UK.
• Provide opportunities for researchers drawn from a wide spectrum of disciplines and backgrounds, particularly those who may not previously have considered the applicability of their work to development issues, to forge new links and generate new research ideas and innovative approaches to addressing global challenges.
• Establish sustainable partnerships between UK researchers and those in developing countries to serve as a foundation for sharing knowledge and skill transfer to allow them in the future to conduct excellent research with impact.
• Strengthen research and training capacity and capability in developing countries across a range of different disciplines.

The Networking Grants are broadly themed and the main activities that will be supported through these grants include hosting collaborative meetings, visits or workshops.

A proportion of the grant can focus on building pilot data or conducting archival research or fieldwork.

These networking activities will be problem-orientated and solution focused and will generate new ideas and innovative approaches to addressing global challenges.

The networks formed through these grants can be newly constructed collaborations, or may build on an existing network but focusing on a new project.

The networks must be interdisciplinary in nature and the primary benefit must be to promote growth and development in developing countries.

To be eligible to apply, both applicants must:

• Have completed a PhD or have experience at an equivalent level
• Have proven research experience in their field
• Hold a permanent position at an eligible institution (in the UK or a DAC-listed country), or a fixed term contract for the duration of the award
• Lead applicants must not be affiliated to a private or commercial organisation. Applications will not be considered if there is more than one UK co-applicant or an overseas applicant not from a DAC-listed country.

This grant forms part of the UK’s Official Development Assistance (ODA), which promotes economic development and welfare in developing countries. In order for applications to be eligible for this grant, applicants must clearly show that their proposal’s aims are in-line with those of the ODA. These include strengthening global peace and security, promoting global prosperity and tackling extreme poverty. The delivery partners for this scheme have provided some ODA guidance for applicants, which can be downloaded from the right side of this page.

Projects must start between 1 January 2019 and 31 March 2019, and the funding will last for one year.

The maximum amount available is £25,000 of which £5,000 can be used for consumables for obtaining pilot data, archival research or fieldwork.
The remainder can be used to contribute towards travel and subsistence costs, costs associated with networking events, administrative support and access to technical support.

Grants cannot be used to pay for salary costs or to employ research assistants, PhD students or postdoctoral staff.

Please see full terms and conditions and sample form and previous awards at the URL above.

Call-for-project-womens-health

AXA Research Fund Women’s Health call

The AXA Research Fund has released a call for a 2 year Fellowship in the remit of Women’s Health & Access to Healthcare,

Newcastle may nominate one candidate to make an application to this call though it has to do so to an extremely tight deadline.

• The Fellowship is for 24 months for a maximum of 125,000 Euros to cover the Fellow’s salary and research costs.
• The Fellow may be no more than 5 years post completing a PhD.
• Applicants may reside in any country and be of any nationality.
• They must already have a stellar CV of publications, being involved in networks, have esteem indicators of awards, invitation to speak, etc. and have disseminated their findings beyond the academic community.

If successful the Fellowship would have to start at Newcastle between December 2018 and September 2019.

Newcastle’s selected applicant would need to submit their proposal online by the deadline of 5 July, 2018 by 2pm C.E.S.T.

Newcastle has to submit the name of their selected candidate by Wednesday June 13^th (any later cuts into the time available to the applicant to make an application).

I attach the call guidance and a summary of the main points.

If you think you have a candidate of sufficient calibre who could make the above grant writing deadlines and fellowship start times please send their CV and a brief (up to one page) description of the nature of the research topic they would propose to gwen.averley@ncl.ac.uk

by 4pm on Wednesday 6^th June

A decision will then be made as to who may go forward to make an application as Newcastle’s nominee.