A Combined Food Systems Approach to Scaling-up Interventions to Address the Double Burden of Malnutrition

https://bbsrc.ukri.org/funding/filter/2019-double-burden-malnutrition/

Deadline: 07^th May 2019

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), through the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) Collective Programme, has announced an investment of up to £8.5 million to support interdisciplinary proposals that seek to work across the food system to reduce the global double burden of malnutrition.

This programme aims to consolidate existing evidence and synthesise new evidence for sustainable, multidisciplinary approaches that address the challenge of chronic global malnutrition.

This will encompass both under-nutrition (too few calories) and over-nutrition (too many calories), both of which are associated with inadequate micronutrient intakes, otherwise known as the ‘Double Burden of Malnutrition’.

The primary aim of this opportunity is to invite applications for new research that builds upon and scales up existing UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) investments in food systems, to maximise the potential for impact in addressing the double burden of malnutrition.

Proposals must be led by UK researchers normally eligible for UKRI funding, and partnerships with eligible Co-Investigators based in any of the DAC countries are required.

The call is funded from the UK government’s GCRF. As well as being scientifically excellent, research supported under it must meet the criteria for classification of expenditure as ODA.

Funds can be requested for up to three years and projects must start by mid-February 2020.

UKRI-BBSRC will upload additional resource describing the scope of the call with three weeks of the launch of the call.

This will be uploaded to the webpage in the format of a recorded webinar and will provide an audible description of the scope, thus enabling the information to be available to a wider audience across the whole community.

UKRI-BBSRC will also add an FAQ factsheet compiling common queries regarding the call.

Through this new funding opportunity, UKRI wishes to support new research that builds on previous investments through:

1. scaling up of research interventions to extend and consolidate evidence on the effectiveness of interventions that have already demonstrated positive but small-scale impacts
2. encouraging interdisciplinary collaborations that combine complementary approaches, such as

• fortification (the addition of micronutrients to foods during processing) and nutrient supplementation
• agronomic techniques (the addition of fertilisers to enhance nutrient density)
• biofortification (the breeding and selection of crops with traits that enhance their micronutrient contents)
• the study of livelihoods and socio-economic influences on whether interventions will work.

3. advocacy activities with key stakeholders, such as generating reports and publicising research findings for a non-academic audience, round table discussions with policy makers, and interactions with international networks such as the Scaling Up Nutrition or SUN network, and
4. funding new research that links the existing portfolio to overlapping concerns of the other GCRF portfolios of Education and Health.

Eligible projects must reflect elements of all three of the following:

• New research to enhance coherence and impact, including new combinations of approaches to tackle malnutrition along the food system chain from production to consumer, and evidence of strong partnerships through co-creation of research with partners in LMICs and stakeholder involvement in design
• Communication, including layperson- as well as policymaker-targeted publications in the form of reports, memos, and blogs, webinars, films, exhibitions, and workshops
• Stakeholder/end user engagement, including conferences, round-table discussions, high level meetings with government departments, policymakers, the private sector, and members of civil society.

GCRF – Cultures, Behaviours and Histories of Agriculture, Food, and Nutrition call

https://ahrc.ukri.org/funding/apply-for-funding/current-opportunities/gcrf-cultures-behaviours-and-histories-of-agriculture-food-and-nutrition-call/

Deadline: 16^th May 2019

UKRI has announced the first of two funding calls to support interdisciplinary, international research partnerships which seek to explore the intersection of culture, behaviours, history, and society with all stages of the food systems chain in Lower and Middle Income Countries (LMICs).

The activity should catalyse the creation of sustainable, balanced, equitable relationships and partnerships between UK based research organisations and researchers with those in developing countries.

Learning and knowledge exchange should be reciprocal with clear mutuality of benefit for all collaborators.

There are two scales of award that can be applied for under this call:

• Small Partnership Awards with total costs of no more than £50,000 fEC
• Large Partnership Awards with total costs of no more than £200,000 fEC

Funding of up to £2million is available to support up to 6-10 Small Partnership Awards and up to 6-10 Large Partnership Awards, depending on quality of applications received.

Funding requested should be commensurate with the activities intended for these projects.

The duration of these awards can be between 12 and 24 months.

A second call will be launched in autumn 2019, with up to a further £2million of funding available (£4million available in total divided between the two calls).

This second call will also be open to applications addressing any relevant theme and will offer similar levels of funding.

In order to facilitate inter-disciplinary innovation and co-design between UK and LMIC partners, the call is deliberately open in scope and broad in its remit with regard to food systems.

Applications on any relevant topic are welcomed.

Some examples of potential themes are provided below simply to illustrate some of the potential breadth. The call will not prioritise applications which address these themes nor will it de-prioritise those which do not.

All applications will be considered equally against the eligibility and assessment criteria.

• Gender dynamics of food and nutrition
• Community dynamics around food and diet
• Collective memories of food shocks and their impact on policy/practice
• Coping with climate, weather and environmental risks in food systems
• Non-communicable diseases related to food practices

Please ensure to read the full call documentation and FAQs available through the links above.

Multi-omics Based Research for Precision Medicine Research Initiative 2019

https://mrc.ukri.org/funding/browse/uk-korea2/multi-omics-based-research-for-precision-medicine-research-initiative-2019/

Deadline: 24^th April 2019 (EoI deadline 10^th April 2019, please see below)

Amount: Up to £9 million: up to £2 million of MRC (UK component); up to £7 million from MSIT/NRF (Korean component)

This initiative will provide funding for one high-quality collaborative research consortium focusing on multi-omics based research for precision medicine.

This initiative will provide significant funding for a UK-Korea precision medicine consortium focused on addressing a disease for which there is a strong case for scientific advancement and major unmet clinical need, with the aim of:

• supporting large-scale, interdisciplinary, multi-ethnic, multi-omics based collaborative research
• providing new insights into disease mechanisms that will enable better tailoring of existing treatments and pave the way for the development of new treatments, diagnostics and care pathways
• enhancing existing partnerships and developing new partnerships between the UK and Korea in the area of precision medicine.
• strengthening the strategic relationship between the UK and Korea.

Applications from any disease area are welcomed including, but not limited to, cancer, metabolic diseases, immune or inflammatory diseases, heart diseases, degenerative brain disease, neurological, sensory and mental health disorders.

Applicants should make a strong case for scientific advancement within an area of major unmet clinical need (full objectives and scope detailed through link above).

This call will fund partnerships between UK and Korean based researchers working in the area of multi-omics based precision medicine. It is important to note that:

• the proposal should be developed by a UK principal investigator (PI) and a Korean PI
• the UK and Korean PIs may only submit one application to this scheme as PI
• the Korean PI cannot be involved as co-investigator (Co-I) in other applications submitted to this call
• the Korean PI must commit at least 50% of their time to the research project
• the UK PI may be involved in other applications if listed as Co-I
• UK Co-Is may be involved in more than one application.

Online networking database

MRC, MSIT and NRF will create an online networking database to compile a list of UK and Korean researchers who are interested in finding possible collaborators for this call. Participation in the online networking database is optional.

If you would like to share your details with the research community in the UK and Korea, please complete the online networking template form in English. Researchers completing the form should be aware that these details will be made public.

A copy of the online networking database will be made available online on this page from Monday 11 March (UK time) and will be updated once per week until Monday 1 April (UK time) with all the networking information received before 9:00 GMT+1 on the date of the update.

Expression of interest

Researchers planning to submit to this scheme are asked to submit a short expression of interest (EoI) online form by 10 April 2019.

Please note, this step does not form part of the review process and the MRC will not undertake eligibility checks at this point; applicants should not await a response from the MRC following EoI submission, but continue with the development of the full proposal, deadline 24 April 2019.

The MRC will use the expression of interest to help prepare for the review process.

Applicants are not expected to submit an expression of interest to MSIT/NRF.

On the UK side, projects must start on 1 January 2020. Projects must be three years in duration and have completed by 31 December 2022.

On the Korean side, projects must start on 1 September 2019. The project will be divided into two stages:

first stage: 1 Sept 2019-1 Dec 2022

second stage: 1 Jan 2023-31 Dec 2024

after the completion of the first stage, the Korean team can move to the second stage subject to satisfactory assessment of the first stage outcomes. However, the proposal should clearly outline the entirety of the research plans across both stages.

Although the UK component of the consortium will not receive funding for the full duration of the project through this initiative, the expectation is that the proposal should clearly outline the entirety of the research plans for both stages, and clearly detail roles and responsibilities within the full project period.

Please ensure that you read the call text document and full details through the link above.

UKRI GCRF Health and Context call 2019 – outline

https://mrc.ukri.org/funding/browse/ukri-gcrf/ukri-gcrf-health-and-context-call-2019-outline/

Deadline: 2 April 2019

Summary

The UKRI GCRF Health and Context call is seeking proposals for interdisciplinary research addressing wider contextual factors contributing to the burden of infectious and non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

These factors may include social, cultural, historical, and religious beliefs and practices, or wider biological, ecological and environmental factors. We want to fund consortia conducting ambitious research that:

• goes beyond description to determine causal relationships between contextual influences and health
• develops or tests feasible interventions that are sensitive to or mitigate contextual influences on health.

Via the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF), UKRI will support impactful, three-year research projects of value between £1-2 million (at 80% FEC for UK costs, 100% FEC for overseas costs).

This call is being led jointly by the Medical Research Council, Economic & Social Research Council, Arts & Humanities Research Council, Natural Environment Research Council, and Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, and applications may fall within the remit of any of, or across, these councils.

Understanding the mechanistic links between nutrition and non-communicable diseases in low and middle-income countries

https://mrc.ukri.org/funding/browse/mrc-gcrf/mechanistic-nutrition-research-in-lmics/

Deadline: 4 April 2019

Summary

GCRF funding call: ‘Understanding the mechanistic links between nutrition and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in low and middle-income countries (LMICs)’ is part of the MRC’s suite of strategic activities in global nutrition and health research.

The overarching aim of the call is to develop new programmes of research and partnerships between UK and LMIC-based researchers.

The purpose of the research is to link mechanistic understanding of disease to populations in a context-specific manner (that is, a focus on problems and health challenges that are specific to LMIC countries or regions within, LMIC populations or segments of the population).

The specific remit is to unpick the mechanistic links between nutrition/diet and NCDs (see detailed Aims and remit).

To support the research community in developing new and innovative research plans – including coordinating interest, data, expertise and resources – towards building equitable partnerships for more substantial programmatic research.

The funding call will be phased in two stages: an obligatory development stage and a full application stage.

Successful applicants at the development stage will be awarded funds (£50,000 maximum MRC contribution for up to 10 months, see application process) to develop full applications for new programmes of research with a duration of three to five years (up to £2 million MRC contribution, this figure is subject to confirmation at the full application stage). Only proposals successful at the development stage will be eligible for the full application stage.

Please note that more established groups and partnerships that may already be well placed to apply for competitive funding should consider applying to research funding in response-mode through the MRC’s Population and Systems Medicine Board.

The research supported through this call will contribute to the UK’s commitment to Official Development Assistance (ODA) to LMICs. Applications must demonstrate the research to be primarily relevant to near-term or long-term benefits to the health or prosperity of people in LMICs.

Global Maternal and Neonatal Health 2019 – outlines

https://mrc.ukri.org/funding/browse/global-maternal-and-neonatal-health/global-maternal-and-neonatal-health-2019-outlines/

Deadline: 24 April 2019

Summary

The Global Maternal and Neonatal Health funding call is a joint initiative between the Medical Research Council (MRC; part of UK Research & Innovation, partly funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF)), and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).

The purpose of the call is to address the burden of maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity in low and middle income countries (LMICs), by funding high-quality proposals across the spectrum of basic to applied research.

Awards will support multidisciplinary approaches, build and strengthen research partnerships, and promote capacity building in global maternal and neonatal health research.

Applications are particularly encouraged from principal investigators based at organisations in LMICs, as well as from eligible research organisations based in the UK working in equitable partnership with LMIC colleagues.

This is the first of three annual calls. Up to £10 million will be made available for this call to support research grants up to three years in duration and seed-funding grants up to one year’s duration.

For the first call we particularly encourage proposals focusing on the period of pregnancy and birth, although pre-conception and postpartum applications will be considered.

Please contact Gwen Averley and Darren Airey if you would like any assistance in applying for any of these funding calls.