NIHR seeking Research Proposals addressing COVID-19 in LMICs

Deadline: 22 June 2020

NIHR is seeking proposals to support applied health research that will address COVID-19 knowledge gaps with the focus on understanding the pandemic and mitigating its health impacts in low and middle-income countries (LMIC) contexts. The call priorities epidemiology, clinical management, infection control and health system responses.

The call is supported by:

• The UK Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)
• The Medical Research Council (MRC), which is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), and includes funding from the UK Government’s Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) and Newton Fund.

Scope

• The call specification is based on the WHO COVID-19 Global Research Roadmap priorities identified through a consultative process that involved experts from across the world.  In addition, we have taken into consideration the African Academy of Sciences research priorities for COVID-19, and input from external experts, for example DHSC’s Global Health Research Independent Scientific Advisory Group and MRC’s Applied Global Health Research Board.
• As well as projects addressing direct impacts of COVID-19, projects investigating the indirect consequences of the pandemic through other health issues such as (but not limited to): mental health, domestic violence, inter-personal violence, water and sanitation, maternal and neonatal health, nutrition, chronic conditions, and the wider impact on the health system or health service delivery, will be considered.

Thematic Areas

• Thematic Area 3. Epidemiological studies
  • Describe transmission dynamics of COVID-19 and understand spread of disease nationally, regionally and globally. This may include, for instance:
    • seroprevalence studies.
    • clarification of the importance of pre-symptomatic/asymptomatic transmission.
  • Describe disease severity and susceptibility to facilitate effective clinical and public health response to COVID-19. This may include:
    • identification of groups at/characteristics of increased risk of severe infection.
    • determination of the role of different age groups and household structures in transmission; for instance, consideration of the impact of demographic differences in LMIC settings, where the demographic pyramid of morbidity and mortality may mean COVID-19 has less impact in countries with a smaller elderly proportion of their population.
    • determination of susceptibility of children to COVID-19 and their role in transmission of the disease, whether infected asymptomatic, or infected symptomatic.
  • Evaluate impact of control and mitigation measures. This may include:
    • Determination and evaluation of the most effective measures to mitigate the health effects of the disease on the general population, and/or specific at-risk groups and/or specific settings such as health-care settings, schools or other work-places.
    • Determination and evaluation of the most effective measures to reduce the acute burden on healthcare providers and others delivering essential support and care, and to mitigate the health effects on health-care providers;
    • Estimation of the effects of social distancing measures and other interventions on transmissibility.
    • Comparative analysis/impact assessment for infection control intervention measures
• Thematic Area 4: Clinical management
  • Define the natural history of COVID-19 infection (e.g. Prognostic factors for severe disease, special populations, triage and clinical processes, sampling strategy)
  • Determine interventions that improve clinical outcomes for COVID-19 infected patients (including viral load, disease and transmissibility, markers of protection)
  • Determine optimal clinical practice strategies to improve the processes of care (including early diagnosis, discharge criteria, optimal adjuvant therapies for patients and contacts);
  • Consideration of how to manage outcomes when there are other co-existing conditions e.g. HIV, mental illness, diabetes, cancer.
• Area 9: Social Sciences and Humanities in the Outbreak Response
  • With a focus on health systems research relevant to the outbreak; wider impacts of the pandemic on the health system; and public health messaging.
  • Generate high-quality evidence to achieving the goals of the strategic public health response plan.
  • Promote the prioritisation of knowledge needs according to epidemic dynamics.
  • Promote that knowledge is produced according to local, national and regional needs.
  • Promote that knowledge outputs and methodological limitations are easily understood by non-social scientists.
  • Develop guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to operationalise epidemic mitigation mechanisms.
  • Engage with communities to bring their voices to research and decision-making processes.
  • To understand cultural, long-term, and non-intended consequences of epidemic-control decisions.
  • Understand how decisions in the field may inadvertently undermine response goals.
  • Document how COVID-19 and the health system response affects the supply and access to other health care provision (such as maternal health, immunisation, routine surgeries, chronic disease care etc); and determining strategies to mitigate this;
  • Effective health systems responses to the epidemic: addressing issues such as health, wellbeing and effectiveness of the health workforce; supply chain management, financing, optimal implementation of clinical management and infection control measures.
  • Understanding and mitigating contextual vulnerability of health systems

Funding Information

• Proposals should normally be up to £1m per award.
• The size of grants will vary according to the needs of each research project and will need to provide a robust case for value for money.

Duration

• Proposals should normally be up to 18-month duration and applicants should be ready to start the research within 4 weeks of being notified of an award.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applications are particularly encouraged from LMIC PIs, as well as PIs based in the UK working in equitable partnerships with LMIC investigators. Applicants must have a relevant academic affiliation to an eligible institution in an LMIC or the UK.
• For researchers based in LMICs, eligible institutions include Higher Education Institutions and not-for-profit research institutions. Where the application is submitted by an LMIC organisation, the primary headquarters of that organisation must be in one of the LMIC countries where the research will take place. The institution must be legally registered in an LMIC or the UK and the Principal Investigator must be employed by the institution that is hosting the research.
• You can apply for Innovate UK  funding if you are a UK based business. All kinds of businesses can apply – from pre-startup and new companies to large multi-nationals.
• You can apply for funding if you want to do one or more of the following:
  • to test the feasibility of your idea and make sure it will work
  • create a new product, process or service, or improve an existing one, through research and development
  • work with other businesses or research organisations on collaborative projects
• PIs may not be from a commercial organisation or government ministry but may be included in the application as a project partner via service level agreement,  making it clear what benefit is provided to the research programme.
• Proposals must have a lead administering organisation eligible to accept and administer funds from NIHR and UKRI – either an eligible research organisation in a country on the OECD DAC recipient list or in the UK.

For more information, visit https://www.nihr.ac.uk/documents/global-effort-on-covid-19-geco-health-research-call-specification/24832