Deadline: 11 May 2017
The UK Medical Research Council (MRC), and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) through the Philippine Council for Health and Research Development opens in new window (PCHRD) invite concept proposals to the second UK-Philippines Joint Health Research Call.
This initiative will provide funding for high quality 3-year collaborative research projects focusing on Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases of relevance to the Philippines. This exciting initiative builds on the MRC-PCHRD Call launched in 2015 through which 6 proposals addressing research needs in Infectious Diseases were funded.
The second call being launched by MRC and PCHRD aims to further build on the strengths of the UK and Filipino research base by funding innovative partnerships in Communicable as well as Non-Communicable Diseases of relevance to the Philippines. While the 2015 call focused entirely on Infectious Disease research, this second call aims to enable opportunities for partnership in the areas of Infectious Diseases, and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM).
Objectives and Scopes
- Communicable diseases of relevance to the Philippines, particularly on diseases that impact the most vulnerable in society, specifically
- Influenza-like illness
- Chronic respiratory infections including Pneumonia
- Leptospirosis
- Sepsis
- Hepatitis
- Rabies
- Zika virus
- non- Communicable Diseases (NCDs), specifically; Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
- Areas of particular research interest include but are not limited to:
- use of animal models in identifying the genes responsible for development of or protection from the disease
- studies on creation/ use of animal models for therapeutic trials
- development of cost-effective biomedical devices for diagnosing, treatment, and/or management T2DM among Filipinos
Areas of Interest
Areas of particular research interest within the infectious disease space include but are not limited to:
- genomics and molecular technologies: for novel biomarker identification, with a focus on host and pathogen ‘omics and host-pathogen interactions
- diagnostics: Development of cost effective, rapid diagnostic tools, utilizing off-patent/ lapsed and/or novel technologies. Specific topics include the following:
- point of care
- diagnostic test done at the time and place of patient care
- screening / confirmatory /prognostic
- screening to detect early disease or risk factors for disease
- confirming the presence or absence of disease
- prognosticating and to predicting the likely outcome of disease, susceptibility and chances of recovery
- information and Communication Technology (ICT)/e-health: Development of user-friendly ICT solutions to accelerate the gathering and processing of health and related information for policymaking, and delivery of quality healthcare services
Funds Available
The total funding available for this call is as follows:
- MRC – up to £2 million pounds (Funding provided to the successful UK applicants)
- PCHRD – up to £1.25 million pounds/ Php 80 million Pesos (Funding provided to the successful Filipino applicants)
Up to £650 thousand pounds will be available per partnership (up to£400K from UK and up to £250K/ Php 16 million Pesos from Philippines) to support activities for up to 3 years.
Eligibility Criteria
Applications will be required to have one UK Principal Investigator and one Filipino Principal Investigator. If appropriate, applications with industrial partners are welcomed (although no funding will be available to these partners).
How to Apply
Eligible UK and Filipino applicants must submit proposals via email at the address given on the website.
For more information, please visit UK – Philippines Joint Health Research Initiative.