Africa NCD Open Lab call for proposals
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GSK Africa Open Lab call for proposals
GSK is pleased to announce a call for research proposals from outstanding African scientists based in research institutions or universities in Cameroon, Côte D’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, The Gambia, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Uganda, Senegal or Tanzania.
Awards offer up to two years of funding, with up to £100,000 available per award to cover the cost of an appropriate research project. A minimum of 10 awards will be funded.
The closing date for submitting applications will be 16:00 GMT on the 12th of January 2017.
Introduction
GSK’s Africa NCD Open Lab was established in 2014 as part of a series of GSK strategic investments to provide long term support for scientific research in the field of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in sub Saharan Africa. The goal is to work in partnership with funders, researchers and academic groups to share expertise and resources to conduct research in Africa aimed at increasing scientific understanding of the unique attributes of NCDs.
In November 2014 the Open Lab launched its first call for proposals in eight African countries, with a total of £4 million made available to fund projects. In September 2015, a £5 million collaboration with the Medical Research Councils of the UK and South Africa was announced. This funding was used to launch a second call for proposals providing an opportunity to support researchers from South African institutions conducting research projects in NCDs.
Who is the call targeted at?
This third call for proposals is targeted at outstanding African scientists in the early stages of their research and academic careers based in research institutions or universities in the following countries: Cameroon, Côte D’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, The Gambia, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Uganda, Senegal and Tanzania.
Objectives of the call
- To encourage research that will further the understanding of the specific variations of NCDs in African settings, to subsequently inform their prevention and effective management in African patients.
- To provide support for researchers from African institutions at an early stage of their research career to develop their own competitive, independent research programmes and careers as outstanding independent researchers.
- To fund innovative NCD research projects by promising African scientists that will generate significant data to strengthen further funding proposals that could lead to additional more sizeable grant funding from other organisations in the longer term.
What’s in Scope?
The programme’s aims are to fund rigorous, high quality research that will address disease mechanisms, epidemiology, pathophysiology and aetiology, or prevention and treatment of primary disease and associated complications in at least one of the following priority NCD areas: cardiovascular disease, oncology, chronic respiratory disease, chronic kidney disease and diabetes.
Proposals can additionally:
- Examine the interplay between the priority NCD areas described above and infectious disease or the role of inflammation in these NCDs.
- Investigate the impact of other disease conditions common in sub Saharan Africa such as sickle cell disease on these priority NCDs.
- Involve NCDs in children and across the life course including those examining maternal health and the early origins of NCDs in the priority NCD areas.
Only primary research informed by the review of existing evidence and identified gaps will be funded. Proposals must demonstrate significant potential to inform or develop further research programmes.
What’s out of Scope?
Proposals focusing on drug development and public health interventions, or not covering NCDs in the priority areas described above, will not be accepted
