Human Heredity and Health in Africa

Purpose

The purpose of this call is to support the establishment of African networks to carry out research within the remit of the Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) Initiative, which is a partnership between the African Society of Human Genetics, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Wellcome Trust.

Background

The Human Heredity and Health in Africa Initiative aims to facilitate a contemporary research approach to the study of genomics and environmental determinants of common diseases, with the aim of improving the health of African populations. To achieve this, the Initiative will support the creation and development of the necessary expertise and infrastructure in Africa and establish pan-African research networks. It is envisaged that studies funded through the Initiative will inform subsequent strategies to address the health inequities in both communicable and non-communicable diseases, leading to health benefits in Africa.

A broad consultation process resulted in a white paper: ‘Harnessing Genomic Technologies Toward Improving Health in Africa: Opportunities and challenges’.

Over the next five years, H3Africa will receive £8 million from the Wellcome Trust and $24 million from the NIH, along with administrative and scientific support.

Aims of this call

Successful proposals will:

• bring together research groups from more than one African country, to study a defined scientific question(s) that will advance our understanding of the genetic and environmental determinants of a specific disease(s) of importance to African populations
• include, as appropriate, researchers in ethics and the social sciences, to develop models of best practice with respect to the ethical, legal and social aspects of the proposed research
• follow the principles of H3Africa, and as appropriate:
  - share data and samples across the Initiative
  - collaborate across the initiative with regards to training and use of infrastructure, such as bioinformatics and biorepositories
  - follow best practices with respect to ethical, legal and social issues
  - follow best practices at the institutional level regarding the management and administration of the award.

The NIH anticipate that they will issue a separate, complementary call for applications under the H3Africa Initiative.

What's included

Up to five years' support is available, and expenses may include:

• support for staff
• materials and consumables
• equipment purchase and maintenance
• training and network meetings.

Awards are expected to be in the region of £2-4 million.

The Trust recognises that it will take time for applicants to develop their full application. There will therefore be a two-stage process (see ‘Application process’ for details), and applicants who are shortlisted at the preliminary application stage will be awarded up to £20 000, to enable them to bring members of their network together to discuss and refine a full application.

Eligibility

Awards will be made to African institutions; the principal applicant will be an African citizen or resident with a primary appointment in an African institution. It is expected that coapplicants will also be African citizens and/or based in African institutions, but collaborations with internationally leading-edge groups from outside Africa are encouraged.

Institutions may be required to provide the following additional information at the preliminary application stage, to enable us to assess their eligibility to receive Trust funding:

• a statement of support from the head of the administering institution, explaining the mission of the institution and indicating how the proposal fits within the context of its strategic vision
• details of the main source(s) of funding and a description of the institution’s legal status, and whether it is able to enter into legal agreements in its own name and on its own account.

Applicants shortlisted at the preliminary stage may also be required to provide additional financial information.

Application process

Stage 1 - contact the Wellcome Trust

Prospective applicants should first contact the Trust, emailing a brief outline of their scientific vision and a list of potential members of their network to h3a@wellcome.ac.uk.

Preliminary application forms will only be sent to prospective applicants following initial discussions with Trust staff to explore the suitability of the proposal.

Stage 2 - preliminary application

Applicants invited to complete and submit a preliminary application form to the Trust should send it by email (as a Word document), with the requested accompanying information (where appropriate), to h3a@wellcome.ac.uk.

The deadline for preliminary applications is 10 October 2011.

Applicants are strongly advised to contact the Trust to discuss their plans before 16 September 2011, to allow sufficient time to complete and submit their preliminary application.

Applications must be submitted in English.

Application advice
The preliminary application will ask applicants to provide:

• the research vision of the proposed network (200 words)
• the high-level aims and objectives of the network, the scientific questions/hypotheses it will address, and how they relate to the vision of H3Africa (500 words)
• the approaches that will be used to achieve the objectives, including high-level targets and expected outcomes (1500 words)
• a brief explanation of the contribution and role of each group in the network
• an outline of the proposed management and governance arrangements for the network (700 words)
• a description of the ethical challenges posed by this research and whether the applicants envisage any multidisciplinary research to inform best practice with respect to ethical, legal and social issues (500 words)
• an indication of the level of support requested by each institution
• CVs of the principal applicant and all coapplicants
• a list of major collaborators and their institutions.

Institutions may also be required to provide the following additional information at the preliminary application stage, to enable us to assess eligibility to receive Trust funding:

• a statement of support from the head of the administering institution, explaining the mission of the institution and indicating how the proposal fits within the context of its strategic vision
• details of the main source(s) of funding and a description of the institution’s legal status, and whether it is able to enter into legal agreements in its own name and on its own account.

Assessment criteria
Preliminary applications will be assessed using the following criteria:

• scientific relevance to H3Africa
• whether the applicants and collaborators together have the relevant expertise to deliver the proposed research
• whether the management and governance arrangements are appropriate
• the relevance and quality of any training programmes, if applicable.

Submitted preliminary application forms will be shortlisted by the end of November 2011.

Stage 3 - full application

Shortlisted applicants will be invited to submit a full application and will be awarded up to £20 000 to enable them to bring members of their network together to discuss and refine the application.

Applicants awarded £20 000 may also be required to provide a full set of recently published accounts (to include income and expenditure report and balance sheet) before the award can be made. Please note that further financial information may also be requested from the institution when a full application is invited and before any final award is made.

Full applications should be completed and submitted to the Trust by 16 March 2012.

Full applications will be sent out for peer review and then considered by a specially convened Strategic Awards Committee on 19 June 2012.

Deadlines

This competition is now closed. The dates below are for information only:

• Deadline for initial expression of interest: 16 September 2011
• Preliminary application deadline: 10 October 2011
• Shortlisting exercise completed: end of November 2011
• Invited full application deadline: 16 March 2012
• Committee review: 19 June 2012

Late applications will not be accepted at any stage.

Contacts

Please send any queries to: h3a@wellcome.ac.uk.

Wellcome Trust
Gibbs Building
215 Euston Road
London NW1 2BE, UK
T +44 (0)20 7611 8888