EDCTP Launches Funding Call for COVID-19 Research in Sub-Saharan Africa

EDCTP Launches Funding Call for COVID-19 Research in Sub-Saharan Africa

The European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) invites expressions of interest proposals for RIAs to support research activities in sub-Saharan Africa to manage and/or prevent the spread of the current COVID-19 outbreak.

Proposals should provide novel, critical and timely insights into the COVID-19 outbreak in sub-Saharan Africa and/or potential avenues for its management or prevention. Proposals must be timely, with rapid activation, to enable early and valuable outcomes to be established and/or to access time-dependent resources.

Proposals submitted under this expression of interest must address one or more of the following research gaps:

1. Understanding of the natural history of infection to better define the period of infectiousness and transmissibility; improve surveillance capabilities to more accurately estimate the reproductive number in various outbreak settings and improve understanding of the role of asymptomatic infection in transmission.

2. Promote the development, adaptation, evaluation, and implementation of point-of-care diagnostic tests that can be used to screen all patients presenting with a history consistent with COVID-19 infection.

3. Support standardised, best evidence-based approaches for clinical management and better health outcomes for patients by contributing to the implementation of randomised, controlled trials for diagnostics and therapeutics as promising agents emerge, taking usability, including multi-centre/country trials and access in resource-constrained settings, into account.

4. Validation and adaptation of existing serological tests, including those that have been developed by commercial entities, and establishment of biobanks and serum panels of well characterised COVID-19 sera to support such efforts.

Applicants should be aware that proposals funded under this call will be required to make available their research data of urgent policy relevance, at the latest within 30 days after it has been generated, through open access or, if agreed by the EDCTP Association or by the European Commission, by giving access rights to those third parties that need the research data to address the public health emergency, in accordance with the relevant option of Article 29.3 (1c) of the H2020 model grant agreement.

Consortia comprising a minimum of three independent legal entities are eligible to apply. Two of the legal entities shall be established in two different Participating States (Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom) and one of the legal entities must be established in a sub-Saharan African country (Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo (Democratic Republic), Congo (Republic), Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe). All three legal entities must be independent of each other.

Sole participants formed by several legal entities (eg European Research Infrastructure Consortia, European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation, central purchasing bodies) are also eligible if the minimum conditions are satisfied by the legal entities forming together the sole participant. Applicants from non-EU and non-sub-Saharan African countries are free to take part in the EDCTP2 programme, but are not automatically entitled to funding. Applicants may be granted funding if their participation is considered essential for carrying out actions in the grant. It has to be demonstrated that participation by the applicant has clear benefits to the consortium such as outstanding expertise/competence, access to research infrastructure, particular geographical environments and/or data.

EDCTP considers that proposals for activities of between six and 24 months duration would allow to contribute appropriately to this specific challenge.

The total budget for this call is €4.75 million. It is expected that between five and 10 grants of up to €500,000 will be awarded. Grants will cover 100% of project costs.

Expressions of Interest must be submitted by 17 April 2020 (17:00 CEST).

​More information about this research funding opportunity and the application process is available on the RESEARCHconnect funding information platform. RESEARCHconnect provides up-to-the minute content, insight and analysis on research funding news and policy. To find out more about how RESEARCHconnect can keep you in the know, and subscription fees, contact us today.