RCUK – DOST-PCHRD Research Partnership 2016

Call Specifications

The UK – Southeast Asia Small Scale Research Partnerships Call for Proposals 2016 is an initiative between Research Councils UK (RCUK) and Southeast Asian Research Organizations (SEA ROs). This initiative will provide flexible short-term support for small-scale research, with the objective of establishing sustainable collaborations between UK and Southeast Asian researchers in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, leading to excellent research that will contribute to the economic development and welfare of partner Southeast Asian countries.

This RCUK led call is held in collaboration with the 7 different research councils (AHRC, BBSRC, EPSRC, ESRC, NERC, MRC and STFC), and counterpart SEA ROs, namely Indonesia Science Fund (ISF), the Ministry of Research Technology and Higher Education Republic of Indonesia (Ristekdikti), the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia (MoHE), the Department of Science and Technology Philippines (DOST), the Thailand Research Fund (TRF) and the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT).

Objectives and Scope

For the Philippines, the Research Councils UK (RCUK), and Department of Science and Technology (DOST), through the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) are pleased to invite applications to RCUK – DOST-PCHRD Research Partnership 2016.

The aim of this call is to provide 1-2 year flexible short-term support for researches that will provide new insights and stimulate creative thinking to tackle the real world problems and will contribute to the economic development and welfare of the Philippines. Proposals could bring new collaborations and different disciplines/approaches together, and enable researchers to explore new regional or international approaches.

Successful proposals are expected to generate robust data which will lay the groundwork for future avenues of investigation. Small Scale Research Partnership Grants are not intended to support a logical progression of an already established research project or other types of on-going work; therefore, the nature of these awards will be more exploratory. Although an element of networking is permissible through these grants, grants should aim to have some form of tangible output.

The longer term objective is to establish sustainable collaborations between UK and Southeast Asian researchers that will increase the competitiveness of these researchers in gaining funds for excellent research in future funding calls, either under the Newton Fund or through other routes.

Please note that different Southeast Asian partners are taking part in different topics.

Early career researchers are particularly encouraged to apply.

We invite proposals which will address Mental Health.

Proposals within the theme are welcomed from across the remits of the UK Research Councils. Recognising the multidisciplinary nature of the thematic areas, the development of interdisciplinary collaborations is particularly welcome.

Interested applicants should consider how their proposal makes the best use of available expertise in the UK and the Philippines, the added value of collaboration and how the proposal will meet the Official Development Assistance (ODA) requirements of this Newton Fund activity.

Background of the Newton Fund

The UK contribution will be channeled from the Newton Fund. The Newton Fund is an initiative intended to strengthen research and innovation partnerships between the UK and emerging knowledge economies. It was launched by the Chancellor in April 2014, and will deliver £735million of funding over the course of seven years.

The Fund forms part of the UK’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) commitment which is monitored by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). ODA funded activity focuses on outcomes that promote the long-term sustainable growth of countries on the OECD Development Assistance Committee list. Newton Fund countries represent a sub-set of this list. For more information, please visit the RCUK Newton Fund page; http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/international/newton/.

The Newton Fund requires that the funding be awarded in a manner that fits with Official Development Assistance (ODA) guidelines. All applications under this call must therefore be compliant with these guidelines. http://www.newtonfund.ac.uk/about/what-is-oda/

Background of the DOST PCHRD

Funding from the DOST will be provided by the DOST- Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD).

The Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) is one of the three sectoral councils of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). It is a forward-looking, partnership-based national body responsible for coordinating and monitoring health research activities in the country. As the focal point for health research and development in the country, PCHRD is mandated to perform the following functions: 1.) Formulate policies, plans, programs, project, and strategies for health S&T development, 2.) Program and allocate government and external funds for R&D, 3.) Monitor R&D projects, and 4.) Generate external funds. PCHRD also serves as the Secretariat of the Philippine National Health Research System (PNHRS). For more information on PCHRD, please visit www.pchrd.dost.gov.ph .

Theme

Mental Health – community based recovery following natural disasters

This theme particularly focuses on recovery from trauma associated with environmental disasters or conflict, and inter-relationships with other public health challenges. We wish to fund research on transitions people make from trauma and are particularly interested in mental health within a community context.

Wide scale societal and environment events such as natural disasters and conflict are traumatic, with long term effects on health. People and communities react to, and cope with, these effects in a variety of ways, and will have different levels of in-built resilience to cope. Health systems (both formal and informal) also often adapt to respond to the needs that arise in many ways, from small scale community based activity to raise awareness of, and support those with specific mental health issues, to new policies focussing on mental health. Research is needed to understand the complexity of these situations and find out what has happened and what has worked in different settings in order to suggest solutions.   There is a particular focus on community based approaches to dealing with the mental health consequences of natural disasters , although proposals that link to the broader health system are also welcome. It is particularly important to develop innovative solutions to these long term problems that are developed and tested in the contexts in which they will operate. Research looking in to issues around inequality in these contexts is also welcome, including access to services.

Mental health disorders are often experienced as long term, chronic, conditions and place considerable pressures on existing health systems and budgets. Mental health affects efforts to meet development goals and public health challenges such as promotion of gender equality, reduction of child mortality, improvement of maternal health, and reversal of the spread of HIV/AIDS. There is a need therefore to embed mental health awareness across all aspects of national, regional, local and community level health and social policy, health system planning and delivery of health care.[1] Therefore building research capacity in mental health, particularly in research focussed on health and community systems is central to progress in this area and collaboration among SE Asian and other international researchers in mental health is seen as a key facilitator of this process.[2]

This call encourages researchers from a variety of backgrounds (including health care, psychology, anthropology for example) to work together to investigate these complex issues. Proposals that apply the learning from one context to a variety of other international settings and contexts are also welcome.

Research areas of interest may include, but are not limited to:

1. Learning from and developing community based responses to mental health challenges in the wake of environmental disaster and/or conflict, including co-design of responses and services.
2. Immediate and longer term responses to environmental disaster and/or conflict and the relationship between the two
3. Inequalities in quality and access of mental health services in the context of environmental disaster and/or conflict in different contexts and how this might be addressed.
4. Awareness, resilience or susceptibility to mental health challenges in the context of environmental disaster and/or conflict and how this varies over time and by social circumstance.

Funding Available

RCUK has approximately £50 – £100K available per project and DOST-PCHRD will support up to £43,000.00 (approximately Php 3million per project) for 2 projects with activities over a 1-2 year period. The size of the grant will vary depeding of the needs of each research project and must be fully justified.

All research grants applications under RCUK are conted on the basis of full economic costs (fEC). If a grant is awarded, the Research Council provide funding on the basis of 80% fEC. The UK Organisation must agree to find the balance of fEC for the project from other resources.

RCUK funding will be used to support the UK component of the partnership and PCHRD funding will support the Philippine component.

RCUK-funded costs of each grant will be issued and managed by the relevant UK Research Council according to the remit of the research proposal in accordance with their normal research funding guidelines and procedures.

PCHRD grant will be issued and managed by DOST-PCHRD in accordance with its DOST Grants-In-Aid (GIA) guidelines.

Please liaise closely with prospective partners to ensure that both RCUK and DOST-PCHRD -supported components of the proposal abide by all regulations of both funders.

Eligibility

UK eligible applicants

The UK Principal Investigator (PI) and Research Organisation (RO) must be eligible to apply according to the relevant Research Council’s guidance. Please identify the Council under whose remit the majority of the application falls and follow their guidance along with the RCUK terms and conditions which can be found at the following links:

Research Councils UK (RCUK)
Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
Medical Research Council (MRC) – MRC Units and Institutes are also eligible to apply
Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)

Philippine Eligible applicants

Filipinos with at least a Master’s Degree in a relevant field, have proven research competence / track record, and employed in universities/colleges, research agencies/institutes, hospitals, and other health related agencies are eligible to apply for the research grant.

Please refer to the DOST GIA Guidelines for eligibility and guidelines.

Applications will be required to have a Principal Investigator (PI) based at a UK Research Organisation (RO) and a Principal Investigator based in the Philippines.

How to apply

Submitting your Proposal

This RCUK – PCHRD call will be managed through RCUK systems and hosted by EPSRC on behalf of all seven research and DOST – PCHRD.

The full deadline is 16:00 BST (23:00 Philippine Standard Time) 02 August 2016. Any proposal received after this deadline will not be considered for funding.

Researchers will be responsible for developing their own collaborations. Once a research proposal is developed, UK and Southeast Asian applicants must apply jointly for funding to the RCUK -SEA Newton Small Scale Partnership Call 2016, via the EPSRC Je-S online application system (https://je-s.rcuk.ac.uk ). Applications must be submitted by the UK Principal Investigator on behalf of the UK-Southeast Asia Small Scale Partnership. The application must be JOINTLY prepared and submitted in English. Once received, RCUK will share the applications DOST – PCHRD.

The following documents must be included in the joint application.

• Joint Case for Support
• Justification of Resources (including both UK and Filipino justification)

For the Philippine funding, proposed budget should be submitted following Philippine cost pro-forma DOST Form No. 2B – 3 “Project Line-Item Budget”. Note that Budget request should follow guidelines stated in the DOST AO 005 S 2013 “Guidelines For The Grants-In-Aid Funds Of Department Of Science And Technology And Its Agencies”.

• DOST LIB Form 2B-3
• CVs and publications
• Letters of support

Failure to attach the mandatory attachments and complete the proposal form as outlined in the application guidance could result in your proposal being rejected. Please ensure you read the guidance thoroughly before starting your proposal.

Please Note: The Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) are hosting this call on behalf of the DOST – PCHRD through the UK Research Councils’ grant submission system known as ‘Je-S’. It is a requirement of this call that successful proposals will be withdrawn from the call on Je-S after decisions have been made and re-submitted to the lead remit council of the proposal on Je-S for awards to be finalised and made. EPSRC remit grants will not need to be withdrawn and resubmitted.

Key dates

Grant Start Dates

Due to the tight timescales and funding restrictions of the Newton Fund, UK grants must start by 01 December 2016; ie the ‘start confirmation’ must be submitted by 01 December 2016 (this is shorter than the standard 42 days for Research Council grants).

Please refer to the RCUK terms and conditions for information on what the starting procedure entails; please inform the relevant support staff in your organisation of this requirement to ensure the project starts on time.

Funding and implementation for the Philippine-funded counterpart will start in January 2017.

Assessment criteria and decision making process

Following submission, applications will be checked for eligibility under the relevant funding agency’s rules, you must be eligible under all of the funding agencies your proposal comes under in order to go through to assessment. To be funded, proposals must be internationally competitive and at a standard equivalent to that normally expected to be supported by each funding organisation.

An independent assessment process will be led by RCUK and DOST-PCHRD.  All funders will fully contribute to the process, in the form of formulating guidance and suggesting panel members. Applications and panel meeting comments will be shared between relevant funders.

The grants will be assessed by an independent panel formed from suggestions from all of the funders involved in each thematic area. Depending on demand, the panel may shortlist the applications received, and applicants will be contacted if this is the case.

At the panel meeting proposals will be assessed by international experts chosen from all participating funding agencies against the following criteria:

• Research merit of the proposal
• Relevance of the proposal to the strategic objectives of the Newton Fund – including potential benefits and impact
• Strength and appropriateness of proposed partnership and collaboration
• Project management structure and resources, including value for money
• Ethical considerations and governance arrangements

Forms/Guidelines/Resources:

For additional information regarding the RCUK – DOST-PCHRD Research Partnership 2016 please go to the RCUK website at http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/international/newton/rcuk-dipi/ or on the main Newton Fund webpage at http://www.newtonfund.ac.uk/funding/funding-opportunities/. The following resources can also be downloaded in the website:

1. Call Specification
2. Application Guidelines
3. UK-SEA Case for Support Template
4. UK-SEA Justification of Resources Template
5. DOST Cost Template LIB 2B-3
6. DOST A.O. 005 Series 2013 – Grants-in-Aid (GIA) Guidelines
7. DOST S.O. 242 Series 2013 – GIA Salary Rates
8. DOST M.C. 001 Series 2009 – Honoraria Rates
9. Official Develepment Assistance Guidance

Download All Files

Contacts

Any enquiries related to this call should be directed to:

RCUK

Kim Fuggle

Email: RCUKNewtonFundEnquiries@rcuk.ac.uk

Phone: +44 (0) 01793 444352

DOST-PCHRD

Jose J. Gepanaga / Paulo Sixto J. Landig

Email: newtonagham@pchrd.dost.gov.ph

Phone: +63 (02) 837 7535

[1] ‘No health without mental health’ M. Prince et al, The Lancet, September 04, 2007

[2] ‘Mental health in Southeast Asia’ A. Maramis et al, The Lancet, January 25, 2011