About the International Development Research Centre
The International Development Research Centre (IDRC), a Canadian Crown corporation, funds research in developing countries to create lasting change on a large scale. We achieve this by providing developing-country researchers with financial resources, advice, and training to help them find solutions to local problems; by encouraging knowledge sharing with policymakers, researchers, and communities around the world; by fostering new talent by offering fellowships and awards; and striving to get new knowledge into the hands of those who can use it.
Vaccines are the most cost-effective means available for managing infectious diseases in animals. However, the vaccines that are available for prevention or control of diseases with the greatest impact on poor livestock smallholders are often not designed with the developing country smallholder setting in mind. These vaccines often have limited uptake, efficacy or safety profiles in the field. Few new and improved vaccines for these diseases have been introduced over the past 20 years.
In addition, the slow pace of livestock vaccine development makes it difficult to respond to emerging infectious diseases that can easily take on pandemic proportions or existing diseases whose vaccines must be type-specific in order to provide protection against prevalent serotypes.
About the Call
The last two decades have witnessed major advances in biotechnology and vaccinology which now provide an unparalleled opportunity for the development of new generation livestock vaccines. Recent advances in technology such as the genomics revolution and greater computational capacity to synthesize and analyze biochemical molecules de novo provide some exciting opportunities to develop new and effective vaccines devoid of the weaknesses of current vaccines. Such platforms present opportunities for accelerated vaccine discovery, multipathogen combination flexibilities and real time customization to circulating serotypes.
Anecdotal evidence shows limited application of these technologies in livestock vaccine development and interaction between inventors of these technologies and livestock vaccine researchers.
Research to Be Supported
The application of novel cutting edge biotechnological advances requires collaborative multidisciplinary research that includes inventors of these innovations and livestock vaccine researchers. Strong partnerships that are mutually beneficial to innovators and livestock vaccine researchers will be important when working toward accelerating the development and registration of livestock vaccines for smallholders in sub-Saharan Africa, South and South East Asia.
The call seeks proposals that are adopting highly innovative biotechnologies such as: in silico prediction and synthetic assembly of nucleic acid or protein scaffolds as vaccine candidates, or combinations of whole genome sequencing and immuno-informatics to generate rapid vaccine development and testing platforms. Innovations proposed for the research will significantly accelerate the R&D of vaccines for livestock smallholders.
Eligibility
The proposed research focuses on vaccine development for one or more of the eligible livestock diseases of the LVIF as specified in Annex 1.
- Applicants from research-focused organizations from academia, private sector and research institutes are eligible for this global call.
- Applicants from the United Nations system cannot apply to this Call as lead or coapplicants. UN organizations may participate as collaborating organizations.
- Applicants from CGIAR Centres are not eligible as lead applicant but are eligible as coapplicants or collaborating organizations.
- The lead applicant and co-applicants may negotiate and develop funding arrangements directly with third-party organizations for specific services. IDRC will not contract directly with third-party organizations. Applications that involve third-party organizations must clearly justify their involvement and explain their role(s). The total third-party participation in a project is set at a maximum of 30% of the budget.
- A person is eligible to be an applicant on a maximum of three projects in this Call. A person cannot be the lead applicant for more than one project. A person can apply as the lead applicant for one project and be a co-applicant for two additional projects.
Submission and Review Process
IDRC invites eligible applicants to submit an electronic application through IDRC’s grant application submission system to this Call for Research Proposals before the deadline: September 12, 2016 at 12:00pm Eastern Daylight Time (Ottawa).
Acknowledgements of receipt will be sent to all applicants whose application was received before the closing date and time. Successful and non-successful applicants will receive notification of results by December 31st 2016.
An external Expert Review Panel will evaluate and rank research proposals received according to the review criteria outlined below and will provide this information to the Governance Steering Committee of the LVIF. The Governance Steering Committee will use this information to make recommendations for funding decisions.
Proposals will be either accepted or rejected. Accepted proposals may receive specific comments from the reviewers, including budgetary adjustments, that applicants will be required to satisfactorily address before receiving any grant. Applicants with accepted proposals will be required to sign a Grant Agreement with IDRC that details the terms and conditions for the grant.
How to Apply
All applications must be submitted through an online application system. Proposals received after the submission deadline WILL NOT be considered.
To submit online application, please click on the "Further official information" below.
This opportunity has expired. It was originally published here:
https://www.idrc.ca/en/funding/grants/global-call-research-proposals-innovations-livestock-vaccines