Call for Applications: Food Systems for Improved Nutrition Research Program

Deadline: 7 May 2018

The UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is seeking applications for its Food Systems for Improved Nutrition Research Program to address a broad set of robust and large-scale research priorities to guide program and policy efforts to improve food safety in sustainable, nutritious food systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

The goal of this program is to deliver high-quality evidence on innovations, interventions and approaches to mitigate food-borne diseases (FBD) and biological hazards related to food systems at large scale in LMIC food systems. The outcome will be a portfolio of research investments that fill the gaps in evidence related to the nature of the problem, incentives and barriers to reducing the presence of hazards in the food supply, and appropriate policies, regulations, and standards.

Ensuring food safety is important for several outcomes including population health, national economies and gender equality:

• Health
• Economy
• Gender

Research Methods

• Secondary data analysis that would, for example, utilize existing data to investigate linkages between policies or interventions and health impacts and draw out potential applications for new environments. Systematic reviews of specific interventions to address FBD would be another example of appropriate secondary data analysis.
• Comparative analysis, exploring outcomes across countries with a standardized approach, that allows for attribution and comparison and compares multiple country experiences to identify successes, failures, and entry points for a strong pro-equity food safety system.
• Qualitative policy analysis and case studies that would, for example, investigate the impact of specific food safety policies or standards on FBD hazards or risk in specific value chains or across the food system.
• Modeling studies, for example, risk assessments examining the impact of biological hazards in the food system on human health or cost-effectiveness studies that analyze the economic and health costs of FBD.
• Formative, feasibility, and validation research that is critical for developing effective interventions. This would include studies designed to explain the interests, behaviors and practices of target populations and the testing and validation of existing tools and interventions. Effective behavior change communication, one category of potential interventions, is crucial to drive changes necessary to mitigate the presence of hazards and risks.
• Quasi-experimental approaches that investigate the impact of real-world policies or programs and are potentially more conducive to measuring market-level interventions. They welcome studies that examine the long-term impact of programs that seek to change behaviors or practices to understand what changes were sustained over time, including ex-post assessments of existing or closed programs.
• Experimental approaches, including randomized controlled trials where appropriate, feasible, and cost-effective.

Eligibility Criteria

• Proposals are expected from an organization or consortia that can demonstrate specific competencies relevant to this program. In particular, they must demonstrate:
  • Excellent past performance in the delivery of high-quality research in agriculture, nutrition, health, or food systems
  • Multidisciplinary expertise across relevant sectors
  • A track record of publication of research findings in peer-reviewed academic journals
  • Significant experience of conducting research in LMIC settings
  • Evidence of successful capacity strengthening of LMIC research institutions
  • An ability to transfer research findings to policy and program dialogue for evidence-based decision making and action
• Applicants may include academic institutions, research institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), governments, U.N. agencies, and for-profit companies.

How to Apply

Applicants can download the concept note template via given website.