COVID-19 Emergency Call for Proposals: Collaborative and Knowledge-Building Projects for the Fight Against Coronavirus Disease

COVID-19 Emergency Call for Proposals: Collaborative and Knowledge-Building Projects for the Fight Against Coronavirus Disease

Deadline: 31 March 2020

With this call for proposals, The Research Council of Norway wishes to contribute to the global response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The aim is to support research that will enable to understand and contain the new COVID-19, as well as to improve efficient patient management and public health (national and international) preparedness and response to the current and analogous outbreaks that may come in the future.

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The call for proposals is based on the recent research priorities defined by the WHO. International collaboration with research groups in other countries, including those funded by GLOPID-R member organisations to foster larger-scale studies, is encouraged. The scope of the proposals may include different topics:

Epidemiological observational studies including risk factor determination, detailed investigation of transmission events and infectiousness (included susceptibility of infection).
Clinical observational studies on severity, natural history, optimal sampling strategies and triage processes.
Registry-based follow-up of critically ill patients.
National clinical trials that are embedded in international multi centre clinical trials based on the WHO Model protocol when relevant, and using WHO’s updated prioritization criteria to guide choice of interventions for evaluation, including therapeutics and supportive measures.
Public health response and social countermeasures:
Understanding the social dynamics of transmission and vulnerability.
Risk communication, social dynamics and public health response. This may also include traditional and social media.
Developing strategies to combat misinformation, stigma, and fear.
Cultural dimensions of the epidemic such as, examining how individuals and communities understand and react to the disease, including special attention to vulnerable groups.
Studying international relations, global coordination, response systems and crisis management.
Supporting healthcare system response including infection prevention and control, including best practice to protect health care workers.
Other research projects related to cooperation across sectors that encompass e.g. education, public transport and economic impacts.
Thematic Areas

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Relevant thematic areas for this call:

Global Development
Global health
Health
Welfare, culture and society
Societal security
Funding Information

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Funding scale: NOK 1 000 000-5 000 000
Amount of funding presumed available for this call for proposals: NOK 30 000 000
Project duration: 12-24 months
The project must start as early as possible, at the latest 1 July 2020.
What can you seek funding for?

The following costs can be covered by the Research Council:

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Payroll and indirect expenses related to researcher time (including research fellowship positions) at the research organisations participating in the project.
Procurement of R&D services. The Project Owner and partners may purchase R&D-related services from public and private suppliers individually or together.
Equipment. This encompasses operating and depreciation costs for scientific equipment and research infrastructure necessary for the execution of the project.
Other operating expenses, which comprise costs for other activities that are necessary to carry out R&D efforts under the project.
Eligibility Criteria

Approved Norwegian research organisations may apply in cooperation with the public and/or private sectors, other public entities and/or private organisations. Stakeholders from outside the research sector may be municipalities, companies, special interest organisations and others.

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The research organisation is to be entered as the Project Owner in the application form, and must have authorized the submission of the grant application.
To qualify as project manager, you must have an approved doctorate or equivalent qualifications before the date of the application submission deadline.
If you do not have an approved doctorate but are qualified at associate professorship level or have current or previous employment in the Norwegian research institute sector or a health trust in a position as forsker 1 (research professor), forsker 2 (senior researcher) or seniorforsker (senior researcher), you are also qualified.
You may apply in cooperation with the public and/or private sectors, other public entities and/or private organisations. Stakeholders from outside the research sector may be municipalities, companies, special interest organisations and others. They also encourages international cooperation with relevant international research institutions.
Assessment Criteria

Grant proposals will be assessed on the basis of these criteria:

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Excellence

The extent to which the proposed work is ambitious, novel, and goes beyond the state-of-the-art:
Scientific creativity and originality.
Novelty and boldness of hypotheses or research questions.
Potential for development of new knowledge beyond the current state of the art, including significant theoretical, methodological, experimental or empirical advancement.
The quality of the proposed R&D activities:
Quality of the research questions, hypotheses and project objectives, and the extent to which they are clearly and adequately specified.
Credibility and appropriateness of the theoretical approach, research design and use of scientific methods. Appropriate consideration of interdisciplinary approaches.
The extent to which appropriate consideration has been given to societal responsibility, ethical issues and gender dimensions in research content.
The extent to which appropriate consideration has been given to the use of stakeholder/user knowledge.
Impact

Potential impact of the proposed research:
The extent to which the planned outputs of the project address important present and/or future scientific challenges.
The extent to which the planned outputs of the project address important present and/or future challenges for the sector(s).
The extent to which the competence developed and planned outputs of the project will provide the basis for value creation in Norwegian business and/or development of the public sector.
The extent to which the planned outputs of the project address UN Sustainable Development Goals or other important present and/or future societal challenges.
The extent to which the potential impacts are clearly formulated and plausible.
Communication and exploitation:
Quality and scope of communication and engagement activities targeted towards relevant stakeholders/users.
The extent to which the partners are involved in dissemination and utilization of the project results.
For more information, visit https://www.forskningsradet.no/en/call-for-proposals/2020/covid-19-emergency-call-proposals-collaborative-and-knowledge-building-projects-for-the-fight-against-coronavirus-disease-covid-19/