Deadline: 16 July 2019

The Enhancing Learning and Research for Humanitarian Assistance (ELRHA) is pleased to announce its Research for Health in Humanitarian Crises (R2HC) Annual Funding Call that address specific or multiple public health issues by gathering evidence with the potential to contribute to improved public health outcomes in humanitarian contexts.

R2HC aims to improve health outcomes by strengthening the evidence base for public health interventions in humanitarian crises.

Scope of Funding

• The scope of this call covers any research that will strengthen the evidence base around public health interventions, and thereby lead to more effective public health interventions in humanitarian crises.
• ‘Humanitarian crises’ for the purpose of the programme includes natural disasters, conflicts, or complex emergencies, either at the regional, national or sub-national levels, within lower or middle income countries.Research concerned with health outcomes in the acute phase of an existing humanitarian crisis is prioritised. Proposals focusing on resilience/disaster risk reduction or early recovery will be considered where a clear link is made with health outcomes in an acute phase.
• Proposals under the Call could fund research that addresses:
  • public health priorities specific to the context of a humanitarian crisis that lacks a solid existing evidence base;
  • how public health interventions not specific to a humanitarian context can be adapted and delivered, and their effectiveness maximised, in a humanitarian context;
  • health systems, including coordination of the public health response in humanitarian contexts and health system strengthening in conflict-affected countries;
  • specific interventions designed to improve health outcomes, such as cash transfers.
• Proposals may focus on specific, or multiple public health issues, gathering data or evidence with the potential to contribute to improved public health outcomes in humanitarian contexts.
• Proposals must include a partnership between at least one academic or research institution and one operational humanitarian partner. Either body can be the lead organisation for the application. Under Call 7, they have an additional requirement, that the research consortium must include at least one academic or research institution from the country(s) or region(s) in which applicants plan to undertake research.
• Research proposals are required to demonstrate how gender equality and social inclusion will be addressed through the research process and, also, how the research outcomes will contribute to increased gender equality and social inclusion during humanitarian crises.
• Proposals that focus on addressing public health issues specifically affecting vulnerable and marginalised populations, such as people with disabilities, the elderly, women and girls, and hard-to-reach groups, will be welcomed. Proposals should consider how vulnerable and marginalised groups access health services and are integrated into the planning of service provision.
• The potential scale of impact of funded research is an important criteria and they therefore strongly encourage applications that focus on:
  • comparative (multi-country) research
  • research that is replicable in multiple contexts
  • multi-sector integrated responses
  • inclusion of cost-effectiveness analyses (where appropriate).
• Proposed research methodologies should be of a standard such that final papers will be publishable in peer-reviewed academic journals. Robust innovative methodologies that advance research in humanitarian settings are encouraged. Primary and/or secondary data collection approaches will be considered.
• Research proposals may focus on any of the various humanitarian crisis settings, whether urban or rural, camp or general population.

Partnerships

• Applicants must have a research team including both a research institution and an operational humanitarian organisation. This requirement fulfils the R2HC objectives of supporting partnerships between academics and practitioners, and ensuring that funded research is based both on rigorous research methodology and operational experience.
• Collaboration between northern and southern research institutions and researchers is strongly encouraged. The research consortium must include at least one academic or research institution from the country(s) or region(s) in which applicants plan to undertake research.

Funding Available

• The R2HC is able to fund a wide range of grant sizes, including grants for large comparative studies that have the potential to generate significant impact. There is no ceiling on the amount that can be requested. The number of grants and the total amount of funding approved will depend on the quality of proposals received. Final grant awards are subject to confirmation of funding from R2HC’s strategic partners.
• Grants will be for a maximum duration of 48 months, during which both research and research uptake activities should both take place.
• For those applicants selected to go forward to the Full Proposal stage, seed funding of up to £10,000 per application will be available to support the development of strong research partnerships and to finalise proposal development. In exceptional cases seed funding can be used to undertake preliminary data collection as part of the proposal development process. Applicants will be invited at the Expression of Interest stage of the application to indicate whether they want to apply for seed funding.

Eligibility Criteria

• This is an Open Call but applications must have a research team including both a research institution and an operational humanitarian organisation to be eligible. They will consider applications from any legally registered not-for-profit body across the globe.
• It is expected that applications will be developed and submitted by an institution/organisation representing a research partnership appropriate to the proposed field of study. Research teams could include a variety of organisations (such as research institutions, operational organisations, governmental organisations, individual experts, and local non-governmental or community based organisations). Please note that R2HC research teams must include both a research institution and an operational humanitarian organisation.
• The lead applicant may not be a profit-seeking enterprise or an individual (although these may form part of the research team).

How to Apply

Applications must be submitted via given website.

For more information, please visit https://www.elrha.org/funding-opportunity/r2hc-annual-funding-call/