Call for Proposals 2016: EDCTP Grants of up to € 3 million to Clinical Research in Sub Saharan Africa

Deadline: 18 February 2016

The European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) is currently accepting proposals from Sub Saharan Africa for EDCTP Regional Networks Program. The purpose of this Call is to provide funding for actions that aim to support regional networking in sub-Saharan Africa and with Europe in order to build and strengthen regional, national, institutional and individual capacities to conduct clinical trials in line with the International Conference on Harmonization guidelines for Good Clinical Practice (ICH-GCP).

Objectives

The specific objectives of the networks should include:

• To strengthen collaboration and optimise the use of resources and infrastructures within the network. This could include the establishment of shared facilities such as clinical laboratories or data management centres, and setting rules and guidelines for sharing and accessing these.
• To offer training and mentorship aimed at promoting professional development and scientific leadership in clinical trials. This would require the establishment of a formal training programme and platform for exchange of expertise in key skills such as design of clinical trials, monitoring, data management, pharmacokinetics, laboratory techniques, biostatistics, clinical epidemiology, pharmacovigilance, as well as financial management, administration, and quality assurance.
• To strengthen South-South and North-South collaborations between researchers and institutions with a specific focus on supporting less established institutions in building capacity for conducting high quality clinical research.
• To encourage and promote networking and dialogue between researchers, communities and policy makers to maximise the impact of clinical research in Africa.

Eligible Countries

• Southern Africa: Botswana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
• Eastern Africa: Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.
• Western Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.
• Central Africa: Angola, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and São Tomé and Príncipe.
• European: Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Focus Diseases

• Poverty-related diseases (PRDs) that include HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculos
• Neglected infectious diseases (NIDs) that include dengue/severe dengue; rabies; human African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness); Leishmaniases; cysticercosis/taeniasis; dracunculiasis (guinea-worm disease); echinococcosise; foodborne trematodiases; lymphatic filariasis; onchocerciasis (river blindness); schistosomiasis; soil-transmitted helminthiases; Buruli ulcer; leprosy (Hansen disease); trachoma; yaws; diarrhoeal infections; lower respiratory infections; as well as emerging infectious diseases of particular relevance for Africa, such as Ebola.

Grants available

The call budget is € 12,000,000 and the expected number of grants available is 4.

Eligibility Criteria

• The network must comprise a minimum of six legal entities from at least three different sub-Saharan African countries (mentioned above) and a minimum of two legal entities from two different European Countries (mentioned above).
• The requested EDCTP contribution per network must not exceed € 3.0 million.
• The maximum project duration must be 36 months.

How to Apply

• The application must be submitted online via EDCTPgrants.
• Please note that only registered users of the EDCTPgrants system can apply for grants.

For more information, Please visit Regional Network program.