The UK Medical Research Council (MRC), and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) through the Philippine Council for Health and Research Development (PCHRD) invite concept proposals to the second UK-Philippines Joint Health Research Call.
 
This initiative will provide funding for high quality 3-year collaborative research projects focusing on Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases of relevance to the Philippines. This exciting initiative builds on the MRC-PCHRD Call launched in 2015 through which 6 proposals addressing research needs in Infectious Diseases were funded.
 
Background
 
The second call being launched by MRC and PCHRD aims to further build on the strengths of the UK and Filipino research base by funding innovative partnerships in Communicable as well as Non-Communicable Diseases of relevance to the Philippines. While the 2015 call focused entirely on Infectious Disease research, this second call aims to enable opportunities for partnership in the areas of Infectious Diseases, and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM).
 
Based on the latest Philippine health statistics, the NCD burden in the Philippines has been steadily increasing over the last decade.  NCDs are now the leading cause of morbidity in the country, and mortality rates have been steadily rising in the last 35 years, with the greatest increases noted within the last two decades. In particular, the mortality trend from T2DM in the Philippines has been rising steadily, with 14.1, 25.5, and 27.2 deaths per 100,000 population in 2000, 2008, and 2013 respectively, as shown in Philippine Health Statistics data. The 2008 Philippine National Nutrition Survey also reported that prevalence rates for DM type 2 increased progressively from age 30 years and peaked among the age groups 50-59 and 60-69 years. The joint funders hope that collaborations between UK and Filipino researchers will increase capability for understanding and tackling the growing burden of T2DM.
 
Objectives and scope
 
1. Communicable diseases of relevance to the Philippines, particularly on diseases that impact the most vulnerable in society, specifically:

·         Influenza-like illness

·         Chronic respiratory infections including Pneumonia

·         Leptospirosis

·         Sepsis

·         Hepatitis

·         Rabies

·         Zika Virus

Areas of particular research interest within the infectious disease space include but are not limited to:

·         Genomics and molecular technologies: for novel biomarker identification, with a focus on host and pathogen ‘omics and host-pathogen interactions

·         Diagnostics: Development of cost effective, rapid diagnostic tools, utilizing off-patent/ lapsed and/or novel technologies. Specific topics include the following:

o    Point of care

§  Diagnostic test done at the time and place of patient care

o    Screening / confirmatory /prognostic

§  Screening to detect early disease or risk factors for disease

§  Confirming the presence or absence of disease

§  Prognosticating and to predicting the likely outcome of disease, susceptibility and chances of recovery

o    Information and Communication Technology (ICT)/e-health: Development of user-friendly ICT solutions to accelerate the gathering and processing of health and related information for policymaking, and delivery of quality healthcare services

2. Non- Communicable Diseases (NCDs), specifically; Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

    Areas of particular research interest include but are not limited to:

·         Use of animal models in identifying the genes responsible for development of or protection from the disease

·         Studies on creation/ use of animal models for therapeutic trials

·         Development of cost-effective biomedical devices for diagnosing, treatment, and/or management T2DM among Filipinos

Funding Available

The total funding available for this call is as follows:

MRC - up to £2 million pounds (Funding provided to the successful UK applicants)

PCHRD – up to £1.25 million pounds/ Php 80 million Pesos (Funding provided to the successful Filipino applicants)

Up to £650 thousand pounds will be available per partnership (up to£400K from UK and up to £250K/ Php 16 million Pesos from Philippines) to support activities for up to 3 years.
 
It is expected that this funding will support around 6 joint projects; up to 4 in Infectious Diseases and up to 2 in Diabetes Mellitus.
 
Applications will be required to have one UK Principal Investigator and one Filipino Principal Investigator. If appropriate, applications with industrial partners are welcomed (although no funding will be available to these partners).
 
Assessment Process and decision making process
 
To be funded, proposals must be internationally competitive and at a standard equivalent to that normally expected to be supported by each funding organisation.

·         Significance and potential impact of the research

·         Scientific Rationale: novelty, importance and timeliness of the research

·         Design and feasibility of the Project Plan

·         Partnership: including strength and clarity of collaborations and opportunities provided, quality of the project management structure proposed

·         Quality and suitability of the research environment and of the facilities

·         Value for money for Filipino and UK science

·         Ethical considerations and governance arrangements

In addition, applicants must describe how the proposed UK funded work is ODA compliant (approximately 150 words). This section will be made publicly available. For further information on ODA, please visit: http://www.newtonfund.ac.uk/about/what-is-oda/
 
Application process:
 
UK applicants must submit concept proposals following the provided format, on behalf of their research team, to:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 16:00 BST Thursday 11th May 2017. 
 
Travel grants:
 
Researchers with successful concept proposals will be invited to submit a full proposal. To enhance the quality of the partnership and support the development of high quality full stage proposals, MRC and PCHRD will be making travel grants (up to £3K) available for full proposal development. Only applicants from the shortlisted concept proposals will be invited to submit full proposals in October 2017. 
 
Timeline:
 
Funding decision process for this Call will be the following:

11 May 2017: Concept proposal deadline (Concept Proposal Form). Concept proposals should be emailed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
June 2017: Concept proposals will undergo Panel review facilitated by MRC and PCHRD
July 2017: Successful applicants to be informed and travel grants released. Proponents from the shortlisted concept proposals will be asked to jointly develop full proposals
October 2017: Joint applications (full proposal) will be received from the invited UK and Filipino PIs
October 2017: MRC and PCHRD will carry out eligibility and internal checks and agree which proposals will go forward for technical review.
November 2017 - January 2018: A joint peer review will be conducted, including UK and Filipino academic reviewers (plus other international reviewers as appropriate) to assess merits of the proposals  and  provide funding recommendations to MRC and PCHRD
Spring 2018: MRC and the DOST-PCHRD Governing Council will decide on final list of approved proposal, based recommendations made by the technical review panel.
October 2018: Awards start
 
Contacts
 
For further information, UK applicants should contact:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
For further information, Filipino applicants should contact:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
 
 
For more information on how to apply, you may refer to the Joint Health Research Call Guidance and DOST-GIA Guidelines. 

The Philippine Council for Health Research and Development is now accepting capsule research proposals for possible funding in CY 2018. Priority topics for the capsule research proposals are enumerated per research area as follows:

Diagnostics -  Development of diagnostics for early detection and/or prediction of disease and mortality, utilizing existing technologies and/or novel technology. Such technology will also look at the genetic or biological markers associated with lifestyle diseases such as diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. The diagnostics can be point of care, screening, confirmatory, prognostic. Possible technologies for research include:

·         Latex agglutination              

·         Lateral flow assay/Dipstick

·         Isothermal technology

·         Biosensors/Chemical sensors

·         Nucleic Acid Testing

·         Immunochemistry

·         Lab-on-a-chip (Microfluidics, paper technology, Nanotechnology, Aptamers or a combination of)

·         Immunoassay

·         Radio-labelled assays

Priority Topics

Proof of concept for point of care, screening, confirmatory and prognosis for the following priority diseases: tropical diseases (including neglected diseases); malignant neoplasms; emerging infectious diseases; neurodegenerative and mental health disorders; diseases associated with multi-drug resistance; metabolic diseases, diabetes and other endocrine-related diseases; auto-immune/immunologic diseases and deficiencies; cerebrovascular; diseases of the cardiovascular system; HIV-AIDS; GUT, GIT and hepatitis; respiratory diseases; and, tuberculosis (all forms).

Functional Foods - Food or food components that provide health benefits beyond basic nutrient function; Involves determination of health benefits and safety assessment of food or food components in reducing risk for disease occurrence, specifically lifestyle related diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer.

Priority Topics

·         Characterization, safety assessment, establishment of health benefits and product development of local fruits (guyabano, tiesa,), local vegetables (okra, saluyot), rootcrops, tuber and starchy food (yacon, sago, purple yam), rice (pigmented), local berries (duhat, lipote, aratiles, bignay), Herbs and spices (tanglad, pandan), nuts (pili), seaweeds (lato, red seaweeds) and edible mushroom.  

·         Safety assessment, establishment of health benefits and product development of mangosteen, malunggay, sweet potato varieties, and ginger.  

Molecular technologies for health - Utilization of molecular technology platforms in developing local technologies for the development of personalized medicines, diagnostics, therapeutics as support to health and clinical practice guidelines and policies

Priority Topics

Omics Technologies for Health and Wellness

•         Omic Research Programs on neurological/ neurodegenerative/ mental health conditions (susceptibility and drug response)
•         Researches on human host and viral markers of dengue severity (knowledge generation on pathophysiological and  molecular mechanisms of dengue severity)

Bioinformatics and Systems Biology

•       Development of platforms/ bioinformatics pipelines/ analyses on complex activities and interactions of genes, RNAs, proteins and metabolites that comprise the biological pathways and networks between normal and diseased cells
•       Data mining researches involving lung and/or breast cancer tissues

Novel Technologies for Therapeutics

•        Development of molecular vehicles for targeted drug delivery

Biobanking, Data Mining and Population Studies for Human Health, Ethnicity and Forensic Applications

•          Developing forensic methods used in criminal investigations, kinship analysis and victim identification
•         Characterization of Filipino genomic variations involving regional ethno-linguistic groups
•         Establishment of a biobanking resource of Filipino samples and their associated data (e.g. genomic, proteomic, transcriptomic etc.)

Hospital Equipment and Biomedical Devices - Design and development of affordable, safe, and reliable hospital equipment and biomedical devices

Priority topics

Design and development of hospital equipment and biomedical devices for the following:

•         Respiratory failure support
•        Artificial body part replacement (prosthesis)
•        Rehabilitation medicine
•        Minimally invasive surgical procedures
•        Eye health

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for Health - User-friendly ICT solutions to accelerate the gathering and processing of health and related information for policymaking and delivery of quality health care services

Priority topics

•         Public health surveillance
•        Health intelligence system
•         ICT-enabled medical devices and services
•         Software and applications

Dengue -   Dengue R and D intends to reduce transmission of dengue and development of an early warning system for the prediction of dengue outbreak.

Priority Topics

Vector biology

•          Establishment of DNA barcodes of medically important mosquito vectors biological

Vector surveillance and IVM

•         Insecticide treated nets as dengue control measure
• Genome editing of Aedes aegypti

Dengue Outbreak Response

•        Development of a system for yearly monitoring of the prevailing dengue serotypes in the Philippines

Disaster Risk Reduction - Innovations which will reduce risks to health; Based on the Sendai Framework

Priority topics

•          Innovations for emergency medical care services, water, sanitation, hygiene and nutrition
•          technology development for search and rescue, triage and emergency health
•          ready to use therapeutic food (RUTF)
•          food for emergencies
•          environmental health (water quality; waste disposal)
•          Psychosocial adaptation capacity of communities

Health and Climate Change Adaptation - Covers cross-cutting researches on climate change adaptation, which have direct implications on public health

Priority topics

•             Researches relating to human health with hydrologic/meteorological information
•         Climate change sensitive diseases
•         Resilience studies at institutional, community and individual levels
•         Implementation science regarding existing tools and interventions on health and climate change
•         Green health facilities

Who may submit
Filipinos with at least a Master’s Degree in a relevant field, have proven research competence / track record, and employed in universities/colleges, research agencies/institutes, hospitals, and other health related agencies are eligible to apply for the research grant/ funding assistance. 

How to submit

Submit the capsule proposal and curriculum vitae of the proponent to:

Dr. Jaime C. Montoya

Executive Director
Philippine Council for Health Research and Development
Department of Science and Technology
3rd Floor, DOST Main Bldg.

Gen. Santos Avenue
Bicutan, Taguig City, Metro Manila

Deadline for submission of capsule proposals: 31 May 2017

For inquiries, contact us at  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Download Call for Proposal 2018 details

Download capsule proposal format

CEBU CITY – The Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) has teamed up once again with #HealthXPH – a team of social media, emerging technologies, and healthcare advocates utilizing social media for healthcare promotion – to bring you the 3rd Philippine Healthcare and Social Media Summit on 25 April 2017 at the Marco Polo Hotel, Cebu City.

With the theme, “Social Media & Health Research: Connections that Matter,” this year’s summit will tackle different tracks linking healthcare and social media use, namely in 1) Establishing a Research Topic; 2) Ethical Issues of Using Data from Social Media; 3) Literature Review; 4) Tools for Social Network Analysis; 5) Using Social Media to Disseminate Research; and 6) Natural Language Processing and Big Data stirred by esteemed speakers in the fields of social media and health. The summit will also hold an oral research presentation featuring health researches related to and/or aided by social media.

Healthcare professionals from the academe and healthcare industry, patients and advocates, researchers, and students nationwide are expected to attend the social media summit.

Admission to the summit is FREE OF CHARGE. Interested participants may register through this link to secure a slot:https://hcsmph2017.eventbrite.com. Follow us on Twitter (@DOST_PCHRD) and Facebook (fb.com/dostpchrd) for more updates.

Click here to see the program

The International Prize for Biology was established in 1985 to commemorate the sixty-year reign of Emperor Showa and his long devotion to biological research. It also pays tribute to the present Emperor, His Majesty, Emperor Akihito, who has labored
for many years to advance the taxonomical study of gobioid fish, while striving continuously to elevate the international stature of the Prize.

Each year, the International Prize for Biology is conferred upon a distinguished researcher in a field selected by the Prize Committee from among all the fields of biology. Based on nominations gathered from around the world, the Prize is awarded
to a biologist judged to have a superlative record of achievements in the subject field. Once every decade, “systematic biology and taxonomy” is selected for the Prize as it is the field in which, like Emperor Showa before him, His Majesty the present Emperor has conducted research over many years.

So as to spread global recognition of the International Prize for Biology as a tribute to excellent achievement while accelerating the advancement of biology, the Prize Committee asks for your sustained cooperation and support.

Deadline: April 21, 2017

By e-mail:   This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
By mail:    Secretary Office, International Prize for Biology Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
                5-3-1 Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 102-0083, JAPAN

 For more information and to download the nomination form, visit: http://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-biol/index.html