Biological vulnerability to extreme heat in maternal and child health

Biological vulnerability to extreme heat in maternal and child health is sponsored by Wellcome Trust. This call will fund teams of researchers investigating the biological vulnerability to extreme heat in maternal and child health.

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Find a funding opportunity 5. Biological vulnerability to extreme heat in maternal and child health # Biological vulnerability to extreme heat in maternal and child health This award will fund research teams to significantly advance understanding of the biological vulnerability to extreme heat in the context of maternal and child health.

By the end of the award, successful applicants will have delivered new knowledge at this intersection and generated evidence with the potential to inform new interventions that can be used in real world settings. * Eligibility and suitability ### This scheme is now closed Lead applicant career stage: Leading a research programme Up to £2 million per award. In exceptional cases we may award above £2 million.

Summaries of all the funded projects are available to read on our grants awarded page. Find out more about why we're funding this research on Science. org.

## Eligibility and suitability ### Who can apply, research proposal, what's expected of your host organisation Show You can apply for this award if you are a research leader who wants to pursue bold and creative research ideas that will significantly improve our understanding of biological vulnerability to extreme heat in the context of maternal and child health.

This could include studies involving expectant and lactating mothers, foetuses, neonates, infants and children under 5 years of age. Your research should generate evidence that may lead to new interventions to protect maternal and child health from the effects of extreme heat. We will prioritise funding for research in disadvantaged communities.

This review of the current understanding of the effects of extreme heat on pregnancy outcomes details where the gaps in the evidence base are.

You and your team must aim to make a significant contribution to this research area by: * generating new understanding of the biological mechanisms of increased vulnerability to exposure to extreme heat, and * developing methodologies, conceptual frameworks, tools or techniques that could benefit maternal and child health in the context of exposure to extreme heat.

We will prioritise funding for projects that generate research that is relevant to the needs of disadvantaged groups in a warming climate and that have potential opportunities for translation into policy and practice. Disadvantaged groups are not homogenous.

They may include those with high exposure and vulnerabilities to extreme heat that results from the intersection of social factors such as age, race, ethnicity, co-morbidities, occupation and socio-economic status.

* actively promote a diverse, inclusive and supportive research environment within your team and across your organisation * outline your plans for public engagement with affected communities, practitioners and/or policymakers to both inform your research activities and share your learning.

* Include researchers from any discipline (natural, physical and social sciences as well as technology) but must include significant expertise in relevant biological and/or medical sciences. * Be interdisciplinary (synthesising different disciplinary approaches to conceptualise a larger problem) or transdisciplinary (challenging conventional disciplinary boundaries or creating a new discipline).

For further information on how we define transdisciplinary research please see the OECD report on addressing societal challenges using transdisciplinary research. The award will be held by a team of researchers led by an established researcher.

### Career stage and experience * have demonstrated experience of leading a successful research programme from design and development to achievement of agreed milestones * have a track record of managing and training others, while promoting a positive and inclusive research culture * have demonstrated ability to drive and lead an interdisciplinary / transdisciplinary research programme * be able to contribute at least 20% of their research time to the programme The type of host organisation can be: * higher education institution * public and private research institute * non-academic healthcare organisation * not-for-profit organisation.

At the point of application, lead applicants should have an open-ended or long-term rolling contract, or the guarantee of one for at least three years. The contract should not be conditional on receiving this award. Your salary should be paid by your host organisation for the duration of the award, however if it is a condition of your employment contract to obtain part of your salary from external grant funding, salary may be requested.

If you have less than three years remaining on your contract at the point of application, you must have secured your next position at your current or another eligible organisation and provide a letter of support from them. Coapplicants can be based in the same or in different organisations, and can come from any discipline, but the added value of the team approach must be clear.

Coapplicants can be at any career stage and based anywhere in the world, apart from mainland China. Each coapplicant must make a significant and essential contribution to the research proposal, for example designing the research, writing the application and/or managing the programme. They must be able to contribute at least 10% of their research time to the programme.

The organisation can be a: * higher education institution * public or private research institute * non-academic healthcare organisation * not-for-profit organisation * Must have the guarantee of space and salary support from their host organisation (if they can’t get it from other sources) for the period of time that the coapplicant is working on the grant. * Do not need to have a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract.

* Can ask us for a contribution to their salary in the application. The amount we pay will be proportionate to the time they contribute to the award, for example if they contribute 20% of their time to the award we will fund 20% of their salary. Team size will depend on the proposed research.

It will usually range from two to five applicants, including the lead applicant. We encourage lead applicants to put together diverse teams. ### Time spent away from research and part-time working You can apply if you've been away from research (for example a career break, maternity leave or long-term sick leave).

We'll take this into account when we consider your application. Lead and coapplicants can be part-time. There is no formal minimum, but part-time working needs to be compatible with delivering the proposal successfully.

If you have retired, please contact us before applying. You cannot apply if you intend to carry out activities that involve the transfer of grant funds into mainland China. ### Restrictions if you are applying for/hold other Wellcome awards You can only be an applicant on a maximum of two applications to this funding call: * You can only be lead applicant on one application (but can be a coapplicant on another).

* You must be able to demonstrate that you can dedicate enough time and resources to both projects, if funded. * An early-career researcher can be a lead applicant on one Wellcome award and a coapplicant on one other Wellcome award. * A mid-career researcher can be a lead applicant on one Wellcome award and a coapplicant on two other Wellcome awards.

* An established researcher can be a lead applicant on two Wellcome awards, one as the sole applicant and one as lead applicant for a team, or both as the lead applicant for a team. They can also be a coapplicant on two other Wellcome awards.

### About your host organisation * We expect organisations based in the UK to meet the responsibilities required by the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers for institutions, managers and researchers. * Any organisation with Wellcome funding that is based outside the UK is expected, at a minimum, to follow the principles of the Concordat.

We also expect your host organisation to: * Guarantee that the space and resources you need will be made available to you from the start date through to the end date of your award. * Explain how your research fits with the strategic aims of the organisation.

* Give you, and any staff employed on the grant, 10 days a year (pro rata if part-time) to undertake training and continuing professional development (CPD) in line with the Concordat. This should include the responsible conduct of research, research leadership, people management, diversity and inclusion, and the promotion of a healthy research culture.

* Provide onboarding, embedding and planning support to you when you join the organisation and/or start the award. * If your host organisation is a core-funded research organisation, this award should not replace or lead to a reduction in existing or planned core support. All proposals must focus on biological vulnerability to extreme heat (pathophysiological and /or protective mechanisms) in the context of maternal and child health.

* We are particularly interested in research that prioritises disadvantaged groups in low-or middle-income, or high-income countries. * We encourage comparative research across multiple groups and geographies. * Proof of concept studies involving non-human model organisms for human physiology will be considered.

* Impact of exposure to extreme heat on non-human organisms (for example, pathogens, vectors, reservoirs, hosts, crops, livestock, microbiomes, biodiversity). * Psychological or behavioural adaptations to exposure to extreme heat as a primary research objective. * Evaluation of heat adaptation solutions.

Examples of research questions within the scope of this award include: * The underlying genetic basis of thermal adaptation and physiological markers of heat exposure in pregnant women in low- and middle-income countries. * The biological causes and health consequences of chronic heat for birth outcomes of workers from low socio-economic backgrounds in highly exposed occupations.

* The transgenerational impacts of epi-genetic changes associated with acute heat stress following extreme heat events in ethnic minority groups. * The identification of protective biological mechanisms that enable successful pregnancy in well-adapted indigenous populations in the tropics.

* The impacts of chronic heat exposure in early childhood on later life outcomes in multiple low resource settings, for example using Longitudinal Population Studies. * The range of biological responses in maternal, new-born, and child health across a range of socio-economic contexts in low resource settings.

* The direct and indirect impacts of heat stress on maternal and child health from the confounding effects of nutrition, infection, seasonal drivers and social determinants. * The co-morbidities that exacerbate the heat-stress response in pregnant women in the arctic regions and lead to more adverse outcomes. _**Please note these are illustrative examples of research questions only.

**_ ### Assessment criteria for preliminary applications Preliminary applications will be reviewed and shortlisted by Wellcome staff. Your application should be a concise and clear description of the strategic importance of your idea, approach and methods. In developing your preliminary application, you should also be mindful of the full application criteria listed further below.

If invited to submit a full application, you will have the opportunity to explain your proposed research in more detail including expanding on the strategic importance of the idea, approach and methods, the team structure, skills and experience, and your public engagement and communication plans.

In reviewing your preliminary application, we will consider whether the eligibility criteria are met, and the following: * **Strategic importance, approach and methods:** * The ambition and strategic importance of the work in meeting the aims of this award, which is to generate new understanding of the biological mechanisms of increased vulnerability to exposure to extreme heat.

This includes the proposed interdisciplinary / transdisciplinary approach, analytical methods, and the likelihood that the approach / methods can achieve the award aims. Where applicable, the extent to which the research responds to the expressed needs of target populations should be highlighted. Please note that we will prioritise research the addresses the needs of disadvantaged populations.

* The likelihood that your proposed work will identify new opportunities for interventions that can minimise the impact of exposure to extreme heat on maternal and child health. * The feasibility of the approach including the need for primary data collection and / or secondary data availability, plus any preliminary results. * An appropriate budget for the proposed activities.

* **The team, skills and experience:** * The lead applicant’s relevant expertise and demonstrated experience of leading a successful research programme. * The interdisciplinary / transdisciplinary experience and planned composition of the team, plans for how the team will work together and contribute to the overall objectives. * The team’s experience and history of working with the affected communities or similar experience.

* Evidence of a commitment to promoting a positive research culture and equity, diversity and inclusion. * **Public engagement and communication:** * Outlines of your plans for public engagement with the affected communities, practitioners and/or policymakers, both to inform your research activities and share your learning. * Outlines of your academic dissemination plans.

**The maximum word count for project description in the preliminary applications is 1,000 words. ** ### Assessment criteria for full applications Full applications will be reviewed by external experts.

In addition to the preliminary application criteria, they will also consider: * **Strategic importance, approach and methods (50%):** * The ambition and innovation of the proposed work to develop significant new understanding of biological vulnerability to extreme health in the context of maternal and child health.

* The likelihood that the proposed work will develop and test new concepts, methods or technologies, or combine existing ideas and approaches in a new way that has the potential to transform policies and practices. * The short / medium and/ or long-term impact (academic and non-academic) of the work.

* Identified internal or external risks to the successful completion of the proposed work, and the team’s approach to mitigating these risks. * The environmental sustainability of the development and implementation of the research and the approach taken to reduce the carbon footprint of the research.

* **The team, skills and experience (30%):** * The lead applicant’s relevant subject matter expertise and their track record in managing and training others * Any plans for training graduate students and early career scientists, especially from disadvantaged groups, where appropriate. * **Public engagement and communication (20%):** * Your output management plan – see here for more information on output management.

**The maximum word count for project description in the full applications is 3,000 words. ** ### Funding level, duration of award, costs and research expenses Show This call provides up to £2 million of funding to cover research expenses and costs associated with public engagement, research dissemination and research uptake activities. We expect awards to last between three and five years.

You should ask for a level and duration of funding that is justifiable for your proposed research. All costs must be justified in the costs section of your application. In exceptional cases we will award over £2 million if the costs are justified.

#### a basic salary (determined by your host organisation)Show If you are based in the UK or Republic of Ireland, you cannot ask for your salary. If you are based anywhere else in the world, you can ask for a contribution to your salary if you hold a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract that states that you have to get your salary from external grant funding.

The amount we pay towards your salary will be proportionate to the time you contribute to the award, for example if you contribute 30% of your time to the award we will fund 30% of your salary. You will have to contribute at least 20% of your research time to this award. If you have a permanent post, you can only ask for your salary if your contract states that you have to get your salary from external grant funding.

However, your host organisation must confirm: * that your employment contract states you must get salary recovery from external grant funding * that they will underwrite the salary and post for the period of time that you will be working on the grant. Your salary should be based on the pay scales of the host organisation that will be employing you.

It should include: * employer’s contributions, including any statutory obligations (for example, National Insurance contributions if you’re based in the UK) and pension scheme costs * any incremental progression up the salary scale * locally recognised allowances such as London allowance. * any potential promotion costs * any Wellcome fellowship supplement that was part of a previous grant.

If your host organisation is in a low- or middle-income country and you will be working in a high-income country for four weeks or more, you should be paid at an appropriate rate for that country, according to your age and experience. You should only allow for salary pay awards during Year 1. These should be based on pay awards already agreed: if you don’t know what the pay award is yet then use our inflation rate of 2.

0%. From Year 2 onwards, we will automatically increase your salary, based on our current inflation allowance rates. If you are a clinical academic, your salary should be appropriate to your clinical status and within the salary scale for academic and senior clinical lecturers.

If you are paid on a non-clinical salary scale, your basic salary should be in line with academics of a similar seniority. Read about the responsibilities of grantholders and host organisations for people working on a Wellcome grant. **Research/teaching buyout** If you’re a humanities and social science researcher, you can ask for funds for research or teaching replacement to cover the cost of a temporary replacement lecturer.

You must retain at least a 10% commitment to teaching. #### relocation allowance Show If you have to move to take up the post at your host organisation, you can ask for up to £1,000. This is to cover personal removal costs only.

You will have to explain in your application why you need this. For the lead applicant, see Basic Salary. If any coapplicant employed on your grant holds a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract that states that they have to get their salary from external grant funding, you can ask us for a contribution to their salary in your application.

The amount we pay will be proportionate to the time they contribute to the award, for example if they contribute 30% of their time to the award we will fund 30% of their salary. They will have to contribute at least 20% of their research time to this programme.

Your host organisation must confirm: * that the coapplicant’s employment contract states they must get salary recovery from external grant funding * that they will underwrite the salary and post for the period of time that the person will be working on the grant. #### Staff working on your programme We will cover the salary costs of all staff, full or part-time, who will work on your grant.

Staff members may include: * research assistants or technicians employed on your grant * specialist service staff, for example data analysis, fieldwork and clinical studies * project manager, if you have multiple applicants on your programme * support if you or a member of staff employed on your grant is disabled or has a long-term health condition – see 'Disability-related adjustment support'.

If you’re a humanities and social science researcher, you can ask for funds for research or teaching replacement to cover the cost of a temporary replacement lecturer. You must retain at least a 10% commitment to teaching. * can cover up to 33% FTE of your contracted time * are usually for a person at a more junior level than the postholder * can be spread across the full period of the grant.

If you already get buyout costs from another grant (funded by Wellcome or elsewhere), you can ask us for this cost, but only for the period of time on your Discovery Award when you won't receive buyout costs from another grant. You must provide a letter from your employing organisation, confirming that your contract includes a teaching commitment. You should include this in your grant application.

We do not provide studentships on this award. But if applicants employ a research assistant on the grant, they can ask for the costs to cover their PhD fees. Each applicant can ask for PhD fees for one research assistant at a time on the grant.

We will only pay the international student fee rate for low- and middle-income nationals who are registered to study for a PhD in a high-income country. In all other situations, we will pay home student fees. ##### How to cost salaries for research staff Show Staff salaries should be appropriate to skills, responsibilities and expertise.

You should ask your host organisation to use their salary scales to calculate these costs, which should include: * employer’s contributions, including any statutory obligations (for example, National Insurance contributions if you’re based in the UK) and pension scheme costs * Apprentice Levy charges for UK-based salaries * any incremental progression up the salary scale * locally recognised allowances such as London allowance.

You should allow for salary pay awards during Year 1. If the pay award is not yet known, applicants should use the International Monetary Fund inflation rate, selecting the ‘inflation, average consumer price’ option as an indicator. From Year 2 onwards, you should use your organisation’s current pay rates.

We’ll provide a separate inflation allowance for salary inflation costs. Read about the responsibilities of grantholders and host organisations for people working on a Wellcome grant. ##### Visa and work permit costs Show If you have named people on your grant whose salaries will be funded by Wellcome, you can ask for visa or work permit costs to help them take up their posts at the host organisation.

You can also ask for: * visa costs for the person's partner and dependent children * essential associated costs, such as travel to attend appointments at a visa application centre or embassy, and essential English language tests * Immigration Health Surcharge costs for the person, their partner and dependent children if they will be in the UK for six months or more.

##### Disability-related adjustment support Show If you or a member of staff working on your grant is disabled or has a long-term health condition, you can ask for adjustment support to help you carry out your project.

Costs can include, but are not limited to: * additional costs for staff to help with day-to-day activities related to your project * assistive technology to help use computers, research equipment or materials – for example, text to audio software * care costs for assistance animals if you need to travel. We will not pay for capital or building costs, such as access ramps.

You can ask for these costs if your government and/or employer: * does not cover any of the costs * only covers some of the costs (if they do, we will only meet the shortfall). The costs we provide must not replace the support you may get from the government or your organisation, who are responsible for providing these costs. If you don't know what these costs are now, you can ask for them after we've awarded your grant.

#### continuing professional development and training Show You can ask for costs to cover the following types of training. #### Continuing professional development and professional skills training You can ask for a contribution towards these costs.

Types of training can include: * research leadership, professional and people management skills * career development support * responsible conduct of research * diversity and inclusion * promotion of a healthy research culture. We expect your host organisation to provide and fund this training.

However, if these types of training are not available, or the quality is inadequate, you can ask for up to £500 a year for you and each member of staff employed on your grant who will be: * in a post of 12 months duration or more only and * working on Wellcome-funded awards for at least 50% full-time equivalent. You will need to justify these costs in your application.

#### Research skills training You can ask for costs to cover training for the technical and research skills you need to deliver your proposed research. You can ask for whatever research skills training you need for you, and each member of staff employed on your grant, who will be: * in a post of 12 months duration or more only and * working on Wellcome-funded awards for at least 50% full-time equivalent.

You will need to justify these costs in your application.

#### materials and consumables Show We will pay for the materials and consumables you need to carry out your project, including: * laboratory chemicals and materials (for example reagents, isotopes, peptides, enzymes, antibodies, gases, proteins, cell/tissue/bacterial culture, plasticware and glassware) * project-specific personal protective equipment (PPE) that is above the standard expected for the setting * printing associated with fieldwork and empirical research * associated charges for shipping, delivery and freight You can ask for funds to buy animals if they are essential to your project.

We will also fund the charge-out rates for animal house facilities if your organisation uses full economic costing methodology.

These costs include: * running costs (including animal maintenance, any experimental procedures, licences and relevant staff training) * appropriate estates costs * cage and equipment depreciation costs, but not building depreciation costs We may not pay the full charge-out rate for an animal house facility if we've provided significant funding towards the infrastructure and/or core support of the facility.

If your organisation does not use full economic costing methodology to establish charge-out rates for animal house facilities, you can ask for funds to cover: * the cost of buying animals * running costs (including animal maintenance, any experimental procedures, licences and relevant staff training) * staff costs, for example, contributions towards the salaries of animal house technicians We will not provide estates or depreciation costs.

Your chosen research environment should have the necessary equipment for you to complete your work. You can ask for additional basic items of equipment that are essential to your research project. Costs may include purchase, delivery, installation, maintenance and training, where necessary.

We will cover VAT and import duties if: * the usual UK exemptions on equipment used for medical research don’t apply * you’re applying from a non-UK organisation, and you can show these costs can’t be recovered.

You can also ask for specialised equipment if: * it is essential to the success of the proposed research project * it is not available at your host organisation or through collaboration, and * you’ll be the main user and have priority access to the equipment.

If a complete piece of specialised equipment costs £100,000 or more, we expect a contribution of at least 25%of the total costs, including maintenance, from the host organisation or another source. In some cases, we may expect a larger contribution. We’ll discuss this with you after we’ve assessed your application.

Contributions can include benefits in kind, such as refurbishment or the underwriting of a key support post. Multi-component items must not be broken down into component parts to avoid this contribution.

#### Equipment maintenance We will cover maintenance costs for equipment if: * you are requesting it in your application * it is existing equipment that is: * funded by us or another source * essential to the proposed research project * more than five years old * cost effective to keep maintaining it. We won’t cover maintenance costs for equipment if there is a mechanism in place to recoup these costs through access charges.

We will cover the cost of one personal computer or laptop per person up to £1,500. * more expensive items, unless you can justify them * installation or training costs. You can ask for the cost of access to shared equipment, facilities or services if they’re essential to your project.

These may include materials and consumables, plus a proportion of: * maintenance and service contracts * staff time costs for dedicated technical staff employed to operate the equipment or facility. We don’t cover the costs of: * depreciation or insurance * other staff, for example, contributions towards departmental technical, administrative and management staff time We do cover these costs if related to animal housing facilities.

If the facilities or equipment were paid for by a Wellcome grant, you can only ask for access charges if: * any support for running costs and maintenance contracts has ended You can ask for overheads if your grant will be based at a: * university outside the UK * research organisation that does not receive core funding for overheads * charitable or not-for-profit organisation * small or medium-sized commercial organisation You can also ask for overheads on any part of your grant that is sub-contracted to any of the organisations listed above.

If you’re based at a UK university, you can’t ask for overheads for sub-contracted activity