Strengthening Health and Disease Modeling for Public Health Decision Making in Africa

Strengthening Health and Disease Modeling for Public Health Decision Making in Africa is sponsored by Wellcome and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This call provides funding for projects led by researchers based in Africa to use modeling approaches to address key areas related to health and infectious disease, whilst strengthening the modeling ecosystem in Africa.

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Find a funding opportunity 5. Strengthening health and disease modelling for public health decision making in Africa # Strengthening health and disease modelling for public health decision making in Africa This call provides funding for projects led by researchers based in Africa to use modelling approaches to address key areas related to health and infectious disease, whilst strengthening the modelling ecosystem in Africa.

* Eligibility and suitability Key areas include modelling to understand the impact of environmental change on infectious diseases - such as malaria, dengue and schistosomiasis - and to inform optimal control strategies.

Successful applicants will be connected through development of collaborative activities aimed to strengthen modelling and to increase impact of the model-based evidence produced, including increasing use of modelling by decision-makers. This call is a collaboration between Wellcome and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Awards will be made either by Wellcome or the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation depending on the focus area and budgetary scale of the proposed work. The information on this page relates to the Wellcome awards only. Preliminary applications for both Wellcome and Bill & Melinda Gates awards are now closed.

Key information about the call can still be seen on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Grand Challenges website. ### This scheme is now closed Lead applicant career stage: Early-career researcher, Mid-career researcher, Established researcher, Leading a research programme, Postdoctoral research, Returning to research Administering organisation location: Vector-borne diseases cause significant morbidity, with a high burden in Africa.

This includes a range of diseases spread by vectors (or intermediate hosts), such as mosquitoes and snails. The distribution of the vectors that spread these diseases is sensitive to environmental change. For example, climate change is leading to warmer temperatures, increasing the expansion and geographic spread of mosquitoes and associated diseases to wider areas.

To reduce disease burden and determine the interventions needed for control, it is critical to understand the impact of environmental changes on the vector and its ability to transmit disease.

Key research questions where modelling is a valuable tool include understanding the effect of environmental change on vector distribution and how this affects disease burden, as well as understanding how current and novel control interventions can be most effectively used to control the spread of vectors and vector-borne diseases.

Proposals**must**focus on one or more of the following diseases: Chikungunya, dengue, yellow fever, zika, malaria and schistosomiasis. Proposals**must**also address one or more of the following: 1.

**Environmental change:**Modelling to understand the effect of**i)**direct climate (e.g., temperature, rainfall, short/long-term climate change) and/or**ii)**indirect environmental (e.g., population movement, landscape change) factors on the spread and burden of the focus diseases (e.g., vector spread, behaviour, ability to transmit disease), and implications for control. 2.

**Control interventions:**Modelling to**i)**understand optimal use of existing and novel interventions (including combinations of interventions and assessment of resistance to interventions where relevant), and**ii)**identify barriers to implementation and uptake of interventions for the focus diseases.

The specific areas addressed and approaches proposed should be tailored to the local context and include data partners(e.g. data scientists/collectors) a nd decision-makers as coapplicants/collaborators where relevant. We encourage proposals that span multiple areas/diseases and that include data collection where required to fill key data gaps to inform models.

Proposals may include various modelling approaches, such as epidemiological, transmission, health economic/cost-effectiveness, geospatial, climate and mechanistic modelling, as well as approaches linking climate and infectious disease modelling. ## Eligibility and suitability * Lead applicants must be based in Africa.

* Proposals must demonstrate that at least 70% of the funding is going to low- and middle-income country (LMIC) institutions with at least 50% of the funding going to African institutions. * Proposals can include institutions in high-income countries (HICs). However, no more than 30% of the project budget can go to HIC institutions.

* This RFP is open to researchers at any career stage. Applications led by early- and mid-career investigators are encouraged. * Applicants must have the experience needed to drive and lead a research program addressing the thematic area(s) of interest.

* We encourage applications involving projects led by women. * Researchers may participate as coapplicants or collaborators on multiple applications but may only submit one application as a lead applicant. Researchers must be able to demonstrate that they can dedicate enough time and resources to all projects if all the projects they are involved in are funded.

* Coapplicants can be based anywhere in the world (except in mainland China). * Lead applicants and coapplicants must be able to contribute at least 20% of their time to this project. * Lead applicants must have a permanent, open-ended, or long-term rolling contract for the duration of the award.

* Proposals are limited to 8 coapplicants. * Coapplicants must have a guarantee of space from their host institution for the duration of their commitment to the award, but do not need to have a permanent, open-ended, or long-term rolling contract at their administering institution. * There is no limit to the number of collaborators an application can have but the added value must be clear.

There is no minimum time commitment for collaborators. * We encourage the inclusion of data partners (e.g. data scientists/collectors) and decision-makers as coapplicants/collaborators where relevant.

You cannot apply for this award if: * You are based in mainland China * You intend to carry out activities that involve the transfer of grant funds into mainland China You can only be an applicant on a maximum of two applications to this funding call (irrespective of your career stage): * You can be a lead applicant on one application and a coapplicant on another. * You can be a coapplicant on two applications.

* You can be a collaborator on multiple applications. Note, r esearchers must be able to demonstrate that they can dedicate enough time and resources to all projects if all the projects they are involved in are 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.

We offer up to £3 million for 3-5 years. You should ask for a level and duration of funding that is justifiable for your proposed research. ## This amount can be used to cover:Show ### 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 outside of the UK or Republic of Ireland, 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 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. **Your administering 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. * Coapplicants must contribute at least 20% of their research time to this programme.

* 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.

**Your administering organisation must confirm:** * that the coapplicant’s employment contract states they must get salary recovery from external grant funding * that they will underwrite the post, including any salary costs not covered by Wellcome, for the period of time that the person will be working on the grant.

**Coapplicants can also ask for salary where they:** * are employed by a charity, social enterprise or commercial organisation. The amount they request must be proportionate to the time they will spend on the grant. * don’t have a permanent, open ended or long-term rolling contract and they: * will spend 80% of their time on this grant.

In this case, they can ask for their full salary. Their post does not need to be underwritten and can be contingent on the application being successful. * will spend less than 80% of their time on the grant.

In this case, they can request salary proportionate to the time they will spend on the grant. The host organisation must guarantee space and salary support if they cannot get it from other sources for the period of time they are working on the grant. Their post cannot be contingent on the application being successful.

* are employed on the award as post graduate research assistants. If they are to spend 100% of their time on the award, their post does not need to be underwritten by the host organisation and can be contingent on the application being successful. Alternatively, coapplicants may get their salary through employment on another grant.

For applicants, please see "Basic Salary" We will cover the salary costs of staff, full or part time, who are not applicants and will work on your award. Staff members typically include research assistants or technicians employed on your grant. You can also include staff members with a dedicated research uptake role, as long as the time and value is justified.

If you’re doing fieldwork or clinical studies in a low- or middle-income country, we’ll consider requests for more research staff. **PhD/Research Masters fees** We do not provide studentships on this award. But i f applicants employ a research assistant or a technician on the grant, they can ask for the costs to cover their PhD/Research Masters fees.

Each applicant can ask for fees for one research assistant or technician 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/Research Masters in a high-income country, excluding the UK and Republic of Ireland. 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.

#### personal and professional development / training Show ### 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 * understanding and reducing the environmental impact of research We expect your administering 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 * 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 * 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.

You can ask for 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 * cost effective and environmentally sustainable 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 if your university will include the sub-contracted funding in its annual reporting for the charity support element of UK government block funding, for example the Charity Research Support Fund for universities in England.

* estates, for example building and premises * non-project dedicated administrative and support staff * administration, for example finance, library and room hire The total cost for overheads should not be more than 20% of the direct research costs. These costs must directly support the activity funded by the grant.

#### How to apply for these costs If you are requesting funds for overheads, in your application you will need to provide a letter from your Finance Director providing information on how you have calculated these costs.

If your organisation has an externally audited or otherwise verified methodology for calculating overhead rates, then the letter must include: * confirmation of the validated rate * how the rate was arrived at/who provided the rate * when the rate was last reviewed * where details of the rate can be found If your organisation **does not** have an externally audited or otherwise verified methodology for calculating overhead rates, then the letter must include: * a breakdown of the costs requested * confirmation that the request is a true representation of the costs incurred ### travel and subsistence Show Research should be designed to minimise travel.

You can ask for the cost of essential travel. The mode of transport should be low carbon, even if it is more expensive (for example travelling by train instead of flying). We will not pay for business class flights.

#### Conference attendance You can ask for a contribution towards the costs of attending scientific and academic meetings and conferences, including registration fees. The limits are: * Grantholder – £2,000 a year * Research and technical staff on your grant– £1,000 each a year We provide costs to cover caring responsibilities if you or any staff employed on your grant attend a conference.

This includes childcare and any other caring responsibility you have. We will pay these if: * Wellcome is providing the salary * the conference is directly related to the research * the caring costs are over and above what they'd normally pay for care * the conference organiser and their employing organisation are unable to cover the costs You can ask for up to £1,000 per person for each conference.

#### Collaborative travel You can ask for travel and subsistence costs for collaborative visits for you and any staff employed on your grant. You’ll need to justify each visit and its duration. We will pay for other essential visits, for example to facilities, for sample collection and for fieldwork.

You can include subsistence costs. You’ll need to justify each visit and its duration. This applies to all types of travel costs Wellcome provides.

* The cost of a low carbon mode of transport, even if it is more expensive (for example travelling by train instead of flying). * Project-related resources or activities that provide an alternative to travel, such as video conferencing, communication and file-sharing software. * Costs to offset the carbon emissions generated by the essential travel.

If carbon offsetting for travel is not part of your organisational sustainability strategy, you can ask us for a similar level of support for other sustainability initiatives. Your organisation must get our approval before submitting an application. We won't pay for the core infrastructure that your host organisation should provide, unless you're eligible to ask for these costs under ouroverheads policy.

Examples of these costs include: * organisation-wide video conferencing packages See our environmental sustainability policyfor what you and your organisation can do. [](https://wellcome. org/research-funding/schemes/strengthening-health-and-disease-modelling-public-health-decision-making) If you’re away for **up to one month** you can ask for subsistence costs.

These include accommodation, meals and incidentals (for example, refreshments or newspapers). If your administering organisation has a subsistence policy, use their rates. If your administering organisation doesn’t have a subsistence policy, please use the HMRC rates.

If you’re away for **more than one month and up to 12 months**, we will pay reasonable rental costs only, including aparthotels. You should discuss appropriate rates with your administering and host organisations, or Wellcome, as appropriate. We expect you to choose the most economical options, booked in advance where possible.

If you’re from a low- or middle- income country and will be working in a high-income country for **more than one month and up to 12 months**, you can also ask for up to £10 a day to cover extra costs, such as transport and incidentals. If you’re away for **more than 12 months**, we will pay the costs of your housing. You should discuss your needs with your administering and host organisations.

The allowance we provide will be based on family and business need. We will set the maximum allowance we pay for each location. This will be based on current market data or, where data is unavailable, in consultation with your administering organisation, using equivalent market rates.

Please contact us if you need help calculating the costs. We will cover the direct expenses you have to pay to find and rent a home. We will not cover the cost of utilities or any refurbishment.

If you or any research staff employed on your grant will be doing research away from your home organisation, we'll help with the additional costs of working on the project overseas. Please see the 'Overseas allowances' section for details. ### overseas allowances Show If you or any staff employed on your grant will be spending time in another country, we’ll help you with the additional costs of working on the project overseas.

Our overseas allowances are: * a contribution towards the personal cost of carrying out research overseas, to ensure that you are not disadvantaged * provided on the assumption that you’ll be paying income tax, either in your home country, or the country you will be working in (your personal tax is your responsibility).

* provided on the understanding that you or your partner will not receive equivalent allowances from elsewhere * determined by the amount of time you will spend away from your home country. We expect the people we fund to choose travel that has a lower carbon impact, even if it’s more expensive (for example travelling by train instead of flying). We will not pay for business class flights.

You can ask for costs to offset the carbon generated by the travel as part of your overseas allowances. If carbon offsetting for travel is not part of your organisational sustainability strategy, you can ask us for a similar level of support for other sustainability initiatives. Your organisation must get our approval for other sustainability initiatives to be included in applications.

See our environmental sustainability policy for information on what you and your organisation need to do. #### Partners and dependants travelling with you Show If you will be away more than 12 months, we will provide overseas allowances for your partner and any dependants if they are travelling with you.

If you will be away for 12 months or less and can justify why your partner and dependants must travel with you, we may provide overseas allowances for them. We define your partner as the person: * you’re not married to but with whom you’ve been in a relationship for at least a year * you live with at the same permanent address and share some form of joint financial commitment with, such as a mortgage.

See a list of low- and middle-income countries, as defined by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). You can ask for the following allowances. You need to provide estimated costs as accurately as possible.

#### outward and return travel Show We will pay your travel costs at the beginning and end of your overseas work. Costs can be for air, ferry, train or coach fares. * in line with our environmental sustainability policy.

* booked in advance where possible. #### baggage and freight shipping allowance Show If you are away for**up to 12 months**, you can ask for up to 80kg of additional baggage or unaccompanied airline freight for your outward and return journeys. If you are away for **more than 12 months**, you can ask for the costs of shipping your personal items at the beginning and end of your overseas work.

We will pay the full cost of transporting: * half a standard shipping container if you’re travelling alone * a whole standard shipping container (20ft) if you’re travelling with a partner and/or dependants. #### medical and travel insurance Show We will pay the cost of your medical insurance and travel insurance. If you will be working in a low- or middle-income country we will also cover the cost of emergency evacuation cover.

We won’t pay for medical insurance if you will be based in the UK or Republic of Ireland. #### visas and vaccinations Show We will pay the costs of visas, vaccinations and anti-malaria treatment. #### housing security Show You can ask for this if you’ll be based in a low- or middle-income country and it is necessary.

Costs can include guards, panic buttons and alarms. You should ask your employing organisation for advice on the level of security you need. #### accommodation and subsistence Show If you’re away for **up to one month**you can ask for subsistence costs.

These include accommodation, meals and incidentals (for example, refreshments or newspapers). If your administering organisation has a subsistence policy, use their rates. If your administering organisation doesn’t have a subsistence policy, please use the HMRC