Limited Competition 2012: Planning Grants for Hubs of Interdisciplinary Research and Training in Global Environmental and Occupational Health (GEOHealth)
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
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Closing Date: March 7,2012.
The NIH Fogarty International Center (FIC), in collaboration with the NIH National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), invites applications from pairs of institutions (one LMIC institution and one U.S. institution) to conduct exploratory activities and plan for the development or expansion of unique, innovative, and multidisciplinary centers of Global Environmental and Occupational Health Hubs (GEOHealth Hubs). The NIH anticipates the opportunity to compete for full GEOHealth Hub grants to realize the results of this planning, with awards in 2014. The program vision is to develop and strengthen environmental and occupational health-related regional research collaborations, enhance infrastructure development, enhance research training, develop relevant curricula, mitigate the adverse consequences of environmental and occupational exposures, and support the science needed in order to inform nationally-relevant policy development in developing countries.
The objectives of this FOA are to (1) support planning and exploratory activities related to the development of world-class international centers for environmental and occupational health that can meet the challenges of a changing world, (2) support exploratory activities that strengthen environmental and occupational health research, training, curriculum development and policy support through the establishment of partnerships between LMIC institutions and U.S. institutions, and (3) enhance the ability of investigators to compete independently for sustained funding in environmental and occupational health in an anticipated full GEOHealth program, with awards in 2014. Responsive applications will develop a needs and opportunities assessment that identifies the priority environmental and occupational public health concerns in the LMIC, the scientific information required to support these public health needs, and the associated training and capacity building activities.
GEOHealth Hubs
A GEOHealth Hub is defined as a multidisciplinary research group of investigators and their institutions based in a LMIC, who, with their collaborators, focus on a core set of common research and training topics that address priority public health needs in the LMIC and/or the region. A GEOHealth Hub would serve as a focal point for all research, research capacity-building, training, and collaborative activities, and would be expected to form links (or "spokes") to other institutions in the country or region. Additional U.S. institutions and their partners may also be linked to the hub. For the purposes of this FOA, a pair of institutions (one LMIC institution and one U.S. institution) would form a consortium in coordination with appropriate partners, and this consortium would conduct the needs and opportunities assessment and other exploratory activities for the development of a full GEOHealth Hub in the future.
Scientific Areas
Focal environmental and occupational health-related areas will be selected by the applicants, building upon preexisting strengths within the proposed consortium and addressing priority public health needs in the country and/or region. Scientific areas may include, but are not limited to: indoor and outdoor air quality, water quality, workplace safety, agricultural health, and climate change related health science including disaster response. Relevant scientific disciplines include epidemiology, biostatistics, genetics, environmental science, industrial hygiene, systems science, toxicology, behavioral science, and implementation science.
Program components and activities
Responsive applications will include plans to conduct the following activities:
- Needs and opportunities assessment – Conduct an assessment of needs and opportunities that addresses the policy environment in the LMIC, and the public health and science needed to support relevant policy development.
- Hub development –Organize the appropriate network of partners to address the public health and science needs identified in an assessment of needs and opportunities.
- Research planning – Develop hypotheses and data requirements that address the focal research topics for the LMIC GEOHealth Hub.
- Capacity building planning – Identify relevant activities that will build research capacity in the selected environmental and occupational health areas in the LMIC GEOHealth Hub.
- Evaluation - Describe an evaluation plan for the planning process.
Regions
Research must be conducted in World Bank designated LMICs in one of the following geographic regions:
- East Asia and the Pacific
- Europe and Central Asia
- Latin America and the Caribbean
- Middle East and North Africa
- South Asia
- Sub-Saharan Africa
Although several exploratory grants (this FOA) may be awarded in each region, future full GEOHealth Hub grants will likely be limited and prioritized to ensure broad geographic coverage.
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