Up to 2 Million Euros available for Collaborative Research on Cure for HIV

Deadline Date: June 16, 2024

Donor Name: Aidsfonds

Grant Size: More than $1 million

The Aidsfonds and Sidaction are pleased to jointly launch a call for scientific proposals on the theme of HIV CURE to foster collaboration between researchers, institutions, and communities, with an emphasis on interdisciplinary and collaborative research on the cure for HIV.

The aim of this call for proposals is to fund research projects exploring mechanisms or strategies that will contribute to achieve a cure or a remission for HIV. The candidate projects may explore mechanisms to target the viral reservoir or enhance immune driven control, the development of new therapeutic concepts as well as all the social sciences around HIV cure or remission. With this call, they aim to fund research ultimately leading to biomedical breakthroughs, social acceptance of cure interventions and promotion of an HIV cure available to the maximum of PLHIV worldwide.

This call for proposals is therefore aimed at all parties involved in the development and implementation of HIV cure. Researchers from different disciplines, representatives of PLHIV, HIV counsellors and physicians can submit a letter of intent describing the rationale, objectives, and relevance of their project in the context of this call for proposals. Proposals that pursue the development of a cure (total elimination of infected cells) and those that pursue ART-free control of persistent virus will be considered.

Preferential (not mandatory) aspects of the research are:

• interdisciplinary approach involving cooperation between researchers from different specialities (basic science, clinical science, humanities and social sciences);
• research that pursues interventional strategies, even if preliminary stages, is preferred over approaches that are purely descriptive.
• relevance for communities that live with HIV, anywhere in the world;
• impact focused on a combination of insights and interventions that build on existing research on HIV cures and/or by new approaches and insights that have not been used before;

Funding Information

• The available budget for this Call for proposals is a total of €2,000,000.
• Research teams may be funded for a research project lasting a maximum of 36 months.

Eligible Funding 

• The budget may include:
  • Operating costs
  • Equipment costs
  • Remuneration costs for non-statutory staff
  • Knowledge utilisation (publication costs, participation in conferences or congresses, mission’s expenses…): At least 2% and up to 10% of the overall project budget)
  • Project management
  • Overheads

Who can apply?

• Research projects could take place anywhere in the world but the researchers that performed the research should be based:
  • In France or Netherlands in public sector entities and non-profit organizations whose missions include supporting research.
  • In countries with limited resources in the African region, as defined by the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee.
• The call is open to projects including in silico, in vitro, pre-clinical, social, economic, or clinical research.
• Community based organizations are especially encouraged to participate.
• To apply for funding, you must have an account on the Synto platform.

Selection Criteria

• Proposal will be first reviewed for scientific and impact quality. A minimum threshold for scientific quality should be reached to be eligible for funding. Proposals that pass the threshold will be ranked based on the preferential characteristics:
  • Quality of science and method; 
  • The innovative and integrated nature of the research; 
  • Feasibility and appropriateness of the proposed research plan; 
  • Operational and financial choices in the project budget; 
  • Strong prospects for biomedical, social and economic impact
• For larger programs (>300k+) the following additional criteria will be taken into consideration:
  • Inter disciplinary aspects of the research. 
  • Early Career Lead Investigators, defined as a researcher whose career spun less than 8 years between the date of the PhD/doctorate (or similar experience) and the date of involvement in the research project and/or involvement of young researchers in the project (PhD students and/or postdoc); Collaboration of research teams from Netherlands, France, and African countries. 
  • Project governance, division of tasks and roles within the team. 
  • Connection strategy to engage relevant stakeholders and involve end-users. Final selection of projects will be based on the ranking and budgetary fit with the available funds.

Languages

• You must write your application in English (French could be acceptable if the principal investigator is from Africa and not fluent in English). 

For more information, visit Aidsfonds.