Workshop in Grant writing

CALL FOR LETTERS OF INTENT

Deadline for submission - June 30, 2010
The South-South Initiative for Infectious Diseases of Poverty (SSI) (http://www.ssi-tdr.net) is a global initiative to enable equitable south-south and south-north collaboration among scientists and institutions to develop research, technology and innovation on infectious diseases of poverty. The objectives of SSI are: (i) to foster scientific opportunities and collaboration in Disease Endemic Countries (DECs) in research priority areas related to infectious diseases of poverty; (ii) to enhance leadership in DECs; (iii) to assist the development of collaborative research and training proposals to be submitted to funding agencies.
The SSI coordination team is pleased to invite submission of Letters of Intent (LOIs) for the preparation of collaborative research proposals and career development proposals related to infectious diseases of poverty in DECs.
 TARGETED APPLICATIONS AND RESEARCH AREAS

Research proposals should involve well-defined inter-continental or inter-regional South-South collaborations in the field of infectious diseases of poverty (please seehttp://apps.who.int/tdr/ for an overview of the range of possible subject areas). Although not excluding North-South-South partnership, the research proposals should have a centre of gravity in the South.

Career development proposals such as re-entry grants and post-doctoral fellowships for training in developed countries will be also considered.

The proposals should be focused on discovery research, generation of products and their application and translation into health interventions or formulation of public actions targeted to the improvement of health conditions in DECs. Proposals in other areas of research for health may be considered eligible. Preference will be given to applicants who identify the funding agency and/or call(s) to which they intend to submit the application. If this is not yet possible, please give reasons why development of the proposal is necessary at this time and explain clearly the steps to be taken to identify funding. A non exhaustive list of regular or open calls for collaborative research grants and career development opportunities can be found in the SSI webpage.
 LOI SUBMISSION

LOIs should be submitted online through the SSI website (CLICK HERE).

The form to be completed includes: (i) Names, Institutional addresses, emails of the PI and Collaborators; (ii) CVs of the PI and Collaborators (one page each); (iii) link to the funding opportunity, when applicable; (iv) LOI description (four pages maximum): Title; Objectives of the research proposal relevant to Infectious Diseases of Poverty; Rationale; Methodological approach; Activities to be developed by each group of the partnership.

Career development proposals should also be submitted online, however, the indication of the collaborators is not a limitation for the acceptance to participate in the SSI workshop.
 DEADLINE

The deadline for submission of LOIs is June 30, 2010.
SELECTION OF LOIs

Selection criteria:
- Relevance to remits of SSI (http://www.ssi-tdr.net)
- Scientific merit and scientific relevance
- Capacity building potential
- In the case of collaborative research proposals, the quality of the partnership and particularly equity and complementarity of expertise
- In the case of career development grants, career plans and well-defined plans for building of south–south collaborations.
Researchers whose LOIs demonstrate potential for further development for funding will be notified by July 15, 2010 and invited to the 9th Annual Workshops of the SSI to be held in Foz do Igua?u (Brazil) during 23-25 October 2010. Participants to the meeting will have the opportunity to be introduced to the SSI mission, objectives and activities and to attend the proposal writing workshop in which, with the help of international facilitators, they will have the chance to maximize the quality of their proposals and potential outputs.
After the meeting, the participants may choose to attend, at their own cost, the joint 26^thAnnual Meeting of the Brazilian Society of Protozoology (SBPz - http://www.sbpz.org.br) (25-27 October 2010, Foz do Igua?u, Brazil).
For further details, please contact the General Coordinator of SSI, Dr. Ikram Guizani (ikram.guizani@pasteur.rns.tn) and/or the organizers of the 9^th SSI Annual Workshop Dr. Rodrigo Correa Oliveira (correa@cpqrr.fiocruz.br) and Dr. Bianca Zingales (zingales@iq.usp.br).
Further information on the SSI can be obtained from http://www.ssi-tdr.net