R2HC RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS ASKED BY WEBINAR PARTICIPANTS 4 June 2015

Partnership/lead applicant questions

1. Can there be more than one NGO partner in the consortium? Can there be more than one academic partner in the consortium?

Yes, in both cases.

2. Ours is a large medical college & hospital with multiple expertise and activities. Can we play the role of academic institution in first EOI/proposal and humanitarian-agency in the second EOI?

Provided that your institution has recognised competency as both an academic/ research institution and operational field-based expertise as a humanitarian organisation, yes, your organisation could be part of two EOIs with different functions identified in each.

3. Does the size of the NGO in the recipient country matter? We are a NZ University. Can we partner/work with a small national NGO partner from a country such as India?

Partnerships involve a range of potential roles and responsibilities. A small national NGO can be the main partner in the research partnership, provided that it is a registered NGO with the required expertise and capacity to fulfil the foreseen functions. From our previous experience, the main humanitarian organisation partnering with a lead academic institution has always been of sufficient size to be able to manage the overall portfolio of work foreseen. There is no specific requirement however that such an organisation needs to be a large one, or an international organisation.

The quality of the research proposal and methodology, the likely impact of the research findings, and the capacity of the proposed partners to undertake and manage the research are key criteria that the Funding Committee will be looking at. It would thus be important that if a small local NGO was the main partner of a research institution, the Expression of Interest should be able to demonstrate the above.

4. What is meant by lead applicant? I am a Ph.D Student with a research domain of refugees and communicable diseases. I was looking for funding, I was waiting for 3rd call, but am not sure now, whether I am eligible or not ?

The lead applicant needs to be an organisation - either a research/academic institution or a humanitarian organisation.

Individuals can be involved in partnerships, but not as lead applicants. The Principal Investigator needs to be someone with a strong background in conducting public health research, preferably in the context of humanitarian crises.

5. Does the PI need to demonstrate a track-record of conducting research in humanitarian contexts if their non-academic partner is a well-known humanitarian response organisation?

Ideally the PI will have experience of conducting research in humanitarian contexts, but provided that s/he has significant research experience in general this requirement might be waived if the proposal and partnerships are strong.

6. The presenter noted that proposals that explore issues outside of the identified thematic areas can still be submitted, and she mentioned that the proposals will be assessed on the basis of their overall quality. Does this mean that - quality being the same - proposals related to the identified thematic areas would be prioritised?

Yes, if there are two proposals of equal strength it is more likely that the Funding Committee will select the proposal focusing on a prioritised research area rather than a non-identified area of public health. The research proposal that is better designed and with the potential for greatest impact will otherwise be selected. A poor quality proposal, irrespective of focus, will not be approved.

7. Does the PI need to be able to demonstrate experience of running consortia or partnerships in the past?

No, this is not a requirement. However, the overall strength of the partnership between lead applicant and main partner organisation will be considered, as well as their capacity to manage a research consortia.

8. How are organisations that consist of federations counted in terms of partnerships? (referring to organisations that are formally independent but part of same family (e.g. IRC US- IRC UK; Save the Children US-UK; Red Cross.)

Partnerships from such entities are welcomed as members of research consortia and in many cases might seem to be the most ‘obvious’ partners. The only requirement in terms of partnerships is that there should be one research/academic institution and one experienced humanitarian organisation.

Thematic and location focused questions

9. Is camp management for refugees, children and women friendly spaces included in this call?

An application in this area would only be eligible if directly linked to a public health issue.

10. Can we apply for Mental Health or Psychosocial support project?

You can submit an application for research in this field but please be reminded that the R2HC programme is already funding several initiatives in this field so research along these lines is less likely to be regarded as a priority area by the Funding Committee. Please see the website for details of currently funded projects: http://www.elrha.org/r2hc/projects/

11. Does R2HC consider populations who have been trafficked for sexual and/or labour exploitation to be a global humanitarian challenge?

Trafficking as a global humanitarian challenge per se would not fall within the scope of R2HC funding. A proposal addressing trafficking for sexual exploitation that was framed within the context of gender based violence within a humanitarian crisis, and with clear linkages to public health, would be considered.

12. Would an application in the area of nutrition have a chance to be considered?

Yes.

Please read the Humanitarian Health Evidence Review on our website to make sure that the field you wish to research was identified as an area with limited evidence http://www.elrha.org/r2hc/publications/humanitarian- healthevidence- review/

13. Would trialling interventions against vector-borne interventions be suitable?

Possibly; this is provided that the proposed research was specific to the context of a humanitarian crisis.

14. We are thinking of studying an infectious disease that is common in refugee crises, but could conduct the research more easily in Afghanistan and the findings would be broadly applicable. Would this be allowed given that it would not be in a place where there is a classic complex emergency?

It is possible to submit a proposal to conduct research on a public health issue in a non-humanitarian context and to then test its applicability or efficacy in a humanitarian context location. The Afghanistan context itself would possibly qualify as being a humanitarian context, depending on the proposed location of the research.

15. Would ongoing environmental disasters and crises be considered for funding, such as "Arsenic" toxicity or heavy metal toxicity? These are longer term environmental disasters.

Research on a long-term public health concern such as arsenic toxicity would not be eligible for funding as this does not fall within the remit of

the Application Guidelines which stipulates that the research must target a public health concern within a humanitarian crisis context. “Humanitarian crises” for the purpose of the R2HC programme includes natural disasters, conflicts, or complex emergencies, either at the regional, national or sub-national levels, within lower or middle income countries.

16. Do ethical issues encompass the ethical questions health workers face in the course of their work in crises?

We would encourage applications that look at ethical issues that face public health service institutions, or humanitarian organisations, rather than individual health workers per se. Applicants could also address ethics-related issues from the perspective of conducting research in humanitarian contexts.

17. Can you provide more information on the scope of research that might address 'cost effectiveness'?

The Humanitarian Health Evidence Review found that very little research has been conducted that looks as the cost-effectiveness of various interventions/ treatments/responses to address specific public health issues during humanitarian crises. Applications are encouraged that either focus on, or include an element within the proposed study, that compares the cost effectiveness of different approaches to addressing specific or multiple public health related needs.

18. Would research into a public health issue within the context of Palestinian refugee camps (established more than 60 years ago) be eligible?

Yes.

19. Is R2HC willing to support the establishment of novel, open access data sources? Example: public archives

The R2HC programme only funds public health research. It is a requirement that research outputs are published through open access sources.

Research related questions

20. Research protocol needs IRB approval. Would local IRB be sufficient?

This depends on the context and location of the lead applicant and partners. In cases where lead applicants have been in northern countries, internal processes for obtaining ethical approval are usually followed by the academic or research institution. Most often, the process of getting local IRB clearance in the target county is a national requirement and also thus followed. If the lead applicant is actually based in the country where the research will take place, the local IRB process will be sufficient.

21. Will a large meta-analysis for instance or secondary data analysis be eligible for funding under this scheme?

Yes.

Miscellaneous questions

22. Has anyone successfully applied for and received both core and rapid grants for contexts where a humanitarian crisis is protracted, but in a region where issues might rapidly escalate making it periodically become more of an acute emergency context? For example, the core research might be focused in the protracted context but there may be need to explore related issues in the acute regions.

Yes. We are currently funding one partner to conduct research on a particular issue in two protracted crisis contexts, and one acute crisis context that was identified after the funding was agreed. The applicant was awarded a core grant to undertake the study in the three locations.

23. Is the third call the final one, or are there going to be more future calls?

Additional calls are anticipated for 2016 and 2017.

24. Would the funding provide for institutional overheads? For example, the University where I work requires a 15% overhead on the expenses requested

Where the lead applicant has no alternative source of funding for administrative management of the grant, applicants may request funds to cover these costs. To be considered, these will need to be fully justified. A detailed breakdown of such costs will not be needed at the Expression of Interest stage but will be required at the Full Application stage. Requests for an ‘across the board’ percentage for overheads will not be considered.

25. Can we get a list of who is on the funding committee?

A list of the Funding Committee members is on the website http://www.elrha.org/r2hc/about/funding-committee/

26. Is there a limit to the number of Expressions of Interest an organisation can submit? If not, is there a cap on the number of full applications that will be solicited from an organisation?

No, there is no cap on the number of EoIs that can be submitted. However, in most circumstances only one proposal per lead applicant will be approved to go forward to the Full Application stage.

Organisations can be part of more than one research consortium, but when applications have been shortlisted we may wish to talk to organisations that appear in more than one consortium to ensure they have the capacity to fulfil their commitments.