A group of European foundations have launched a new initiative to improve research into neglected tropical diseases in Africa.

The African Fellowship Programme on Neglected Tropical Diseases will fund projects for African scientists to carry out biomedical or public-health research into diseases such as schistosomiasis, the filariases, helminthes, Buruli ulcer, bacterial meningitis and viral diarrhoea.

"The idea is to build up a cadre of African researchers in the field and from there to try to build up research centres," says Sarah Lock, Commonwealth Programme Coordinator at the UK-based Nuffield Foundation, which has committed US$500,000 to the scheme so far.

The programme will award three-year fellowships of up to US$130,000 for the investigation of neglected diseases to African postdoctoral scientists and students completing their PhDs.

"As well as funding pure scientific research on how effective various drugs are, the idea is to see how best to get those drugs out to people — the delivery systems — why people are resistant to them, how you come to have a situation where drugs are free, or so cheap, but still not getting out to people — the public-health policy and social anthropology sides of things, as well as the pure science," Lock told SciDev.Net.

The organisers are hoping to appoint up to 20 fellows, who will receive training in key skills such as proposal writing and making presentations.

A mentorship programme will also provide fellows with up to US$15,000 to enable them to establish links with leading scientists, both African and non-African, in the field.

Lock says the researchers themselves and their departments will choose who is best to provide advice and guidance for their research. "The idea is that, as far as possible, this is African led."

Applications are open until 31 March. Shortlisted candidates will attend an international conference on neglected diseases, to be held in September in Bamako, Mali, where they will present their current work.

International experts will attend the event, and help judge the candidates. Fellowships will then be awarded between the end of 2008 and early 2009.

The scheme is the brainchild of the German-based Volkswagen Foundation and is based on consultations with African medical researchers. It is supported by the Nuffield Foundation, the Merieux Foundation of France and the Gulbenkian Foundation in Portugal.

http://www.scidev.net/News/index.cfm?fuseaction=readNews&itemid=...

Registration for the UNESCO-IHE online courses is now open. Courses running in March 2008 include:

Ecological Sanitation;
Flood Modelling Management;
Integrated Coastal Zone Management;
Integrated River Basin Management;
Sanitation-related Urban Water Pollution;
Solid Wate Management and Engineering;
Water and Environmental Law & Policy;
Wetlands for Water Quality; and
Wetlands Management.

Course arre typically four months in duration and cost €550 (US$790).

Contact details
Email: Info@unesco-ihe.org
Click here for more information;
http://www.unesco-ihe.org/education/short_courses/online_courses

A potentially fatal form of malaria is often mistaken for a less serious form of the disease, say researchers in Malaysia. They warn that doctors throughout South-East Asia must be more alert to the problem.

Writing in Clinical Infectious Diseases (15 January), Janet Cox-Singh and colleagues from the University of Sarawak, Malaysia, say patients infected with Plasmodium knowlesi — a form of the malaria parasite commonly found in macaque monkeys — are often mistakenly diagnosed as being infected with P. malariae, a benign form of the disease.....................

For further details, Visit
http://www.scidev.net/News/index.cfm?fuseaction=readNews&itemid=...

The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and New Economics Foundation (nef) are launching a Fellowship Programme to bring new thinking to the challenges of applying economics to environment and development. The inaugural IIED-nef Fellowship prize will be awarded to an outstanding researcher through a competitive process .

The Fellowship will be full-time, for a duration of four months and the successful candidate will divide their time between IIED and nef. During this tenure, the Fellow will be expected to draw on and distil cutting edge theory and practice in their chosen area, facilitate a process of cross-fertilisation and learning between the two institutions, and formulate concrete proposals on directions for future research to make genuine progress in this vitally important area.

The Fellowship will culminate in a joint IIED-nef event, where key stakeholders will be invited to share in the results of this work, and contribute perspectives on the way ahead.

This is an exciting opportunity for someone to make a real contribution to both theory and practice: to both help frame the debate and chart the way forward, and to play a part in moving us from an unsustainable to a more sustainable economic system.

The application process

Our intention is to stimulate innovation and fresh-thinking. We invite proposals from interested and qualified researchers, setting out their understanding of the issues and clearly identifying the work they propose to pursue through the fellowship.

While we expect the successful candidate to have impressive academic credentials in economics, we will also be looking for the ability to bring insights from actual experience in government in designing and implementing public policy, or in the private sector in responding to and working to influence public policy, and/or from knowledge of other disciplines such as political science, sociology and psychology.

Reflecting the importance that we attach to this inaugural Fellowship award, the successful candidate will receive a bursary of up to £15,000 on successful completion of the four-month project.

Applications of not more than two sides of A4 and CVs to arrive no later than 1 March 2008

Please email iied-nef.fellowship@iied.org

Or by post to: Dr. Camilla Toulmin, Director, IIED, 3 Endsleigh St., London WC1H 0DD.

Shortlisted candidates will be required to submit a full proposal.

IIED is an international independent policy research organisation founded in 1971. IIED provides expertise and leadership in researching and achieving sustainable development at local, national, regional and global levels. In alliance with others we seek to help shape a future that ends global poverty and delivers and sustains efficient and equitable management of the world's natural resources. www.iied.org

nef is an independent ‘think-and-do’ tank that works to develop a new kind of economic understanding, integrating people's well-being with the well-being of the planet, in order to more effectively address the problems of sustainable development. nef staff have substantial experience in international finance and development, research management, programme and project design and management, debt, trade, policy formulation and dialogue, publicity and capacity building. www.neweconomics.org

Clinical trials, capacity building and networking for HIV/AIDS / microbicides in sub-Saharan Africa.

Call for proposal on HIV treatment

The objectives of this call are:
i. To support the conduct of clinical trials that evaluate second-line treatment strategies, with a focus on what products to switch to when changing from first to second-line treatment and when to switch.
ii. To improve Antiretroviral therapy (ART) in children, with a specific focus on using more optional combinations and product formulations with sub-studies in pharmacokinetics of drug combinations.

Available funds: € 6,500,000
Deadline of application: 1 April 2008

Call for proposal on HIV microbicides
The objectives of this call are to support the conduct of clinical studies on microbicides that will yield data on safety, surrogate end-points of biological activity and surrogate markers that might correlate with safety or efficacy. In addition, proposals that evaluate the effect of barriers, concurrent sexually transmitted infections, frequency of microbicide use and stage of menstrual cycle on safety and efficacy are invited. Innovative products or approaches are particularly encouraged.

Available funds: € 6,100,000
Deadline of application: 1 May 2008

Please consult the EDCTP website for more details on these calls for proposals on HIV/AIDS: www.edctp.org.

Contact details Further information available from Monday 3 December through Ilona van den Brink, tel. +31-6-20689948 or email brink@edctp.org

The Leadership and Advocacy for Women in Africa (LAWA) Fellowship Program
was founded in 1993 at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington,
D.C., in order to train women's human rights lawyers from Africa committed
to returning home to their countries to advance the status of women and
girls throughout their careers. The LAWA programme is inviting applications
for July 2008- August 2009 LAWA Fellowship Program; the deadline for
submissions is November 30, 2007.

Visir: http://www.wlppfp.org/lawa/

The Health Economics and HIV/AIDS Research Division (HEARD) based at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) based in Canada, invite letters of intent
from teams led or co-led by researchers from low- and middle income countries interested in conducting innovative projects exploring the linkages among economic globalisation, growth and HIV/AIDS along two themes:
Exploring how HIV/AIDS interacts with efforts to facilitate inclusive or
pro-poor growth strategies; and exploring the impacts of economic
globalisation and growth on vulnerability and resilience to HIV/AIDS. The
initial funding round will support up to five grants at a maximum of
Canadian$100,000 (approximately US$90,000) each for one- to two-year
projects. The application process is in two stages: letters of intent and
then full proposals. Letters of intent will undergo competitive peer review,
and successful applicants will be provided with Canadian$2,000 to support
development of the full proposal. Full proposals will undergo competitive
peer review. The deadline for application is 1 November 2007.

For more information visit:
The Health Economics And HIV/AIDS Research Division (HEARD)
http://www.heard.org.za/research/IDRC/

Hi Waysers, I received this recent analysis of topical health research issues. Please read and share your Comments.

Health research for development is dependent on cooperation and trust among international agencies, the health research community, publishers and other stakeholders. According to an editorial in this week's Lancet
[1], WHO and UNICEF are "appearing to manipulate science, breach trust... and reject accountability". They are "willing to play fast and loose with
scientific findings in order to further their own institutional
interests".

The charge is based on press releases from WHO and UNICEF, respectively, that pre-empted the publication of two important papers in the current issue of The Lancet.

The first Lancet paper, by Greg Fegan et al [2], reports the success of an expanded insecticide-treated bednet programme in Kenya: "The full paper reveals the strengths and limitations of the study, and provides important estimates of uncertainty. No such statistical caution was expressed in the WHO statement [3] about these data, released on Aug 16."

Furthermore, the editorial suggests a breach of trust by WHO: "In early August, the Kenyan team and WHO exchanged views about the results of this
trial 'on a confidential basis'. The investigators expected Ministry officials to disseminate their findings. But the scientific team planned
to remain silent until their data had acquired the 'legitimacy' of publication. They had WHO's agreement to do the same. But WHO broke its
promise. The agency released a confident press statement without even having the courtesy to inform the Kenyan scientists of their plans."

The second paper, by Chris Murray et al [4], reports a decrease in child mortality to 9.7 million deaths per year, but its sobering analysis concludes that 'globally, we are not doing a better job of reducing child mortality now than we were three decades ago", and predicts that by 2015, we shall have achieved only a 27% reduction in child mortality since 1990,
substantially less than the MDG4 target of 67%.

The Lancet says that on 4th September it had sent Murray's paper to UNICEF for its comments. Six days later, "UNICEF contacted selected journalists
about 'a major public health success'. For the first time UNICEF strongly publicised its claim that annual under-5 child deaths had fallen below 10 million." [5]

The Lancet concludes: "WHO and UNICEF are acting contrary to responsible scientific norms that one would have expected UN technical agencies to uphold. Worse, they risk inadvertently corroding their own long-term
credibility."

This editorial raises a number of complex questions about communication and collaboration among stakeholders, and a more specific question about research communication: In what circumstances is it acceptable to publish a press release prior to a related scholarly publication?

The Lancet seems in no doubt: "When the data and their interpretation are more complex than a press release can convey, the sensible approach is to wait."

SOURCE: From Neil Pakenham-Walsh Co-moderator, HIF-net

[1]
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS01406736076...
[free access]

[2]
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS01406736076...
[free access]

[3] http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2007/pr43/en/index....
[free access]

[4]
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS01406736076...

[free access]

[5] http://www.unicef.org/media/media_40855.html [free access]

The goal of Faculty For The Future is to support role models and facilitate gender balance in science and engineering faculties at key universities in emerging economies.

Potential candidates would be typically finishing a Master’s or PhD program and may already be in junior faculty positions in their home country. They would be planning to pursue further study overseas, PhD or Post-Doc, to develop their academic careers with a view to teaching in their home countries.

As teachers, they will contribute to the ultimate vision of the program which is the attracting of more talented young women into science and engineering careers. For many women the biggest obstacle to overcome is obtaining funding to start their PhDs. This is why most of our Faculty for the Future grants focus on those critical first two years. After the first two years it is expected that the candidates will have proved their research worth and will have access to more conventional forms of funding or paid teaching assignments.

Candidates may come from a range of disciplines within engineering and the physical sciences[1]. The disciplines do not have to be directly relevant to the Schlumberger oilfield businesses as this is a long-term capacity-building initiative. [1] Awards in biological sciences are limited.

Contact details
Schlumberger in Nigeria is running in-country preselection processes. If you are from Nigeria, submit your application form by December 15 2007 to nigeriafftf@slb.com.

All other candidates should apply directly to the Schlumberger Foundation, facultyforthefuture@slb.com.

For more information visit:
http://www.slb.com/content/about/foundation/facultyfuture.asp?
Click here for more information

The European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) is a partnership between 14 EU countries, Switzerland and Norway, and 47 African countries. It aims to join relevant European national research programmes and their African partnerships to develop new clinical tools against HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

The European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) is pleased to announce the following calls for proposals to apply for EDCTP grants:

Malaria

Clinical trials, capacity building and networking in malaria vaccines development
Available funds: a minimum of € 14,500,000
Deadline for application: 19 November 2007

Clinical trials, capacity building and networking in malaria treatment
Available funds: a minimum of € 9,100,000
Deadline for application: 26 November 2007

Clinical trials, capacity building and networking in malaria in pregnancy
Available funds: a minimum of € 9,100,000
Deadline for application: 26 November 2007

Tuberculosis

Clinical trials, capacity building and networking in tuberculosis vaccines development Phase I, II and III
Available funds: a minimum of € 14,000,000
Deadline for application: 17 September 2007

Clinical trials on new drugs and improved drug combinations for the treatment of tuberculosis
Available funds: a minimum of € 9,000,000
Deadline for application: 5 November 2007

Cross cutting capacity building activities

Senior Fellowship
Available funds: € 1,200,000
Deadline for application: 12 November 2007

Establishment and strengthening of African National Ethics Committees or Institutional Review Boards
Available funds: € 450,000
Deadline for application: 05 November 2007

Establishment of regional networks of excellence for clinical trials and South-South mentorship programmes
Available funds: a minimum of € 10,000,000
Deadline for application: 03 December 2007

For more information about these calls and how to apply, please visit our website at www.edctp.org.

Contact details
EDCTP P.O. Box 93015 2509 AA The Hague The Netherlands email: info@edctp.org

Source: http://www.scidev.net/grants/index.cfm?fuseaction=readgrants&ite...