M-HIRST Small Pilot Grants 2024
INTRODUCTION
The Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS), Formerly Kamuzu College of Nursing (KCN) and College of Medicine (COM), is a comprehensive health and allied sciences higher learning institution with the primary function of training health workers. Its mission is “to be an academic centre of excellence in the training of doctors and other health professionals in clinical service and medical research, responsive to the health needs of Malawi and its neighbours within the Southern African region”. Since 2015, the National Institutes of Health-Fogarty International Centre in the USA has been funding the KUHeS and University of North Carolina to establish and roll-out the Malawi HIV Implementation Science Research Training (M-HIRST) Program which aims at building and strengthening local capacity for designing and conducting research studies to generate evidence that accelerates the scale up of evidence-based HIV interventions.
The M-HIRST program is seeking applications from postgraduate students, academics or research scientists from institutions that conduct health-related research or implement HIV programs in Malawi. The applicants are expected to conduct pilot HIV implementation research studies that identify facilitators or barriers for implementation of evidence-based HIV interventions or those that evaluate novel strategies to overcome barriers that negatively affect scale up of evidence-based HIV interventions. Implementation Science is in keeping with the Malawi National HIV Strategic Plan 2020-2025 (NSP 2020-2025) to which applicants must demonstrate familiarity with as it outlines the Malawi government’s key HIV strategies and interventions for achieving zero new HIV-infections and the 95-95-95 treatment targets by the year 2030. However, proposals need to focus on a specific area of HIV prevention or the 95-95-95 targets and must be implemented within a period of 12 months. For this round, we have a special interest in proposals focused on TB/HIV, TB preventive therapy and HIV prevention
The M-HIRST program is seeking applications from postgraduate students, academics or research scientists from institutions that conduct health-related research or implement HIV programs in Malawi. The applicants are expected to conduct pilot HIV implementation research studies that identify facilitators or barriers for implementation of evidence-based HIV interventions or those that evaluate novel strategies to overcome barriers that negatively affect scale up of evidence-based HIV interventions. Implementation Science is in keeping with the Malawi National HIV Strategic Plan 2020-2025 (NSP 2020-2025) to which applicants must demonstrate familiarity with as it outlines the Malawi government’s key HIV strategies and interventions for achieving zero new HIV-infections and the 95-95-95 treatment targets by the year 2030. However, proposals need to focus on a specific area of HIV prevention or the 95-95-95 targets and must be implemented within a period of 12 months. For this round, we have a special interest in proposals focused on TB/HIV, TB preventive therapy and HIV prevention
Eligibility
Applicants must be familiar with the Malawi Ministry of Health HIV programs and should be one of the following:
- 1. Currently enrolled in or completed a health-related postgraduate training program;
- 2. Employed in an academic or research institution or non-governmental organization implementing HIV-related programs in Malawi or have strong linkages with public institutions or non-governmental institutions which have a track history of delivering HIV services.
- 3. Have a supervisor or mentor with strong background in HIV research or service delivery;
Applicants who do not propose an implementation science project or have no supervisor or mentor with proven expertise in HIV-related research will not be shortlisted. For examples of appropriate implementation science projects, please visit here.
BUDGET
The maximum budget for each application should be US$10,000 which may include the following expenses: personnel, equipment, supplies, transport/travel, mandatory institutional overhead fees and ethics submission fees. We aim to award the small grants to 5-10 successful applicants.
APPLICATION PROCESS
Interested applicants are required to do the following;
- Submit a three-page pilot grant research proposal. You can download and carefully follow the instructions and guidelines for a pilot grant proposal here.
- Fill-out the summary applicant information form here.
- Seek a letter of support and biosketch from a senior academic or public health/clinical health practitioner with a track history in HIV-related research who will provide oversight in research implementation
- Submit their updated bio sketch and all documents as a single PDF document to the mhirstcoordinator@medcol.mw
Note: All biosketches are to be in line with the NIH template found here:
https://grants.nih.gov/grants/forms/biosketch.htm
https://grants.nih.gov/grants/forms/biosketch.htm
Incomplete applications with missing documents will not be reviewed. Please do not submit your single pdf document without filling the application form and vice versa
The deadline for receiving applications will be on Wednesday, 31st May 2023 at 23:59 hrs.
NB: The MHIRST team will be available for a virtual information session on Wednesday, 10th May 2023 at 4PM CAT. You can join the session following this link.
NB: The MHIRST team will be available for a virtual information session on Wednesday, 10th May 2023 at 4PM CAT. You can join the session following this link.
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