Deadline Date: 31-Oct-2022

The International Aids Society (IAS) is accepting applications for the Collaborative Initiative for Paediatric HIV Education and Research (CIPHER) Grant Programme.

This program awards early-stage investigators up to USD 150,000 over two years to address research gaps in pediatric and adolescent HIV in countries with limited resources for HIV research. It is designed to provide investigators with the experience they need to compete for larger funding.

The purpose of the Collaborative Initiative for Paediatric HIV Education and Research (CIPHER) Grant Programme is to fund research projects with the potential to address critical research questions that remain unanswered in the global response. The ambition is to support research that can inform policy change and ensure better outcomes in infants, children and adolescents living with and affected by HIV in resource-limited settings.

Designed for early-stage investigators. a key aim of the programme is to build research capacity within resource-limited settings by fostering the next generation of investigators in poediatricand adolescent HIV. It is intended to attract young investigators from inside and Outside the field of HIV. This will help encourage innovative ideas and lend to the design of evidence-based approaches and interventions to overcome major obstacles in the field.

2022/2023 Strategic Focus – Mental health

• CIPHER has partnered with the World Health Organization to develop global research agendas on HIV testing, treatment and service delivery for paediatric and adolescent populations. CIPHER implements thesealotiai research prioritiesthrough its gront and fellowship programmes. Eligible research projects include original research that can contribute to broader scientific efforts by answering parts of larger questions within the identified research priorities, e.g., sub-studies or generation of important preliminary data that can help secure more substantial research funding for paediatric and adolescent HIV research (See Annex I). II.

Funding Information

• Awards will be funded for up to two years and for up total% 154000 for two years (including direct research costs and applicable indirect costs). Second-year funding is contingent upon demonstration of satisfactory progress during year one. The CIPHER Grant Programme encourages collaborations between different study sites and institutions: at least 80% of the direct grant expenses have to be spent in twee.

Eligible Research Priorities

• Eligible research projects include original research that falls within defined priority research questions. Meta-analyses and systematic reviews will also be considered if they make unique contributions to the outlined questions
• Paediatric HIV (infants and children 0-10 years old, including the perinatai and in-utero period. studies on mother-baby pairs and HIV-exposed uninfected children)
  • Testing
    • Optimal placement and timing of novel diagnostic tools for point-of-care use;
    • Interventions to ensure timely linkage between HIV diagnosis, treatment and care:
    • Interventions or strategies to improve access to and uptake of HIV testing services for infants and children, particularly community-based approaches;
    • Factors that enable or hinder linkage to care and tinely initiation of ART;
    • Effective, feasible and acceptable testing strategies (including routine testing at birth) at entry points other than antenatal core for identifying undiagnosed HIV-positive infants and children in different epidemic settings.
  • Treatment
    • Safety, efficacy, acceptability. phormocokinetics and optimal dosing of existing and new antiretroviral drugs and formulations, particularly with novel drug delivery systems;
    • Strategies or interventionsto improveadherence, and factors that impact their success;
    • Optimal prevention and clinical management of co-infections, particulorty tuberculosis;
    • Impact of HIV infection and ART on short- and long-term outcomes, in particular non-communicable disease;
    • Short- and long-term virologic and immunologic outcomes of starting very early treatment in infants living with HIV (impact on functional cure).
  • Service Delivery
    • Strategies or interventions to improve access to, uptake of and retention in care, and factors that impact their success;
    • Service delivery models to improve individual and programmatic outcomes along the HIV cascade, including integration Of comprehensive HIV treatment and care into the maternal and child health platform;
    • Psychosocial and family support strategies or interventions to improve individual and programmatic outcomes;
    • Strategies or interventions to improve and support parents, caregivers and healthcare providers to facilitate HIV disclosure to children, as well as factors that impact their success:
    • Strategies or interventions to reduce stigma and discrimination experienced by children and their caregivers.
• Adolescent HIV (from 10 to 19 years old)
  • Testing
    • Strategies and interventions to improve access to and uptake of HIV testing services, and factors that impact theirsuccess;
    • Strategies and interventions to improve linkage of newly diagnosed adolescents to HIV treatment. and factors that impact their success;
    • Safe and acceptable strategies or interventions to improve access to and uptake of HIV testing services for addescents from key populations;
    • Consent policies and practices to facilitate access to and uptake of HIV testing services in adolescents;
    • Safety, acceptability, feasibility and effectiveness of self-testing.
  • Treatment
    • Effective monitoring approaches and strategies to improve adherence among adolescents and factors that impact their success;
    • Safety, efficacy and acceptability of navel drug delivery systems;
    • Prevention and cfinical management of ca-infections. partiCularly tuberculosis;
    • Optimal sequencing of ART in adolescents;
    • Impact of HIV infection and ART on short- and long-term outcomes of adolescents, in particular non-communicable diseases.
  • Service Delivery
    • Interventions to improve retention in core and factors thot affect their success;
    • Strategies or interventions to improve sexual and reproductive health Outcomes in adolescents living with HIV;
    • Strategies or interventions to support pregnant adolescents living with HIV and improve both maternal and child health outcomes;
    • Service delivery models to improve outcomes olong the HIV cascade, including peer interventions, and differentiated service delivery models; PSyChosociol support strategies or interventions to improve individual and programmatic outcomes.

Eligibility Criteria

• Any individual with the skills, formal education and access to resources necessary to carry out the proposed research is welcome to submit an application to theCIPHER Grant Programme. The applicant must be the principal investigator (PI) of the proposed project. The PI should work with a mentor, his/her institutional colleagues and partners to develop the research plan.
• Eligibility criteria and mandatory supporting documents:
  • The PI must be an early-stage investigator, i.e., an individual who obtained her/his terminal research degree (e.g.. PhD, MD, MOBS or equivalent) less than 10 years before the application deadline.
  • The PI must serve for the first time as prknon, Pl. Primary Pls who have previously received a non-training research grant exceeding USE 30,000 ore not eligible.
  • The PI must fulfil one of the following criteria prior to the submission deadline for the Letter of Intent:
  • He/she is o clinical/research trainee (e.g., fellow, senior resident) at an academic institute or on institute whose primary mission is research.
  • He/she has a faculty or comparable position (e.g.. assistant professor. lecturer) of on academic institute or an institute whose primary mEsion is research.
  • He/she has an established position at on organization with adequate research infrastructure to undertake the proposed research activities.
  • The research project should demonstrate the potential to contribute to the optimization of HIV diagnosis, treatment and care for infants and children affected by HIV in resource-limited settings by responding to identified research priorities.
  • Applications ore encouraged from any country, however plecse note that approximately 80% of available funds in any given year will be awarded to applicants from (meaning holding o passport from) low- and middle-income countries(LMICs) according to the World Bank classification.
  • The PI must choose a mentor with relevant expertise in paediatric HIV research (mentor’s contact details and o letter of commitment will be requested from all appficants:a mentOrship plan will be requested only from shortlisted applicants who ore invited to submit a Full Proposal).
  • The budget should reflect that of least 80% of the direct grant expenses will be spent in LMICs.
  • A letter of support from the applicant’s institution is required, as well as a copy of the applicant’s terminal research degree diploma.

For more information, visit https://www.iasociety.org/grants/cipher-grant-programme-2022-2023