1. MRC-AHRC GCRF Global Public Health Partnership Award Webinar Wednesday 6th September 2017, Gary Grubb, Associate Director of Programmes, AHRC Meriel Flint, Programme Manager for Global Health Strategy, MRC
[Images from AHRC project case studies]

2. What is the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF)?
The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) is a £1.5 billion fund announced by the UK Government as a part of the UK's Official Development Assistance (ODA) commitment.
Research activities funded under GCRF must meet ODA compliance requirements:
the primary / main objective must be to promote the welfare and economic development of a country or countries on the DAC list of ODA recipients
be designed to address a development need, and
focus on developing country problems
Important to note that delivery partners for the GCRF do not just include the 7 Research Councils, but also other research funding bodies such as the National Academies (e.g. British Academy) and HEFCE.

3. What is the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF)?
GCRF aims:
Support cutting edge, challenge-led, research which addresses the problems faced by developing countries
Address global challenges through disciplinary and interdisciplinary research
Strengthen capability for research and innovation directly relevant to international development, within both UK and developing countries
Enable agile responses to emergencies and opportunities

4. Background
There are “reciprocal benefits through integrating understanding of cultures and histories into scientific, medical and public health challenges in a global context and to equip the next generation of researchers to work collaboratively and blend scientific, cultural and policy research” to address global health challenges

5. Background
Many public health interventions fail due to a lack of understanding of their social, cultural and historical contexts and their reception by the very people and societies they are intended to benefit.
Efforts to improve public health can also be mis-directed, have unintended consequences and/or their effectiveness difficult to assess if not grounded in sound scientific understanding of the health issue being addressed or if the relevance of cultural knowledge to health challenges is not apparent or shared effectively across disciplines or professions

6. Overview of Call
Second of 2 calls, each with a budget of £2m, to support partnership awards up to £200,000 (fEC) & up to 24 months
Aims to build inter-disciplinary research capacity and capability in both the UK and developing countries & integrate the understanding of cultures, beliefs and histories into medical and public health challenges in a global context
open to proposals on any global public health issue affecting LMICs e.g.:
Understanding public health in relation to cultural and population change, migration/mobility, cultural diversity
Contextually appropriate, user-led design of health systems/services
Delivery of public health programmes in relation to legal frameworks; belief systems and ethical considerations
Trust in science & community preparedness for medical research/trials
Addressing health challenges in humanitarian crises, e.g conflict

7. Eligible activities
establishing Inter-disciplinary collaborative partnerships or consortia
developing strategy to strengthen research activity across the field
knowledge sharing across research departments and/or between Institutions and across sectoral boundaries both within the UK and with LMIC based colleagues
small scale/pilot/proof of principle/exploratory/ higher risk inter-disciplinary projects to explore innovative boundary crossing collaborations
cross-disciplinary (and cross-cultural / language) literature reviews/ research synthesis/ evidence analysis or integrative data sharing and analysis
widening/ extending the disciplinary breadth of existing teams / partnerships (e.g. through placements, embedding, ethnographic research)
career development, inter-disciplinary skills enhancement and capacity building
establishing shared infrastructure, for example staff, systems, equipment, data, seminars, workshops. This could include a co-ordinated set of needs-led and complementary networking activities (including outreach work and travel) with a defined output

8. Learning from Call 1
A number of applications were overly ambitious and unrealistic in what they could achieve within the limits of the funding and time available.
A number of applications lacked strong partnerships with relevant academics and organisations in the Lower and Middle Income Countries they were seeking to work in.
A number of applications lacked the relevant expertise from either the arts and humanities or the medical sciences. This was reflected in a lack of awareness or engagement with existing work and studies.
A number of applications failed to fully outline and/or justify the methodologies they wished to implement.
A number of applications failed to fully consider the ethical implications of the work they were proposing.
A number of applications failed to clearly consider or show the potential public health outcomes that could arise as a result of the proposed partnership. Whilst these were not required as an immediate output, they should have been considered as part of longer term plans.
A number of applications failed to consider issues of sustainability and legacy and how the partnerships might be maintained or further developed in the future.
A number of applications failed to show engagement with relevant non-academic stakeholders.
A number of applications failed to show a good balance between research and impact.
A number of applications applied at the higher end of the possible funding bracket when smaller scale applications would have been more appropriate.

9. Changes from Call 1
For the second call there will be two types of grant awarded:
Small Partnership Awards with total costs of no more than £50,000. These small awards should be for a duration of no longer than 18 months and be used for initial activities that will build new partnerships between UK and LMIC researchers across the MRC and AHRC disciplines, with a focus on global public health.
Large Partnership Awards with total costs of no more than £200,000. These larger awards should be 18-24months and include a comprehensive package of work that will build new or develop existing partnerships between UK and LMIC researchers across the MRC and AHRC disciplines, with a focus on global public health.

10. Geographical scope
UK Principal investigators but proposals must be primarily focused on addressing public health issues of people in low or middle income countries on the OECD DAC list of ODA-recipient countries.
We encourage proposals with the potential to produce benefits for the most vulnerable populations and/or those in poorly resourced settings, consistent with the UN Sustainable Development agenda’s cross-cutting priority of no-one left behind.
All countries of focus need to be adequately justified and a local need identified. The relevance of all countries involved in any multi-country study must also be justified.

11. Key Features
Inter-disciplinarity – Support inter-disciplinary innovation by bringing together significant insights and UK research expertise from both the arts/ humanities and the medical/ health sciences International collaboration – nurture partnerships involving researchers, practitioners, communities, patients, and/or other non-academic partners in one or more LMIC or other international development or health organisations ODA Compliance - Focus on global public health challenges in LMICs with the potential to benefit the health & welfare of people in LMICs

12. Assessment criteria
Quality and innovation • the significance and importance of the objectives the partnership and research issues to be explored, • the degree of innovation within the context of the wider global public health research field • the extent to which the proposal would support the development of genuinely interdisciplinary research approaches, supporting mutual exchanges between expertise, • the research quality of the partnership activities outlined, including grounding of the research agenda in the current research literature and evidence base, design, methods & appropriateness Impact • identifies an appropriate range of potential users and beneficiaries in LMICs and demonstrates an appropriate strategy for exploring pathways to impact • the potential sustainability of partnership activities and longer-term outlook • the extent to which research capabilities or career development of partners would be achieved Research team and management; • an appropriate set of collaborations / partners for the proposed activities in the UK and overseas has been identified & whether there is a broad range of expertise amongst the other named participants, • skills to manage the proposed activities and monitor progress and any data produced • extent to which the host RO(s) have demonstrated commitment to supporting the partnership, including for example connections to wider research or collaborative strategies or activities Ethics, costs and risk

13. c.50 Subject Areas & over 30% UK research community
AHRC Remit
Values, belief, ethics, critical perspectives
Histories, Culture, Heritage
Languages, Literature, Area Studies
Creative participatory methods, translation / communication and community engagement
Medical and Health Humanities, Ethics, Law
Creative arts, digital humanities, design
Academic-Practice-based creative arts research
IROs, Cultural institutions, museums galleries archives
c.50 Subject Areas & over 30% UK research community
Archaeology ● Classics ● Cultural and Museum Studies ● Development Studies ● History ● Medical Humanities ● Law and Legal Studies ● Library and Information Studies ● Philosophy ● Theology, Divinity and Religion ● Dance ● Design ● Drama and Theatre Studies ● Media ● Music ● Visual Arts ● Languages and Literature & Area Studies ● Digital Humanities

14. OECD Definition of ODA
There are specific detailed guidance in some areas for example:
Most military and some peacebuilding activities, and activities aimed promoting the provider’s security interests are excluded from ODA. However research on the following is potentially eligible: the root causes of conflict; civilian peacebuilding, conflict /radicalisation prevention and resolution; supporting human rights / the rule of law; providing positive alternatives to violent extremism
‘Cultural programmes’ are mostly eligible as ODA if they build the cultural capacities of recipient countries, but one-off tours by donor country artists or sportsmen, and activities to promote the donors’ image, are excluded.