June 10, 2022
RFA-RM-22-022 - Harnessing Data Science for Health Discovery and Innovation in Africa (DS-I Africa): Research Education Program (UE5 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
RFA-RM-22-023 - Harnessing Data Science for Health Discovery and Innovation in Africa (DS-I Africa): Partnership for Innovation Research Projects (U01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
Office of Strategic Coordination (Common Fund)
On May 27, 2022, the NIH Office of Strategic Coordination (Common Fund), in partnership with 11 NIH Institutes, Centers and Offices, issued two new Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) for the “Harnessing Data Science for Health Discovery and Innovation in Africa (DS-I Africa)” program, inviting new Research Education Program and Partnership for Innovation Research Project applications (RFA-RM-22-022 and RFA-RM-22-023, respectively). The overall objective of the DS-I Africa program is to explore how advances in Data Science (DS) applied in the African context can spur new health discoveries and catalyze innovation in healthcare and health research. It seeks to advance DS research in Africa and demonstrate the feasibility of DS to 1) improve health, 2) increase capacity to carry out DS research in Africa, 3) explore ELSI issues impacting DS for health from an African perspective and contribute to policy discussion on the continent, and 4) catalyze and facilitate development of a trans-African network of Data Scientists. Building on the existing DS-I Africa Consortium, NIH is inviting new applications to 1) support educational activities that complement and/or enhance the training of a workforce to meet the biomedical, behavioral and clinical research needs of DS-I Africa and 2) support discrete research projects led by investigators in Africa that propose innovative health data science research and solutions in Africa with the ability to advance population-relevant, affordable, acceptable, and scalable data science solutions and, in the long-term, demonstrate the ability of these solutions to improve health in Africa.
This Notice provides information regarding an upcoming Pre-Application webinar scheduled for July 6, 2022, at 9:00am Eastern Standard Time (EST) regarding these FOAs.
Pre-Application Webinar Information:
NIH staff will discuss the programmatic, administrative, and review aspects of these FOAs, and answer questions from prospective applicants. Participation in this webinar, although encouraged, is optional and is not required for the submission of an application in response to RFA-RM-22-022 and RFA-RM-22-023.
To participate, register at https://commonfund.nih.gov/africadata/meetings
A recording of the webinar will be posted online, and the slides and resultant Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and their answers will be posted on the DS-I Africa Program page: https://commonfund.nih.gov/africadata/meetings
Submitting Questions:
Prospective applicants are encouraged to submit their questions regarding the FOA requirements in advance of the webinar. Please submit questions by June 30, 2022, to gifty.dankyi@nih.gov with "DS-I Africa UE5/U01 Webinar Questions" in the subject line. Attendees will also be able to submit questions during the webinar. Questions submitted early will be answered first
Webinar Information:
Date:Wednesday, July 6, 2022
Time: 9:00 am EST
Gifty Dankyi
Program Analyst
Division of International Training and Research
Fogarty International Center
National Institutes of Health
Email: gifty.dankyi@nih.gov
For inquiries regarding DS-I Africa Research Education Program (UE5 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
Dr. Laura Povlich
Program Officer
Division of International Training and Research
Fogarty International Center
National Institutes of Health
Email: DS-IAfricaUE5@mail.nih.gov
For inquiries regarding DS-I Africa Partnership for Innovation Research Projects (U01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
Dr. Brad Newsome
Program Officer
Division of International Training and Research
Fogarty International Center
National Institutes of Health
Email: DS-IU01Mailbox@mail.nih.gov
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