Aims and objectives
The aims and objective of this funding opportunity is to deliver significant three-year research funding for internationally competitive and innovative collaborative partnerships between researchers from state of São Paulo and the UK to enable the pursuit of shared research interests.
FAPESP and MRC wish to support proposals with the aim of:
- supporting collaborative, internationally competitive research projects
- enhancing existing partnerships and developing new partnerships between the UK and the state of São Paulo in the area of AI for biomedical and health applications
- supporting the mobility and exchange of UK and Brazilian researchers of the state of São Paulo to enhance links between researchers in both countries and state of São Paulo
- strengthening the strategic relationship between the UK and state of São Paulo
Scope
FAPESP and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) wish to support the development of new research collaborations, as well as providing funding to enhance existing collaborations. Collaborations should leverage the strengths of researchers in both countries to address key areas of biomedical and health research interests, including one or more of the following:
- using AI to generate new medical research and human health insights that will:
- further our understanding of disease and determinants of health including socioeconomic factors
- improve disease prediction and diagnosis, thinking beyond incremental optimisation of current systems
- application of AI that were:
- developed for a different purpose to be applied in a health context
- developed with a focus on a different nation and could now be applied in a Brazilian context to improve health research and health outcomes in Brazil
- management and improvement of health data (including addressing limitations of AI when dealing with incomplete or small health data sets and consideration of ethical issues)
- imputation of data and analyses
Projects that do not have a biomedical and health focus are out of scope for this funding opportunity. For example, this includes projects that:
- aim to improve healthcare service delivery
- are focused on evaluation and implementation of an AI technology
- intend to use AI to increase efficiency of a process but not through generation of significant biomedical and health insight
You are expected to justify the suitability of AI technologies used and how this will address the health need set out in your project. This should include both technical and ethical considerations.
All applications should embed the principles of responsible research and innovation, engaging with relevant stakeholders (for example relevant regulatory bodies) as appropriate and considering issues of bias, trust, privacy, security and ethics.
FAPESP and UKRI recognise the importance of stakeholder and disciplinary diversity across different expertise and skills for delivering successful and impactful research. We encourage research teams to engage with as well as recognise the contribution of different disciplines and technical professionals including but not limited to:
- AI experts
- health researchers
- medical practitioners
- social scientists
- data owners
- end users
- relevant others (for example, the public, patients, and regulators)
You are encouraged to include plans to strengthen research capacity within your application, particularly considering the development of the next generation of top researchers.
Duration
Projects must have a duration of three years, starting in February 2025 and be completed by the end of January 2028. Please note that the project duration must be the same in both the UK and Brazil.
Funding available
Both MRC and FAPESP will make up to £3 million of funding available for this initiative and grant sizes will vary according to the needs of each partnership. FAPESP will support the São Paulo element of the grant and MRC the UK element.
Two different scales of funding are available, reflecting our interest in supporting both established research collaborations as well as new partnerships.
- partnership building grants: UKRI will provide up to £100,000. FAPESP’s funding will follow the rules and instructions for Regular Research Awards standards, with exceptionalities, over a three-year period. These grants will:
- support new or early stage partnerships
- pilot studies to strengthen collaborative funding bids through other routes (for example the UKRI-FAPESP Lead Agency Funding Agreement)
- provide funding for costs such as travel and subsistence for exchange or mobility activities including bench fees where necessary and consumables and other research costs (that are directly associated with the period of the researcher exchange)
- research grants: MRC and FAPESP will provide funding over a three year period. MRC’s funding will follow UKRI’s standard funding rules and FAPESP’s funding will follow the rules and instructions for Thematic Research Awards standard, with exceptionalities. These grants are for:
- support for full scale research activities across Brazil and the UK
- funding for costs in each country that follow the funders standard rules, including but not limited to research costs, travel and subsistence for exchange or mobility activities, capacity building, costs of workshops and meetings.
See the full funding opportunity details and apply on the FAPESP website.
