A*STAR Prenatal/Early Childhood Grant Call - Collaborative Proof-Of-Concept (POC) Grant

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Objective

Human capital is Singapore's most valuable resource. With persistently low birth rates, an ageing population and a declining workforce, a national priority for Singapore to optimise each individual's potential from young and throughout life.

The vision of Human Potential (HP) research is to advance HP through health, biomedical sciences, and Science of Learning (SoL) research and applying this at critical junctures of an individual’s life course. The desired primary outcome is for an individual to be provided the support and opportunity to develop optimally at critical junctures of one’s life course, enabling one to achieve optimal health, wellbeing and/or learning capacity to contribute one’s best to Singapore.

There are many opportunities to optimise Human Potential throughout the entire life course, but interventions' nature and relative impact are likely to differ at various stages. There are 3 strategic focus areas in which the HP programme is centered around:

1. Prenatal and early childhood focusing on improving child's physical, cognitive and socio-emotional development and maternal health and well-being to optimise developmental outcomes and set the right trajectory for an individual's life course.

2. Function and performance during peri-pubertal, adolescence and adulthood with a focus on Science of Learning (SoL) to improve learning outcomes and upskilling of workers; and

3. Healthy and meaningful longevity to detect and prevent/delay physical and cognitive decline and transform the ageing experience.
   

This FY23 grant call is the 3rd under the A*STAR Human Potential Programme Office's Early Life focus, concerning 'Prenatal and early childhood', within the life course from preconception, pregnancy to early childhood (-1 to 6-year-old). A large body of evidence has demonstrated that early life development is critical in realising an individual's full developmental potential. The early years are crucial for rapid brain development with the greatest plasticity and capacity for change and physical, socio-emotional, cognitive and motor development. Interventions at this critical window of early life can most successfully safeguard and optimise life course trajectories compared with interventions in adulthood.

Funding Details

The grant award is capped at S$5M (inclusive of 30% indirect cost) for a period of 4 years.

Eligibility Criteria

1. Researchers from all Singapore-based institutions of higher learning (IHLs), public sector agencies and public hospitals are eligible to apply. Funded R&D projects must be conducted in Singapore.

2. Grant proposals should only be submitted by one lead Principal Investigator (PI).

3. The lead PI must:

4. • Have a minimum of 0.7 FTE primary appointment in a Singapore publicly funded research or tertiary institution and be salaried by the institution

   • Have a laboratory or research programme that carries out research in Singapore; and

   • Hold a minimum of 9 months employment (per calendar year) with local Singapore institution(s). Upon award, the PI must agree to fulfil at least 6 months of residency in Singapore for each calendar year over the duration of the grant award.
     

Additional Eligibility

To note: 

• Collaboration with foreign organisations and experts in the capability of a Co- Investigator or a Collaborator is allowed, but no funding will be allocated to the foreign Co-investigator/Collaborator operating out of Singapore. Successful applicants are not allowed to contract out whole or part of the funded research to any Co-investigator or Collaborator whether they are local or international.

• Proposed research should not be already funded by other local or international grants or funding schemes. Research Proposals being considered for funding by other agencies will not be considered under the present call. PIs will need to declare other funding sources during the application.  

Submission

1. Interested applicants are to submit the following completed files (i.e. LOI template, CV template, Peer Reviewer template, Endorsement from Host Institution) using templates attached (where available) through your Host Institution’s Research Office to Human Potential Programme Office at HPPO@hq.a-star.edu.sg by 21 August 2023 (Monday), 11:59pm. 
   

2. Application must be endorsed by the Host Institution's Research Director (or equivalent) in the form of email prior to submission. It is mandatory to include email(s) documenting endorsement from Lead PI’s Host Institution in the submission as an attachment. This is to ensure that there is organisational support for the PI to participate in the grant call. 
   

SingHealth PIs are to please refer to your respective Institutional Research Administrators for guidance on internal deadlines and submission procedures set by your institutions.

Contact Person

Email: HPPO@hq.a-star.edu.sg

Additional Information

Please refer to A*STAR’s website here and attachments below for more information:

1-pec23_briefing-information-deck-for-prenatal_early-childhood-grant-call.pdf

2-pec23_prenatal_early-childhood-grant-call-information-sheet.docx

3a-pec23_prenatal_early-childhood-letter-of-intent-(loi)-template-(for-yirg-irg).pptx

3b-pec23_prenatal_early-childhood-letter-of-intent-(loi)-template-(for-collaborative-poc-grant).pptx

4-pec23_prenatal_early-childhood-full-proposal-template.docx

5-pec23_prenatal_early-childhood-curriculum-vitae-(cv)-template.docx

6-pec23_prenatal_early-childhood-peer-reviewers-template.docx

7-pec23_prenatal_early-childhood-budget-milestones-work-contributions-and-kpis-template.xlsx