Grant Call on Frailty 2022

Objective

The Grant Call on Frailty is the second and last grant call under the National Innovation Challenge (NIC) on Active and Confident Ageing Phase 1B. This grant call, launched under the research thrust on "Extending Health Span", aims to catalyse multi-disciplinary translational research and innovation to deepen and validate our understanding of the multi-dimensional aspects of frailty, such as risk and mitigating factors that are pertinent in Singapore's context, that will be able to inform policies and strategies to enhance prevention of frailty among seniors. This includes studying and developing novel detection tools, and interventions targeting pre-frail/frail elderly people to delay frailty and improve health outcomes. Technology should serve as a key enabler for the proposed solutions/interventions to enhance their impact and scalability.

A Lead Principle Investigator (Lead PI) can submit only one application on behalf of the Project Team in response to the challenge statement. However, he/she may be part of the Project Team of other applications.

The challenge statements to Project Teams are as follows:

(Teams will choose at least 1 of the 3 statements.)

1. Leverage on technology (e.g., artificial intelligence or wearables) to enhance the understanding of multi-dimensional frailty, with findings to further support the projection of trajectories and outcomes of the population across the frailty spectrum, as well as the development of interventions to improve/delay frailty conditions, or

2. Develop integrated detection and intervention strategies to delay or reverse the progression of frailty across social and healthcare settings, including the community and primary care. The solutions should achieve better outcomes as compared with current approaches, in terms of improving the wellbeing of seniors, better adherence to interventions and reducing disability, hospitalisations, healthcare utilisation or mortality rates by 25%, or

3. Leverage on technology and/or behavioural science to improve awareness of pre-frailty and provide nudges which promote lifestyle modifications and improve adherence to interventions by at least 50%, in a sustainable and scalable manner. The findings should identify ideal assimilation processes for specific archetypes/target groups that inculcate adherence and help seniors recognise the value behind the recommended interventions in helping maintain their capacity and independence.

This grant call is brought to you by the Ministry of Health of Singapore (MOH) and supported by the National Research Foundation (NRF). For more information of the grant call, please refer to the NIC's website here.

Funding Details

• Public institutions/Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) will receive full funding support for approved direct costs. Private entities will receive up to 70% funding support for approved direct costs.

• Actual funding quantum for the research will be determined upon assessment of scope of project.

• Research will be funded for a period of up to 5 years, with the possibility of extension for another 6 months with no additional funding.

• Support for indirect costs¹, on top of supportable qualifying costs, is capped at 20% of the supportable qualifying direct costs.

¹Only Singapore-registered Institutions that are IHLs or not-for-profit entities, including public healthcare providers, may qualify for support for indirect costs.

Eligbility Criteria

General Eligibility

• Open to public and private entities, research institutes and institutes of higher learning (IHLs), registered and/or incorporated in Singapore.

Project Team Composition

• Interested participants are required to form a Project Team comprising:      
  

• 1. Members from multi-disciplinary (e.g. pairing medical and technology, engineering) background and/or involving more than one Organization; and

• 2. At least one healthcare cluster and one community partner in the development and implementation of their project; and

  3. At least one technical partner if their cluster and community partner do not have the relevant expertise (e.g., expertise in the technology solution that the team is planning to provide).

• Each Project Team must appoint a Lead Principal Investigator (Lead PI) to oversee and coordinate the implementation of the Research during the funding period of the Research.

Eligibility Criteria of Lead PI

Applicants applying as Lead PI are required to fulfil the following criteria at the point of application:

1. Holds a primary appointment in a local publicly funded institution and salaried by the institution.

2. Should have PhD or MD/MBBS/BDS qualifications (exceptions would be made on a case-by-case basis

3. Is an independent PI with demonstrated track record of research, as evidenced by the award of nationally competitive funding (international funding to be considered on a case-by-case basis), substantial publication record in the past 3 years, or PI status in research institutes.

4. Has a laboratory or research program in Singapore.

5. Holds 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.

6. Has no outstanding reports from previous BMRC, NMRC grants and other national grants.

7. For proposals involving patients, the PI should be Singapore Medical Council (SMC) registered; or should be able to demonstrate ability to access patients through SMC registered Co-Is or Collaborators.

For detailed participating criteria and instructions, please refer to the file ‘Grant Call on Frailty - Public Doc and Appn Guide (final)' found in the zipped file.

Submission

1. Interested applicants need to submit a Letter of Intent (LOI) via the Integrated Grant Management System.

2. Please follow the application guide ‘IGMS User Guide_Frailty' when applying for the grant.

3. The Research Director of Lead PI’s Host Institution is to endorse via IGMS by 30 May 2021 (Monday), 5pm. 

Note: 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 on Grant Call on Frailty 2022

Email: NIC_Ageing@moh.gov.sg

Contact Person on IGMS
Email: Helpdesk@researchgrant.gov.sg

Contact Person on CorpPass
Host Institution admins (institution research offices)

Additional Information

Please refer to the NIC's website here or the following attachments within the zipped file for more information.

• frailty-2022-application-guides-and-templates.zip