The UK Medical Research Council (MRC), the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) are pleased to invite proposals to the UK-Canada Diabetes Partnership Initiative.
This initiative will provide funding for approximately six collaborative research project teams focused on tackling diabetes in the UK and Canada.
In total, up to £4 million will be made available through this initiative: up to £2 million of MRC and ESRC funding in support of the UK components; and up to $2.7 million CAD from CIHR in support of the Canadian components of the team grants.
Background
The MRC and ESRC are committed to forming strategic partnerships that will accelerate world-leading collaborative research and enable UK scientists to engage with the best minds, ideas and resources wherever they are located. CIHR has, as part of its mission, a strategic commitment to lead, stimulate and facilitate effective Canadian international involvement in health research that benefits Canadians and the global community. As Canada’s health research investment agency, CIHR collaborates with partners and researchers to support the discoveries and innovations that improve the health of Canadians and strengthen the Canadian healthcare system.
British and Canadian research institutions possess rich and impressive records in diabetes research. Most notably, Canadian scientists Dr Fredrick Banting and Dr John Macleod were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1923 for the discovery of insulin and its use in the treatment of type 1 diabetes. This is arguably one of the most significant clinical research findings of the 20th century and impacted the lives of people with diabetes almost immediately. Close to a century later, much has been learned about the pathogenesis of diabetes and new important treatments have been generated. Yet, the prevalence of diabetes is increasing and curative treatments are largely undefined.
It is estimated that some five million people in the UK have diabetes and this comes at a significant cost to the lives of those living with the disease – diabetes is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in the UK. Diabetes also costs the UK National Health Service (NHS) approximately £14 billion per year, equating to approximately 10% of the total NHS budget. In 2017 the estimated prevalence of diabetes among Canadians 20-79 years of age was 9.6% (The IDF Diabetes Atlas, 8th edition) an increase of around 70% in the past decade.
Although diabetes-related mortality rates have decreased in Canada, the number of people affected by diabetes has continued to grow because of a surge in the number of new diabetes cases. In Canada, up to 40% of all hospital admissions for myocardial infarction, stroke and heart failure occur in the diabetic population. The total Canadian healthcare costs attributable to new cases of diabetes diagnosed between 2012 and 2022 were estimated at CAD $15.4 billion.
The global prevalence of diabetes is estimated at 8.8%, and this rate is expected to increase worldwide largely as a result of the ageing population and increasing obesity rates. While these factors are contributing substantially to the dramatic increases in type 2 diabetes, there is also evidence of increasing prevalence of type 1 diabetes. Diabetes is a pandemic of major public health importance and successfully tackling it will require global research collaboration and coordination.
Through the UK-Canada Diabetes Research Team Grants, MRC, ESRC and CIHR aim to:
- support world-leading collaborative research teams aimed at tackling diabetes
- enhance existing partnerships and develop new partnerships between the UK and Canada in the area of diabetes research
- strengthen the strategic relationship between the UK and Canada.
Projects must be three years in duration and must start on 1 April 2020.
UK applicants should refer to the standard MRC Guidance for Applicants for information on what the starting procedure entails. Please inform the relevant support staff in your organisation of this requirement to ensure the project starts on time.
UK based researchers planning to submit to this scheme must submit a compulsory short Intention to Submit (ItS) by 23:00 GMT+1 on 28 August 2019. Canadian based researchers planning to participate (English version/French version) in a collaborative research team for this scheme must ‘register’ their intention to submit via ResearchNet by 20:00 Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on the same date, 28 August 2019.
The PI and NPA cannot change between ItS and full application but additional participants can be added/removed at full application.
Failure to submit a valid ItS/registration to both funders by the deadline will invalidate both submissions.
MRC, ESRC and CIHR will undertake eligibility checks of the PIs and NPAs and their respective organisations, but not the remit or relevance at this point; any ineligible applications will be withdrawn from the competition.
Applicants should not await a response from the funders following the ItS submission or registration, but simply continue with the development of the full proposal to be submitted by the deadline of 16:00 GMT+1 on 25 September 2019. The MRC, ESRC and CIHR will use the ItS to help prepare for the review process.
