FAQs for Organizations (Hubs) Managing Regional Innovation Networks for Artificial Intelligence to Improve Sexual, Reproductive and Maternal Health (SRMH) Outcomes
1. Applications from which countries are eligible for funding?
This Call for Proposals is open to select individual organizations or groups of organizations headquartered in the respective regions (MENA, LAC and Asia) with preference given for organizations in low- and medium-income countries. Please see Annex 3 of the Call for eligible countries.
2. What is the geographic focus of the initiative?
For this initiative, individual organizations or groups of organizations must be headquartered in Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), or the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
3. Who can apply to this Call for Full Proposals?
This Call for Proposals is not open to individuals or government ministries and agencies, but it is open to public research institutes and public university centres, labs and departments.
4. If submitting as a consortium, who will submit the application to IDRC?
A consortium must identify one Lead Applicant Organization to submit the application, assume the responsibility for managing the IDRC grant funds and coordinate sub-granting arrangements with other organizations in the consortium.
5. The Call for Full Proposals expression of interest indicated that 6 to 10 innovation research projects will be supported. Are there guidelines on how the projects should be distributed between research and innovation?
No, this is something that can be determined by the hub as appropriate to achieve the outcomes of the network. The hubs should be selected from across the three regions Asia, LAC and MENA.
6. Is the three-consortium membership a fixed variable or can this number be larger?
Three is the maximum number of official members of a consortium. More collaborating institutions can be included in the network’s design; however, these institutions will not be officially recognized in the grant agreement. Also note that IDRC’s contractual agreement will only be signed with the Lead Applicant Organization. The other two organizations will be considered sub-grantees.
7. What is the duration of the funding?
Funding for the research will be provided for a maximum of 36 months.
8. When will applicants be informed of the outcome?
Applicants will be notified no later than September 16, 2022, on whether their application was successful in moving to the review process.
IDRC reserves the right to cancel the process at any time without prior notice and/or at its discretion to grant all or none of the awards under this Call. Moreover, grants will only be awarded subject to the availability of funding.
9. Where do we submit our application?
Please submit applications through this link by August 16, 2022. Applications will not be accepted via email.
10. If we have questions, how can we get answers?
Any inquiries related to the AI4GH Initiative Call and application process should be sent by e-mail to AI4GH@idrc.ca. Inquiries for which answers can be found by a careful read of the Call document or associated documents will not receive a response. Important new questions and answers will be added to this list.
11. Can overhead costs be included in the total project budget?
IDRC expects grantees to absorb the overhead or administrative costs of a project as part of its IDRC grantee contribution. Where an organization has a supportable indirect costs recovery policy, IDRC may allow indirect costs (see below) of up to 13% of all IDRC grantee-administered costs. The indirect cost rate proposed in the budget should not exceed the grantee’s organizational rate and should be verifiable.
Where a project includes sub-IDRC grantees who are administering a portion of the project, the maximum contribution may be shared between the proposing institution and the collaborating institution, but it should never exceed 13% of the total budget in aggregate.
12. Is there a specific format and content for applying to the Call?
Yes, this is described in the Call for Proposals document. Annexes are excluded from the maximum page numbers.
Project duration should be presented in months.
13. Should the budget currency be in Canadian dollars?
The total amount of funding requested by the Lead Applicant Organization should be presented in its working currency and its equivalent in Canadian dollars. The amount of funding being requested by the Canadian Co-applicant should be presented in Canadian dollars.
14. Is co-funding required?
No. Co-funding is not required for this Call. Nevertheless, for those applicants that are selected to receive a grant, IDRC’s policy on local contributions will apply as follows:
- Any applicant selected to receive IDRC funding will be required to make local contributions to the project.
- Local contributions represent cash amounts expended by the applicant from its own resources, from private grants or from grants received from local, provincial or national authorities for the purpose of the project.
- In-kind contributions may include salaries of regular staff, as well as equipment and infrastructure and overhead costs.
- Cash and/or in-kind contributions should be reflected in the project budget.
15. Will I receive reviewers’ comments on my application?
Only applications that meet all eligibility criteria and move on to the External Review Committee will receive comments on their applications.