Infectious Disease Clinical Trial Award: Optimising Interventions for Impact
Supports clinical trials by teams in Africa, South Asia, or South-East Asia to optimize licensed drugs or vaccines for infectious diseases, aiming to influence policy and improve health in low- and middle-income countries.
Funder: Wellcome Foundation
Due Dates: June 2, 2026 (Full application, 15:00 BST)
Funding Amounts: £1,000,000–£8,000,000 per award | 3–5 years duration | 8–12 awards expected
Summary: Supports transdisciplinary teams led from Africa, South Asia, or South-East Asia to run clinical trials optimising licensed pharmaceutical interventions for infectious diseases, aiming to inform policy and improve health outcomes in low- and middle-income countries.
Key Information: Lead applicant and at least one coapplicant must be based in eligible regions; research must focus on specified infectious diseases.
Description
This funding opportunity from the Wellcome Foundation aims to support transdisciplinary teams led from Africa, South Asia, or South-East Asia in conducting high-quality randomised controlled trials that optimise the use of licensed pharmaceutical interventions (vaccines or therapeutics) for infectious diseases. The targeted diseases include mycobacterial infections (such as tuberculosis and leprosy), bacterial infections (e.g., sexually transmitted infections, respiratory tract or bloodstream infections), invasive fungal infections, dengue, leishmaniasis, or schistosomiasis. The ultimate goal is to generate evidence that leads to changes in policy, practice, and guidelines, resulting in measurable health impacts for communities in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
Projects must provide a detailed work plan, robust justification for the country context, comprehensive data management and sharing plans, and a strong approach to stakeholder engagement. A key focus is on building local research capacity and ensuring that research outputs are accessible and relevant to affected populations.
