Grants and Collaborations

The Polio Research Committee’s call for proposals

The Polio Research Committee  is calling for research proposals supporting the Polio Endgame Strategy 2022-2026. Research proposals supporting the strategic plan may be submitted to the Committee for review and funding. Preference will be given to proposals developed by GPEI partner agencies and their research collaborators. However, other institutions may also submit proposals if they address our research priorities.

The current priority of the Polio Research Committee is to generate new data or information in the following areas:

Vaccine schedule immunogenicity

  • Immunogenicity of poliovirus vaccination options after withdrawal of all oral poliovirus vaccines

Surveillance

  • Assessment of length of poliovirus environmental circulation after withdrawal of all oral poliovirus vaccines
  • Development and evaluation of new methods for poliovirus surveillance in areas with poor access

Product development

  • Development and evaluation of innovative IPV formulations or administration techniques (new mucosal adjuvants, virus-like particle [VLPs] vaccine, IPV patches, etc.)

Epidemiology/virology

  • Evaluation of factors favouring emergence of vaccine derived polioviruses

Monitoring & evaluation

  • Development and evaluation of new methods for assessment of quality (& coverage) of polio  vaccination mass campaigns

Basic immunology

  • Assessment of length of priming following IPV administration

Containment

  • Research supporting containment objectives and policies

Submission of proposals

The deadline for submission of proposals for the next round of review is 20 March 2024.

Submissions should be sent to polioresearch@who.int and include the completed application form,

In order to be considered, applicants must submit a complete research proposal by the deadline. To guide the development of your proposal, please read the detailed guidelines on how to prepare a proposal for submission to the Polio Research Committee. Applications that are incomplete or have missing parts will not be considered. If a proposal is considered to meet our priorities, it will be forwarded to the Committee for their consideration.