FY2013 “Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases” Interagency Program

November 28, 2012 — 

The Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases program supports research on the ecological, evolutionary, and socio-ecological principles and processes that influence the transmission dynamics of infectious diseases. The central theme of submitted projects must be quantitative or computational understanding of pathogen transmission dynamics. The intent is discovery of principles of infectious disease transmission and on testing mathematical or computational models that elucidate infectious disease systems. Projects should be broad, interdisciplinary efforts that go beyond the scope of typical studies. They should focus on the determinants and interactions of transmission among humans, non-human animals, and/or plants. This includes, for example, the spread of pathogens; the influence of environmental factors such as climate; the population dynamics and genetics of reservoir species or hosts; or the cultural, social, behavioral, and economic dimensions of disease transmission. Research may be on zoonotic, environmentally-borne, vector-borne, or enteric diseases of either terrestrial or freshwater systems and organisms, including diseases of animals and plants, at any scale from specific pathogens to inclusive environmental systems. Proposals for research on disease systems of public health concern to developing countries are strongly encouraged, as are disease systems of concern in agricultural systems. Investigators are encouraged to involve the public health research community, including for example, epidemiologists, physicians, veterinarians, food scientists, social scientists, entomologists, pathologists, virologists, or parasitologists with the goal of integrating knowledge across disciplines to enhance our ability to predict and control infectious diseases.

• Jointly managed with ~$12 million to be contributed by: USDA-NIFA + NSF + NIH;
• Additional funding (~1 million pounds) from United Kingdom’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council for US/UK collaborative proposals;
• Request for Applications: http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf12587&org=NSF

SUMMARY

• Maximum award size:
  • US awards: $2.5 million (including indirect costs)
  • US/UK collaborative awards: $2.5 million (including indirect costs) + additional UK funds for work done in UK
• Full proposal deadline: Wednesday, December 5, 2012 (No letter of intent);
• Research on ecological, evolutionary, and socio-ecological principles and processes that regulate transmission dynamics of infectious diseases;
• Develop mathematical, computational, and statistical models of infectious disease dynamics; Projects must address quantitative or computational understanding of pathogen transmission dynamics;
• Most competitive proposals advance broad, conceptual knowledge that reaches beyond the specific system under study and that may be useful for understanding public, agricultural or ecosystem health, natural resource use and wildlife management, and/or economic development;
• Proposals typically interdisciplinary in approach and/or the nature of the question(s) being addressed;
• Combination of lab and field studies often feed into model development and validation;
• For researchers interested in submitting a US/UK collaborative proposal, the focus must be on understanding the transmission dynamics of pathogens of farmed animals or crops, especially (but not only) those that cause food-borne human diseases or vector-borne diseases (of animals or plants).