Last date January 12,2017
Call for proposals in the field of Ageing and Health:The Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) and Forte, the Swedish Research Council for Health Working Life and Welfare, invite proposals for collaborative research projects in the field of ageing and health, focussing on developing affordable and appropriate innovative assistive technology for the disabled elderly and methods of home based care interventions for the elderly.
This call is open for joint proposals from research teams based in India and Sweden. A Memorandum of Intent (MoI) between ICMR and Forte for cooperation in the field of ageing research and health was signed during the visit of the Honorable President of India to Sweden in June 2015. The MoI is based on a planning workshop that was partnered by ICMR and Forte in November 2014 to identify key areas for bilateral cooperation. This call is based on the recommendations of this workshop. Read more here. As an outcome of the aforementioned workshop, we are pleased to announce this call for joint research project proposals between Indian and Swedish researchers, and herewith invite all interested parties to submit their applications.
Background:With declining fertility and rising life expectancy, there is a rapid increase in the number of elderly
persons worldwide. Currently persons aged 60 years or over comprises ~11.5% of the world’s population. This number is expected to surpass the 2 billion mark in 2050 from 841 million in 2013. India stands to witness 100 million persons aged 60 and above currently as per the latest report from Helpage India. The need for elderly care in India is similar to the global scenario with some factors pertinent to India like a changing family system, a rural urban divide, gender based beliefs, and a lack of facilities that needs to be addressed. The Swedish national objectives for the policy for the elderly are focused on individual care and treatment. India on the other hand has to put greater stress on the healthcare system to cater to the needs of its elderly population. There is a need to understand and strengthen the mechanisms of provision of care for the elderly and address them through appropriate delivery mechanisms.
For this we need to turn to global models of homebased services and remote healthcare delivery through mHealth or telemedicine to understand the nuances of designing and implementing public and private models of elderly care. This will provide an insight into critical success factors as well as challenges in managing elderly care. Through cross national studies, lessons can be learnt on the need for collaboration amongst various stakeholders that can change India’s elderly care landscape, and bring it to a level that is comparable with global standards.
Objectives and remit
The call will stimulate interdisciplinary, innovative, close to practice research in the field of ageing
and health. Proposals may address one of the two themes:
a. Innovative and assistive technology studies, or
b. Models of homebased care
All studies should aim to enhance our understanding of the theme of the call for proposals and
should demonstrate potential benefits to Sweden and India. The Call will deliver significant 2-3-
year research funding for internationally competitive and innovative projects.
Eligibility :
Proposals must demonstrate collaboration and include both Swedish and Indian Principal
Investigators.
Indian Principal Investigators
Indian applicants must be working in a permanent position in a Medical College, Research
Institute or University, anywhere in the country including Government, Semi-Government and
Registered bodies. Applications from non-governmental agencies and private organizations
should provide documentary evidence of registration certificate for research with the Department
of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), Govt. of India, previous track record etc.
Swedish Principal Investigators
The Swedish principal investigators should hold a doctoral degree at the start of the project and
be scientist at a Swedish University or Higher Education Institute(HEI) or at another research
organisation that has been approved as an Administrative organization by Forte and has an
organizational account in the Swedish application system Prisma.
For more information download the document preparation-joint-call-icmr-forte-2016-08-19_1