Full details are expected to be available by Friday 20 March 2020 and will be updated on the COVID-19 Pandemic Rapid Response Funding (COV19) 2020 call notice on the HRB website.

Expedited timelines apply throughout the process. It is expected that contracting and start-up of successful projects is equally expedited, and that project staff will mostly be redeployed rather than specifically recruited. Host Institutions are required to treat awards arising from the call with utmost urgency.

The research priorities of this call are aligned with the WHO R&D Blueprint and informed by the Global Infectious Disease Collaboration for International Disease Preparedness (GloPID-R).

The scope of this funding call covers: –

  • medical countermeasures
  • health service readiness
  • social and political countermeasures to COVID-19.

The duration of awards is between six and 24 months, and deliverables should emerge as early as possible. Projects of immediate relevance will be prioritised over those with longer-term outlook.

Funding available is typically up to €200,000 per project including overheads contribution. In exceptional circumstances and where well justified this may be higher.

We encourage researchers to address questions of relevance to: –

All deliverables must be reported in real time in open access formats and shared with the relevant knowledge users in line with the Joint Statement on sharing research data and findings relevant to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

The HRB is actively working with the Irish Research Council and Science Foundation Ireland to ensure that any good idea to tackle COVID-19 that comes from across the Irish research community can be supported. The HRB rapid response call will be a pillar within the collective effort from all Ireland’s research funders. 

Science Foundation Ireland will launch a complementary Covid-19-focused call very soon. Further details will be available through their usual communications channels.