The International AIDS Society (IAS), in partnership with the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the NIH-supported Centers for AIDS Research (CFARs), announced the launch of a new round of the joint research grant programme, Creative and Novel Ideas in HIV Research (CNIHR).
The CNIHR grant programme invites innovative proposals from early-stage scientists without prior
experience in HIV research with the potential of answering essential questions in HIV research, including
emerging issues of long-term survival with HIV infection, prevention of HIV transmission, and research
toward a cure. The new round of the CNIHR grant programme builds on the success of previous rounds
that supported cutting-edge research in the field of HIV and led to international collaborations. Since the
first round in 2010, the programme has awarded more than US$12.8 million to fund research projects of
promising early-stage researchers. Each awardee is funded for up to two years with up to US$150,000
(direct costs) per year plus applicable indirect costs.
“By competitively funding new, very promising scientists from many disciplines and countries, CNIHR
ensures innovation and new approaches to HIV/AIDS research,” said King Holmes, director of the Center
for AIDS Research at the University of Washington.
Major breakthroughs in HIV research, such as the functional cure of the “Berlin patient” after stem cell
transplantation, are evidence that HIV research can strongly benefit from knowledge and techniques of
other disciplines. There is a continuing need to support a new generation of HIV researchers and to
encourage those from a variety of disciplines to focus their energy and expertise on the many challenges
facing the HIV field.
“The Towards an HIV Cure Global Scientific Strategy highlights the need to engage with the next
generation of young HIV researchers – this new round of the joint research grant programme is an
important part of that process,” said IAS President Françoise Barré-Sinoussi.
The first step of the competitive application process is now open on the CNIHR website (www.cnihr.org)
and will close on 16 October 2013. Applicants will be asked to complete a two-step process to outline
their research projects. Awardees will be selected by April 2014 and will receive a scholarship to attend a
networking and training programme in conjunction with the 20th International AIDS Conference (AIDS
2014), which will be held from 20 to 25 July 2014 in Melbourne, Australia, where the grantees will be
officially announced. The proposed research projects will be supported in collaboration with a CFARs
institution with expertise in each candidate’s area of proposed research. “The Centers for AIDS Research (CFAR) are critical to the success of CNIHR,” said Michael Saag,
Director of CFARs at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. “CFAR leadership has worked closely
with the Office of AIDS Research and the IAS to manage the grant reviews and implement the program. It
is a great partnership.”
