Applying for a grant

Yes, organisations are welcome to apply for more than one Challenge. There is no limit to the number of applications one organisation can submit if they are proposing different projects. Please note that the Common Grant Application system will not allow one user/ account to have more than one application in progress at a time. You can either create separate logins for each application or use the ‘Key Offline Questions’ word document to prepare the questions then paste these into CGA and submit one at a time.

Yes, we would. However, for projects where the primary user or target group is humanitarian organisations rather than populations affected by crises, we would want to see clear and direct links to improved humanitarian outcomes for populations affected by crisis in the evidence supporting the problem and proposed solution.

For example, we funded Translators Without Borders (TWB), a non-profit organisation that offers language and translation support for humanitarian agencies. TWB’s activities are supported by extensive research and evidence that highlights the detrimental effects of a lack of local language translation on the provision of appropriate humanitarian aid, and therefore the need for better translation in emergencies.

We know that the global COVID-19 pandemic has impacted ‘business as usual’ operations in many humanitarian settings, and for many humanitarian organisations and responders. We’re confident that the problems set out in our Innovation Challenges are still relevant, solutions are still needed and that progress towards developing them can still be made. We encourage you to share any specific considerations or potential adaptations to your approach in response to the current global context in your application.

You are not expected to have confirmed partnerships in place for the Expression of Interest stage, but you must provide the names of your suggested partners. You will then be expected to provide evidence to demonstrate the partnerships by the Full Proposal stage – such as a memorandum of understanding (MoU), an agreement in principle, or similar.

Further details of these grants are available via the What We Fund page of Elrha's website.

No. R2HC is unable to cover the costs of any currency exchange loss. The responsibility for managing exchange loss (and gain) lies with grantees, as is noted in the Grant Agreement. You can find a copy of Elrha’s standard Grant Agreement here. Resources cannot be allocated within a budget as a ‘contingency’ for currency exchange loss.

More information can be found in Elrha's Foreign Currency Guidance.

Each application will be assessed on individual merit.

Each Full Proposal will be reviewed by at least two independent experts from fields corresponding to the proposed thematic focus and/or geographic context of study. Taking these reviews into consideration, the final assessment of research proposals will be conducted by the independent Funding Committee managed by Elrha. You can find the assessment criteria within the Call Guidelines.

The Funding Committee will be using a standardised scoring system to assess the quality of the proposals. The highest quality proposals will be funded up to the limits of the R2HC budget.

We will do our best to provide brief feedback to applicants on each Expression of Interest.

No. Applications must be submitted in English. However, R2HC does enable Full Proposals to be prepared in French and costs for translation into English can then be refunded by R2HC. If you are interested in using this mechanism, please contact us by email at [email protected].

Yes. We regularly receive applications from different faculties or departments in the same academic institution, or from different ‘branches’ of the same humanitarian organisation. Each proposal is considered on its own merit.

As an individual, you can also be named as part of the research team in more than one application, and in different capacities. However, if you are named as Principal Investigator in more than one proposal, and were invited to develop Full Proposals in relation to each Expression of Interest, if more than one proposal was ranked highly and recommended for funding only one would be funded.

Applicants with existing funded research projects that are aligned with the R2HC objectives and Call criteria may apply for additional funding from the R2HC in order to expand an element of the current research.

The application will need to clearly describe the existing initiative and additional funds requested, as well as the additional research outputs that will be attributable to the R2HC funds.

R2HC's eligible costs guidance document outlines what costs may be included in the budgets submitted as part of your proposals.

R2HC will allow organisations to request up to 10% of the project costs as overheads. To be considered, these will need to be fully justified.

R2HC will not generally pay for the costs of interventions. If the proposed research is linked to continuation of a specific intervention over the research period, evidence must be provided in the proposal that (other) funds are available to cover such costs. If in doubt, please email [email protected] for clarification.

No, applicants can come from any part of the world.

Yes. At a minimum we require a partnership between an academic or research institution from the country(s) or region(s) in which the study will take place and one operational humanitarian partner.

Any of the partners can be the lead organisation for the application.

Each of R2HC’s funding opportunities will be advertised in our newsletters and on the Funding Opportunities page of our website. This will be your opportunity to apply, if you feel you are eligible and can match the call’s criteria. We are only able to accept applications in response to a specific funding call.

You must submit your application via our online application system by the given deadline. You can find out more about how to do this in the Call Guidelines. All applications must be submitted in English.

Sign up to receive our newsletters to be the first to hear about available funding.

Any not-for profit organisation based in any country is eligible to apply for funding. However, you need to be a legally registered organisation and you need a bank account registered to that organisation. If you are selected for funding, you will need to be able to pass our Due Diligence process and agree to our standard terms and conditions.

In addition to the above, every funding opportunity is unique and will have its own assessment criteria. The assessment criteria will be outlined in the Call Guidelines which you can find on the Funding Opportunities page. We recommend that you carefully review the Call Guidelines and make sure you meet the scope and assessment criteria, and then demonstrate this as explicitly as possible in your application.