GUIDELINES FOR GRANT

APPLICATIONS TO THE NESTL

FOUNDATION
1. General Information about the Foundation
Origin and nature
The Nestl Foundation for the Study of Problems of Nutrition in the World was
established in 1966 by a donation by the Nestl Company on the occasion of its
centenary. The Foundation is independent and self-constituting and is managed
by a Council consisting of at least 5 internationally well-known scientists as
Council Members. The Foundation is and has been financially and operationally
independent of the Nestl Company since its inception. The offices of the Nestl
Foundation are in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Purpose
The Nestl Foundation initiates and supports research in human nutrition with
public health relevance in low-income and lower middle-income countries
according to the World Bank classification (see http://www.worldbank.org). The
results of the research projects should ideally provide a basis for implementation
and action which will lead to sustainable effects in the studied populations as
generally applicable to the population at large. They should also enable
institution strengthening and capacity building in a sustainable manner in the host
country and further cooperation and collaboration between Institutions in
developed and developing countries .
The Foundation expects research proposals to be primarily the initiative of local
researchers from the developing countries. However the Foundation will be
inclined to consider favorably those applications jointly made by scientists from
developed countries with those from developing countries provided it is clear that
the initiative will result in capacity building and human resource development in
the latter and the bulk of the budget is spent in the developing country.

Current funding policy

Sustainable improvement in human nutrition is one of the major issues in the
portfolio of the Foundation. During more than 40 years basic and applied

research in nutrition has been supported by the Foundation in more than 50

developing countries. In view of the past activities of the Foundation as well as
the worlds situation at the turn of the millennium, it was recognized that the
public health relevance of the supported research as well as aspects of
sustainability, capacity building and educational issues should have a higher
priority. Thus, priority is given to projects which lead to sustainable developments
with strong elements of capacity building, and the implementation of the results
of a research project should be immediate and sustainable. Highly sophisticated
nutrition research of mainly academic interest without public health relevance has
lower priority for support as well as solely laboratory based studies or animal
experimentation.

Research Topics
At present the Foundation's work is primarily concerned with human nutrition
research issues dealing with:

maternal and child nutrition,

complementary feeding,

macro- and micronutrient deficiencies and imbalances,

interactions between infection and nutrition, and

nutrition education and health promotion.

including

breastfeeding

and

The precise priorities and goals of the Foundation are modified from time to time
to meet emerging public health and nutritional needs in the developing world.
Studies in other areas of human nutrition research might also be considered, as
long as they are dealing with problems of malnutrition in eligible countries (see
above). Other areas of research may be eventually considered for support if the
applicant can offer specific and convincing evidence and justification for the
choice of their research topic.
Funded projects are usually of one- to three-year duration. Projects with a high
potential for effective and sustainable improvement of the nutritional status as
well as a high capacity building component will be funded preferentially. The
budget of the projects must be appropriate and reasonable and has to be
justified in detail.
One of the Foundation's main aims is the transfer of scientific and technological
knowledge to target countries. In cases where Foundation-sponsored research
projects are realized in collaboration with scientists at universities and research

institutes in high-income countries, at least 75% of the budget has to be

earmarked for use within the low-income country.
Research grant applications from high-income countries are normally not
considered except under rare and exceptional conditions.
The Foundation does not normally fund:
(1) projects with low public health relevance
(2) projects with doubtful sustainability
(3) projects lacking transfer of scientific, technical and educational
knowledge, i.e. lacking a capacity-building component
(4) large budget projects i.e. projects that exceed US$100,000 per year
or US$ 300,000 over the total duration ofa 3year project
(5) nutrition surveys or surveillance studies
(6) research on food policy, food production and food technology except
when linked to an intervention with high potential for sustainable improvement of
the nutritional status
(7) in vitro and/or animal experiments.
Although obesity and related diseases are of emerging importance in several
low-income countries, the Foundation does not generally support projects in this
specific area unless the proposal demonstrates linkages with under nutrition, the
protocol is innovative and exceptionally well justified.

Eligible Institutions
Eligible institutions are departments or institutes from universities, hospitals other
institutions of higher education in low- or lower middle-income countries. Joint
applications from more than once institution (especially South-South) are
welcomed. Joint applications from more than one institution involving a NorthSouth collaboration may also be considered.
For project applications
demonstrating North-South collaboration, it is important that the following criteria
are fulfilled: (i) the Principal Investigator is from the South and the proposal has
relevance to nutritional problems of the South, and (ii) the majority of the budget
is earmarked for the South, and (iii) demonstration on the completion of the
project of institution and capacity building in a sustainable manner in the South.
The capacity building component represents a core issue for all applications to
the Foundation. This means that in every application needs to demonstrate a
training and human resource and capacity building component for the developing
world. Ideally graduate students or young investigators should play a key role
and if need be designated as the Principal Investigator (PI) i.e. be the primary
grant applicant or Co-PI. Established researchers can nevertheless apply but
need to clearly indicate the capacity building component and the designated

beneficiaries.. Established investigators alone are not usually eligible to apply for
a grant, except when they address innovative and exceptionally well justified
research questions in developing countries. Such applications need to clearly
state the capacity and human resource building components in the host country
as well as the long term sustainability of research in the host institution.
Applications from individuals who are non-affiliated researchers and not attached
to research or academic institutions can be considered only in very special
cases.

Types of Awards
The Nestl Foundation offers different award and grant categories, some of them
using a modular approach, i.e. the Pilot Grant Program represents the starting
grant module for a later Full Grant Research application. The eligibility criteria as
well as the Research objectives and topics have to be fulfilled independently from
the award category (for further details see section Specific information for
applications):
A. Research Grants
1. Training Grant
2. Pilot Grant
3. Full Grant (small / large)
B. Institutional Support
Institutional support involves the support of research or educational projects in
specific institutions in low- or lower-middle income countries which contribute to a
focused development of capacity and know-how and human resource
development in the corresponding institution.
C. enLINK Research grant program
The enLINK research grant program represents research projects initiated by the
Nestl Foundation. External researchers or institutions are invited by the
Foundation to submit a research proposal in a specific area. All applications,
including those of the enLINK research grant program will undergo internal and
external reviewing.
The Nestl Foundation does not support individual fees for attendance and travel
to scientific meetings or courses except when presenting the of results of a
research grant already funded by the Nestl Foundation. We do not consider
queries for support to attend a meeting if you are not a grant holder of the Nestle
Foundation. The Foundation does in general not support the organization of

meetings or conferences and discourages any solicitation of funds for these

purposes.

How to apply
Interested scientists should first submit a Letter of Intent in which they describe
very briefly the kind of project they would like to undertake, including an
estimated budget. Instructions for the letter of intent are available on the
Foundation website at www.nestlefoundation.org. For a submission of a letter
of intent only the downloadable form on our website should be used.
If the suggested project is compatible with the Foundation's current funding
policy, applicants will receive an invitation to submit a full grant proposal. The
guidelines for the submission of a full grant proposal are also available on our
website. Other formats will not be accepted, neither for the letter of intent nor for
the full grant applications.
In the letter of intent and in the grant application, detailed, evidence-based
information about the public health relevance of the project as well as its
immediate impact and sustainability have to be reported. This part of the
application is as important as the scientific section of the application.
Research grant applications are evaluated twice a year by the Foundation's
Council, a group of independent international scientists. The funding of projects
is primarily based on the scientific quality, public health relevance in the short
and long term, sustainability, capacity-building component and, last but not least,
budget considerations.
Applications are accepted all year round, and the Foundation encourages
applicants to submit their proposals as early as possible to allow sufficient time
for internal as well as external reviews. All submissions should be made
electronically by e-mail using a MS Word File (doc). Final deadlines for
submission are January 10 and May 10 for the Spring and Fall Council Meetings
respectively.
Timelines for all types of applications:
Deadline for

Latest announcement

Earliest possible

submission

of the decision

grant starting date

January 10th

Mid-late April

Mid-late May

May 10th

Mid-late September

Mid-late October

2. Specific Information for Applicants

Research Grants
The major aim of these research grant awards is to provide
financial assistance for innovative original research projects of
nutritional and health relevance to developing countries with a
good potential for long term capacity building component as well
as a high impact for long term implementation. The grants provide
financial support for the conduct of the study (material,
biochemical analysis, reasonable equipment etc) and if needed
salaries of the research staff (the latter in developing countries
only). Proposals that are viewed favorably by the Foundation are
characterized by:
1) Good agreement with the aims and objectives of the
Foundation
2) Demonstration of a competence and expertise to address
the area of research as well in the research design and
methodology and rationale for the study
3) Bear a high component of capacity building and human
resource development in the host institutions in developing
countries.
4) The results of the research will contribute to long term
improvement of nutrition and health in a community or
region as well as globally..

Extent of Award and duration

Depending on the type of grant the award amount varies from up
to 20000 USD to up to 100000 USD per year for a maximum of 3
years. The usual duration for the awards varies between 1 to 3
years. The amounts mentioned represent limits smaller projects
are welcome. It is important that the budget has adequate
rationale and justification.
All awards require regular, strict and stringent audit requirements
and periodic
research progress and financial reports will be
expected. For large grants the assessment procedures may
involve site visits with discussions with the involved researchers
and staff. A final or completion report with audited statement of
accounts will need to be provided together with the expectation
that Investigators may be expected to provide Research
summaries for the Annual Report of the Foundation. Research

outcomes need to be published in the peer-reviewed, national or

international literature and copies of publications submitted to the
Foundation. All publications should bear a clear acknowledgment
of the support provided by the Foundation.

Types of Research Grants

The Foundation offers different research grant categories, some
of them using a modular approach, i.e. the Pilot Grant Program
represents actually the starting module for a later Full Grant
Research Application. The eligibility criteria as well as the
Research objectives and topics have to be fulfilled independently
from the grant category.
The following categories of grant applications are available:
Grant type

Description

Training Grant (TG)

The Training Grant (TG) Program

supports a small research project
such as a MSc or PhD thesis
project or another training
endeavor.
The Pilot Grant PG) Program of the up to 20000 in
Foundation provides support for
total
pilot research that has a high
potential to lead to a subsequent
full research project grant. Usually
the Foundation does not support
nutritional survey research. Often
to be able to identify areas of
problems for potential intervention
one has to collect baseline data. A
pilot study (pre-study or baseline
study) will create the needed data
for a larger research project. The
PG program may assist this. The
pilot-study and PG usually
represent the starting point for a
later full research grant
application(i.e. a SRG or LRG) to
the Foundation.
The Small Research Grant (SRG)
up to 50000 in
provides support of a small
total.

Pilot Grant (PG)

Small Research Grant

(SRG)

Budget cadre
(in USD)
up to20000 in
total

Large Research Grant

(LRG)

Re-Entry Grants (REG)

research study. This mayeven

represent a continuation of a TG or
also a PG.
Full grant application of a complete
research proposal according to the
guidelines.

To encourage the return and reestablishment of post-graduate

students into their careers in their
own countries, the Foundation will
support a research program for
eligible candidates. The host
institution will need to guarantee a
post for the returnee and ensure
career development within the host
institution. Contribution of support
to the eligible candidate from the
host institution is essential, while
support and collaboration from the
overseas institution where the
candidate trained is helpful.

up to 100000
per year to a
maximum of
300,000 for 3
years.
Upto 50,000 in
total

Training Grants and Pilot Grants run usually over one year to 2
years. Re-Entry grants may run up to 3 years. However none of
these awards are renewable. Hence, it is recommended that
eligible investigators apply for other categories of awards before
the completion of their projects (but with available results from
earlier support) for continuing support from a full research grant
to avoid any interruption of their research activities. A previous
award does not necessarily imply that a subsequent submission
will be automatically accepted. All applications will be reviewed as
new applications. A new application must be substantially
different from one previously reviewed and have a different title in
order to be accepted for review
Replacement of the Principal Investigator on any of these awards
is not normally permitted.

Cost
The budget cost of the applications should be within the
suggested framework of the different types of applications. Only

on an exceptional basis with clear convincing justification the

requested budget may be higher than these upper limits. The
research project grants provide financial support for the research
cost (technical cost including biochemical analysis, research
tools, different consumables) and salaries of the research staff,
travel and subsistence cost directly related to the research
project. All items should be within a reasonable framework and
well and clearly justified.

Ethical approval
All submitted grant projects must be accompanied by the
ethical approval for the study by all involved institutions. If
the ethical approval is not submitted the project can not be
accepted for evaluation. The ethical approval(s) have to be
submitted together with the grant.

Basic Eligibility criteria and requirements

(1) The principal investigator / applicant should come from a low
income country according to the definition of the World Bank (see
www.worldbank.org)
(2) The study or project has to be sited in a low income country.
At least 75% of the suggested budget has to be used in this target
country. Exceptions may be made upon special request and
justification.
(3) The application has to come from a University Institute or
other institutions with a clear affiliation with a University. This
means that the applicants have to work at a University Institution.
(4) The study has to have a clear capacity building component,
(5) The research project has to have a high public health
relevance and potential for a sustainable implementation of the
results
(6) Ideally the application comes from a low income country.
Depending on the research question this is sometimes not
possible and a collaboration with a University from a developed
country might be needed. This is basically possible but again the
major part of the study has to be done in the low income country
(7) Multiple funding sources for a project are possible but should
be disclosed in detail
(8) The study duration should be limited to two to maximally 3
years till completion.

As mentioned above the application has to come from a local

University or other institution with a clear affiliation with a
University. Although important the Foundation does not support
any humanitarian aid programs or projects or any NGO related
projects.
The Foundation does not support contract type research activities
between different institutions.

Application Procedures
Applicants may apply for all types of grants in one of the areas
mentioned in the section Research Topics above. Applicants
should follow the instructions described under How to Apply. Use
only the downloadable form and submitting a letter of intent and
also grant as a Microsoft Word File. Please do not submit as a
PDF file.
Uninvited full grant proposals will be returned without reviewing.
The full grant application should not exceed 20 to maximally 25
pages A4 (US Legal) format. The required sections for the
application are already defined on the downloadable form. The
different sections are:

Introduction

Research
plan
CV

Budget
Appendix

Precise review of the present state of the art

with key references. Background and
significance of the addressed research
question
Specific Aims, Hypothesis of the study
Statistical issues including information on
power calculations
Short CV including date of birth of all
applicants (i.e. all involved students as well as
mentor). It is encouraged to submit a larger CV
separately from the grant application. If the
project is a MSc or PhD project the students
should be identified by name as well as a short
CV and career outlook.
Justification for all items needed
According to the needs (the number of pages
of the appendix is included in the total number
of pages mentioned above!)

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Reviewing
All submitted projects will be reviewed internally as well as
externally. During the write-up of the application it might be helpful
to keep some reviewing criteria in mind: The goals of Foundationsupported research is capacity building and strategies for the
improvement of nutrition and health in low-income countries. The
major goal of any project is not a high impact publication but a
high impact on the enhancement of the nutritional status as well
as enhancement of health in general. The results have to be
applicable, ideally immediately upon termination of the study. All
submitted projects will be reviewed under scientific aspects as
well as the public health relevance. You might address in as study
a scientifically interesting question but of hardly any relevance to
the immediate problems in your country - such an application
would have less chances of being funded. Obviously high
powered and highly sophisticated research is needed to advance
our knowledge at the molecular level of diseases to understand
biological systems and develop new drugs. The Foundation
favors food based solutions for the problems of nutrition in the
world. Accordingly often in the field of malnutrition simple straight
forward research questions lead to a larger improvement and
impact at the population level than studies at the purely
biochemical or molecular level. Sometimes a simple research
project which is also not necessarily innovative might be
essential for capacity building and improvement of the local
knowledge and skills for implementation and induction of a
change to improved nutrition and health. You have to be aware
whether you want to move a research field forward or whether
you want to be a change agent for the improvement of the
nutritional status of the population at large or certain population
groups (e.g. children, young women etc).
Keep the following issues in mind when writing your proposal:
1. Significance.
Does your planed study address an important problem? If the
aims of the application are achieved, how will the results be
implemented? What will be the effect of the results in the field? Is
an implementation feasible?
2. Approach.
Are the conceptual framework for the study, the design, methods,
and analyses adequately developed, well-integrated, and

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appropriate to the aims of the project? Do you have a clearly

defined hypothesis? Did you choose a correct methodology to find
an answer for the hypothesis?
3. Impact Potential
Does your project have potential to be change agent? Is the
project only research for the sake of research? Do you address a
relevant problem? Do the results lead to a relevant change (i.e.
improvement of the nutritional status and health)?
4. Investigator / Institution
Are you and your colleagues as the principal investigators
appropriately trained to carry out the study? Do you have an
adequate infrastructure at your institution to be able to pursue all
aims of the study? If not do you really need all of the suggested
methodologies? Is there the possibility that you simplify your
study so that it fits better into your present work environment?
5. Scientific Environment
Does the scientific environment in which the work will be done
contribute to the probability of success? Did you pay enough
attention regarding collaborators from your institution? Would it
make sense to discuss the project with an outside expert?

We will examine and review your project not only from the point of
view of the present scientific knowledge but also from the
likelihood of feasibility in general and whether the project
will lead to a change. Training Grants and Pilot Grants will be
examined regarding their potential to lead to a full small or large
research application.

Nestl Foundation
Lausanne, July 2008
Guidelines for Grant Appliaction Final 06Okt08

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