AMMnet Grant Opportunity:Large Event Award

The Applied Malaria Modeling Network (AMMnet) would like to offer AMMnet members the opportunity to hold large events with a training or educational purpose consistent with AMMnet’s mission.

The types of activities that can be supported by this award include, but are not limited to:

• Implementation of a short course, summer school, or multiple workshops
• Development of training materials and curriculum
• Delivery of trainings related to malaria modeling and/or analytics
• Organization of an annual meeting of multiple chapters, as long as a training component is included
• Other activities with a strong educational or training focus that support AMMnet’s mission of exchanging knowledge to improve support offered to malaria programs and advance general malaria research.

Proposals must meet the following 8 criteria:

• Event format
  • Event must take place in a malaria-endemic country
    • Core component must be held in person
    • Can have an additional component online: either as pre-main activities (main activities must be in-person), streaming of main activities to reach an additional audience online, or follow-up activities after the main activities
• Can be a short event for many people, or a long event for fewer people, or a series of events in a logical sequence, as long as the format is well-justified in the objectives and the budget, and the event is consistent with AMMnet’s mission
• Event content
  • Must include an educational/training component, including:
    • Specific, clear, achievable, and measurable learning objectives that are in line with the country-based context where the event will take place
    • Open Access for materials developed: curricula, files / teaching materials, videos, etc deposited into AMMnet repository for availability to all AMMnet members
    • Must be related to modeling and/or analytics
    • Must have a component related to application of modeling and/or analytics in some way (cannot be 100% theoretical)
• Target audience
  • Event should be clearly targeted for modelers, model consumers/public health practitioners, or both
  • Event activities must be appropriate for targeted audience
  • Events targeted at modelers should include more advanced technical content
  • Events targeted at non-modelers can focus on
    • Analytics training for NMCP staff and/or operational partners (public health practitioners, non-academic participants)
    • Model understanding (for anyone): how to frame questions, understand modeling approaches, understand value and limitations of modeling, interpret modeling outputs
• Event language
  • Events may be conducted in any language, but the application should be in English, French, or Portuguese
• Leadership
  • Organizers must be active members of global AMMnet
  • Satisfactory letter of support from the main organizer’s institution(s), signed by an institutional authority, confirming the organizer’s position in the institution and indicating that the institution supports the application and planned activities
  • It is not required that the event be led by an established and officially recognized local chapter of AMMnet. However, official events of local chapters will be given priority. If the event is led by a local chapter, the organizers should supply a letter of support from the local chapter.
• Participation
  • Involve at least 10 participants, including the organizer(s)
  • Involve participants from at least 2 malaria-endemic countries (resident in malaria-endemic countries)
  • Involve participants from multiple institutions or organizations, and if possible multiple institutions from each country from which participants are drawn
• Use of funds
  • Proposed budget must be justified by the proposed activities and work
  • Funds can be used to support the time of organizers, facilitators, and curriculum developers via partial salary coverage, as long as there is proper justification
  • No more than 30% of funds can ultimately go to Northern institutions or people resident in Northern countries, including their travel
  • If your institution will collect a percentage of the award for facilities & administrative costs, you must include this in your budget as an additional line item, so that the total costs includes these indirect costs.
• Evaluation
  • Include a measurement of effectiveness in reaching objectives outlined in the proposal: a systematic evaluation (quantitative, qualitative, or mixed) at the end of the event from at least 80% of the participants

To apply for the Large Event Award, you must submit the application template found at the link below, along with the following documents:

• A letter of support from the main event organizer’s institution
• A letter of support from each of the named personnel
• A biosketch for each named individual

‍

The application template is available in English, French, and Portuguese. Please download the template before filling it out to ensure it can be edited.

Send all completed materials to ‍ with the subject line: “Application for Large Event AMMnet Funding.”

Applications will be reviewed after the cycle deadline has passed. Submissions are accepted in English, French, or Portuguese.

Items to include

• Large Grant Award Template (all filled out): Follow the template instructions below
• Biosketch (CV or resume) for key personnel: main organizer and any organizers receiving salary support in the budget
• A letter of support from each of the named personnel confirming their participation and their role on the proposed event.
  • Letter can be addressed to the following:
    • Applied Malaria Modeling Networking (AMMnet)
    • c/o Institute for Global Health
    • Northwestern University
    • 710 N Lake Shore Drive Ste 800
    • Chicago IL 60611
    • USA
• A letter of support from the institution of the main event organizer, signed by an institutional authority, confirming the organizer’s position in the institution and that the institution supports the application and the proposed activities.
  • Letter can be addressed to the following:
    • c/o Institute for Global Health
    • Northwestern University
    • 710 N Lake Shore Drive Ste 800
    • Chicago IL 60611
    • USA

Template Instructions

• Introductory information:
  • A short description of the event you propose to hold, including location, date(s), duration, number of participants, and targeted audience of the event you propose to hold, including location, date, duration, number of participants, and targeted audience
  • A statement of how this event contributes to the local AMMnet chapter, if a local chapter is involved
  • A statement of plans for inclusion of women
  • A description of next steps after a successful event

• Event information:
  • A clear statement of the learning objectives of your event, including their relation to modeling and/or analytics and how they advance AMMnet’s mission
  • Detailed schedule of activities you plan to hold as part of your event and how they achieve your objectives
  • A plan for open access distribution of materials developed during event preparation and implementation
  • Measure of effectiveness: a plan for evaluating the success of your event in reaching the proposed learning objectives
  • Timeline for preparation phase for the event
  • Role of key personnel in the event

Budget instructions, up to 1 page

• Budget table: Include a table of costs under the following categories (not all categories may be needed):
  • Venue
  • Personnel
  • Refreshments
  • Travel
  • Supplies
  • Other Expenses (per diems, indirect costs, etc., if needed)

• Budget narrative (justification): Explain the major cost drivers and how costs relate to planned activities and target objectives

Proposal Review

Applications will be collected and evaluated according to a scheduled review cycle. If your first application is not funded after your first submission, you may resubmit your application up to two additional times to be considered for subsequent cycles.

After each deadline, reviewers will evaluate all proposals received up to the deadline. AMMnet aims to award 1 proposed event for each review cycle.

Proposal Scoring

Proposals will be scored by 3 members of the large events task force according to the rubric below.

Proposals must pass the 8 criteria and score minimum 30 points to be awarded. Proposals that do not meet the score threshold will be invited to revise and resubmit up to two more times.

Criteria to pass (all 8 must be met):

• Organizers must be members of global AMMnet
• Letter of support from main organizer’s institution
• Event takes place in at least one malaria-endemic country
• Involves at least 10 participants
• Involves participants from multiple institutions or organizations
• Includes a plan for encouraging participation of women
• Satisfactory measurement of effectiveness in reaching objectives outlined in the proposal
• Includes an educational or training component related to modeling and/or analytics

Event objectives are well-designed for targeted audience and in line with AMMnet’s mission statement (up to 5 points)

Event activities likely to meet stated objectives (up to 15 points)

Budget is appropriate and each item is well-justified with reasonable value (up to 10 points)

Key personnel previous involvement with AMMnet (up to 5 points)

Led by a local chapter (5 points bonus)

Event involves multiple countries (1 point bonus)

Event effectively targets groups that are underrepresented in modeling and analysis in the region (2 points bonus)

If Awarded

Prior to the event

Awarded proposals are expected to hold their event within 18 months of the award date. Please leave at least 6 months between date of award and date of event to arrange for transfer of funds via subcontract.

The AMMnet secretariat will assist the organizers to announce their event on AMMnet social media.

During the event

The AMMnet secretariat will work with the event organizers to support virtual attendees if desired and in the dissemination of information on the event.

After the event

Organizers will be expected to coordinate with the AMMnet secretariat via info@ammnet.org to share the event proceedings as pictures on designated AMMnet social media platforms.

Within 1 month after the event, organizers are expected to share via email to info@ammnet.org a 2-page report on their event, including:

• Results of their measure of effectiveness
• 1-2 success stories from their event
• 1-2 lessons learned for future events
• A financial report, including a summary of expenses and copies of receipts
• Next steps after the event to carry forward its successes
• Within 6 months of the event, organizers are expected to present at an AMMnet virtual meeting a 5 to 10-minute presentation on a summary of their event, including a brief statement from one of the event participants.

Within 1 month after the event, organizers are expected to share with the AMMnet secretariat, for deposition into the AMMnet training repository, the materials developed for the event, such as curricula, files and teaching materials, and video recordings.

Repeat Applications

Organizers may apply for a Large Event Award more than once. However, priority will be given to applicants who have not previously received funding. A local chapter will not receive more than one Large Event Award per year.

If Not Awarded

Proposals that do not meet the funding threshold may be invited to revise and resubmit. Applicants may submit a maximum of two revisions—three submissions total, including the original.