About the Foundation
Origin and nature
The Nestlé Foundation for the Study of Problems of Nutrition in the World was established in 1966 by a donation by the Nestlé 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 Nestlé Company since its inception. The offices of the NestléFoundation are in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Purpose
The Nestlé 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.
Types of Research Grants and Support
The Nestlé 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
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.
- Training Grant
- Pilot Grant
- Full Grant (small / large)
| Grant type | Description | Budget cadre(in USD) |
| 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. | Up to 20’000 in total |
| Pilot Grant (PG) | The Pilot Grant PG) Program of the Foundation provides support for 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. | Up to 20’000 in total |
| Small Research Grant (SRG) | The Small Research Grant (SRG) provides support of a small research study. This mayeven represent a continuation of a TG or also a PG. | Up to 50’000 in total |
| Large Research Grant (LRG) | Full grant application of a complete research proposal according to the guidelines. | Up to 100’000 per year to a maximum of 300’000 for 3 years |
| Re-Entry Grants (REG) | To encourage the return and re-establishment 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 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.
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 Nestlé 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 Nestlé 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 Nestlé 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.
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 world’s 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, including breastfeeding and complementary feeding,
- macro- and micronutrient deficiencies and imbalances,
- interactions between infection and nutrition, and
- nutrition education and health promotion
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:
- projects with low public health relevance
- projects with doubtful sustainability
- projects lacking transfer of scientific, technical and educational knowledge, i.e. lacking a capacity-building component
- large budget projects i.e. – projects that exceed US$100,000 per year or US$ 300,000 over the total duration of a 3 year project
- nutrition surveys or surveillance studies
- 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
- 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.
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 “Download application forms and reports”. 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 and forms 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 applicatio 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).
Timeline for full grant applications:
(only upon invitation of an accepted Letter of Intent)
| Deadline for submission | Latest announcement of the decision |
Earliest possible grant starting date |
| January 10th | Mid-late April | Mid-late May |
| May 10th | Mid-late September | Mid-late October |
There are NO FIXED SUBMISSION DEADLINES FOR LI: A Letter of intent can be submitted at any time of the year !
MSc or PhD students have to submit a letter of intent together with their thesis advisor & mentor.
Website of The Nestle Foundation :
http://www.nestlefoundation.org/
Detailed Information PDF Link : http://www.nestlefoundation.org/e/docs/Guidelines_for_Grant_application_FINAL_20081006.pdf