Approved Proposals
The ICODA initiative ran in a “driver project” mode of operation, with projects helping to shape our processes, tools and ways of working as they ran. Our driver projects were funded when the ICODA initiative was set up initially or were selected as part of a Gates Foundation Grand Challenges ICODA open funding call, which launched in December 2020, with grant awards having been announced in July 2021. You can find our approved projects listed below, all of which focused on COVID-19. Our project teams were very open to collaboration with researchers working in parallel or adjacent areas where co-working was of public benefit.
| Request ID | Lead Researcher(s) | Lead Institution(s) | Approval date | Research Proposal |
| 001 | Sarah Stock
Meghan Azad Natalie Rodriguez Merilee Brockway David Burgner Helga Zoega |
University of Edinburgh, University of Manitoba, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, University of New South Wales | 10 Mar 2021 | Describe trends and regional differences in preterm births (PTB) and stillbirth during COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns globally, using population-representative aggregate data and standardized outcome definitions. |
| 002 | Fernando Bozza | Fiocruz | 5 May 2021 | Real-world value of COVID-19 vaccines in Brazil for protecting individuals from severe disease and for protecting the entire population from being infected |
| 003 | Catherine Arsenault | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health | 5 May 2021 | Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated containment policies such as curfews on the quality of health care in seven countries and the rates of mortality from non-COVID conditions |
| 004 | Andrew Boulle | University of Cape Town | 5 May 2021 | Study the clinical epidemiology and evolution of a new variant of SARS-CoV-2 that emerged in South Africa and the impact on patients with existing health conditions |
| 005 | Luis Felipe Reyes | Universidad de La Sabana | 5 May 2021 | Standardised strategy for researchers to better utilise the ISARIC-COVID-19 dataset, which consists of over 520,000 hospitalised patients from more than 62 countries, in order to identify the causes and health impacts of severe complications arising from COVID-19 infection. |
| 006 | Xiaofan Liu | City University of Hong Kong | 5 May 2021 | Reconstruct COVID-19 transmission chains between individuals in communities and households using statistical methods applied to existing datasets to more reliably estimate COVID-19 transmission characteristics, such as reproduction rates, that are critical for planning effective control measures |
| 007 | Maria Yury Ichihara | Fiocruz | 5 May 2021 | Create a social disparities index to measure inequalities relevant to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as unequal access to healthcare, to identify regions that are more vulnerable to infection and to better focus prevention efforts |
| 008 | Kirsty Le Doare | MRC/UVRI & LSHTM Uganda Research Unit | 5 May 2021 | Develop a model using data collected in real-time to identify the risk factors for adverse pregnancy and infant outcomes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic that can be used to rapidly inform interventions |
| 009 | Juliane Foseca de Oliveira | Fiocruz | 5 May 2021 | Develop mathematical and statistical methods to model COVID-19 transmission across populations in Brazil to better inform local intervention efforts. This study will use existing health data and social and economic determinants for over 5,500 Brazilian cities, as well as data relating to mitigation strategies and social mobility patterns. These will be used to develop and apply statistical analyses and nonlinear mathematical modelling to forecast disease outcomes, which consider specific socio-economic conditions that influence transmission rates |
| 010 | Dale Barnhart | Partners in Health of Haiti, Malawi, Mexico, and Rwanda | 5 May 2021 | Determine how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted health care provision and utilisation for patients with HIV, heart disease, and diabetes, and the health outcomes of these patients, in all four countries |
| 011 | Carl Marincowitz | University of Sheffield | 5 May 2021 | Develop a risk assessment tool to help emergency clinicians quickly decide whether a patient with suspected COVID-19 needs emergency care or can be safely treated at home to avoid overburdening hospitals particularly in low- and middle- income countries (LMICs) |
| 012 | Hwanhee Hong
Susan Halabi |
Duke University | 29 July 2021 | What is the best treatment to treat COVID-19 patients? By combining evidence from published COVID-19 trials via Bayesian multivariate network meta-analysis, we will compare and rank treatments with respect to prespecified multiple endpoints (e.g. mortality, hospitalization, ventilation, relieve of symptoms). |
| 013 | Nevine Zariffa | NMD Group | 28 Sept 2021 | Interrogation of Drug Classes for the Treatment of COVID19 based on Randomised Controlled Trial Data. What level of Data and Analytics is required for such an endeavour? |
| 014 | Jaap Mandema | Certara | 28 Sept 2021 | Interplay between RWD (real world data) and RCT (randomised clinical trial) results to streamline drug repurposing for pandemic viral disease. |
| 015 | Jenn Visich | Gates Foundation | 28 Sept 2021 | Can we form a re-useable drug repurposing framework? |
| 016 | Jonas Haagstrom | Cytel | 28 Sept 2021 | Methodologies to address evolution of standard of care over time |
| 017 |
Rejected proposals
Information about any applications not approved were to be listed below, together with information about the reason.
With over 400 applications received, the call for Grand Challenges ICODA pilot projects was subject to a rigorous multi-stage review, involving an international review panel. The successful projects all addressed major research questions relating to COVID-19, which sought to have major impact in both the current and future pandemics, and focused on rapid, innovative secondary analysis of data to produce insights of major public benefit.
| Request ID | Lead Researcher | Institution | Research Proposal | Rejection Rationale |