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 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.

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

1. maternal and child nutrition, including breastfeeding and complementary feeding,
2. macro- and micronutrient deficiencies and imbalances,
3. interactions between infection and nutrition, and
4. 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.

Duration

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.

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.

Research Grants
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:

A. Research Grants
Training Grant
Pilot Grant
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 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.

How to apply
Interested scientists should first submit a “Letter of Intent (LI)” 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 https://www.nestlefoundation.org/apply.html. For a submission of a letter of intent only the attached LI 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 the 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) at nf@nestlefoundation.org.

There are NO FIXED SUBMISSION DEADLINES FOR LI