India Alliance to Perform an Effect Assessment of its Research Support Project

The Government of India's Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the UK-based charitable foundation Wellcome Trust have announced an independent cost-benefit analysis of their alliance project DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance as part of their ongoing partnership and support for the Biomedical Research Career Programme (BRCP). The partnership, which was established in 2008-09 for a ten-year period and was extended to a second five-year phase from FY 2019-20 to FY2023-24 to enable biomedical research in India through funding and engagement, has committed approximately Rs. 790 crore towards fellowships, grants, and associated activities.

The India Alliance has issued an Expression of Interest, inviting qualified organisations to conduct an impartial, cost-benefit analysis study, integrating qualitative and quantitative approaches, within a three-month time frame. This assessment should be updated and expanded on the previous independent assessment, which was completed in 2019. So far, the Indian Alliance has awarded approximately 280 fellowships and grants to researchers at various stages of their careers, based at 115 institutions in 47 Indian cities, with the goal of empowering researchers to be internationally competitive, bridging gaps in research management and between science and society, and striving for excellence through diversity, inclusivity, and transparency in science.

The Expression of Interest from eligible organisations has to be submitted before 3 pm on September 5. The EoI will be opened on September 7, it added. "Going forward, the Department of Biotechnology and the Wellcome Trust intend to continue the partnership and support Biomedical Research Career Programme," said the EoI document. "It has created an unprecedented opportunity for Indian biomedical researchers to address challenging problems and compete globally," the Alliance stated. Many of the funded researchers have made important contributions ranging from basic science that increased the knowledge base on a biological system or disease, to clinical research that directly tested interventions on human patients, and public health researchers who carried out pioneering population-based studies. Some studies have also led to new treatments and changes to health policy. Many fellows have also gone on to take on leadership positions, it added.