Western University announced its launching a new $1-million research fund aimed at supporting COVID-19 pandemic research.
In a statement released Tuesday, the university says the new catalyst fund is open to a “range of projects that will help build resilience and recovery from disease outbreaks, both now and beyond the current COVID-19 pandemic.”
“The main focus here is to expand the base of research and researchers in the community and to encourage greater creativity through collaboration,” said Sarah Prichard, Western’s acting vice-president for research.
“We’re going to prioritize multi-disciplinary teams taking novel approaches to the problem at hand, with the potential for long-term meaningful impact.”
The school says the funding will be awarded to as many as 20 interdisciplinary research projects.
The projects span across disciplines and exploring social, economic, technological and health-related approaches to pandemics.
“We have COVID-19 research taking place at Western that is about isolating the virus and finding a vaccine, but there are many other elements that we need to understand as well,” Prichard said.
Successful applicants and award amounts for the first phase of grants are set to be announced by May 6.
The second phase of applications and grants is also taking place this year. Deadlines are not yet set.