Overview

VinUniversity’s Center for Innovations In Health Sciences (IHS) invites proposals for high-impact, interdisciplinary research projects that advance health sciences, clinical innovation, and biomedical research, with strong potential for academic excellence, translation, collaboration, and societal impact. 

The overall goal of the IHS Center Research Fund is to support research that advances sustainable development through scalable outcomes and the attraction of external funding.

Priority areas include 

• Biomedical Science, Precision Medicine and Innovative Therapeutics.   
• Health tech (including Digital Health, AI in Healthcare, Medical Robotics).  
• Population Health, Health Systems (including health economics and implementation science), and Policy Research.  
• Topics of particular interest include immunology, rare diseases, cardiovascular disease/stroke, cancer, climate impact on health, infectious disease, healthy aging across the lifespan. 
• Projects may focus on the promotion of wellness, disease prevention, early detection, and/or treatment. 

Funding and Duration 

• For independent projects: USD 50,000 – Duration: Funds can be used up to 24 months. 
• For larger, interdisciplinary projects: USD 100,000 to USD 150,000 will be considered. Funding requests should be stated in rounded amounts (e.g., USD 50,000 or USD 100,000). Applicants should avoid highly specific totals and instead present a rounded overall budget, with detailed line-item justifications provided in the budget plan. Interdisciplinary and collaborative proposals are strongly encouraged. Duration of these projects: Funds can be used up to 36 months. 
• Funds cannot be used for:  

• Personal or general administrative expenses  

• Institutional overhead  

• Faculty salaries and teaching buy-outs (unless clearly justified as research-related) 

• Research focused on testing hypotheses or answering research questions (if qualitative) preferred over work focused on general capacity or program building

Eligibility Criteria

• Proposed projects must align with IHS priority areas and demonstrate strong scholarly merit and translational potential. 
• Applicant must serve as the Principal Investigator (PI) for the proposed project. 
• PI must be full-time VinUniversity faculty and researchers. 
• Each Principal Investigator (PI) may submit only one proposal under this call.

Performance Indicators 

• Talent development (number of undergraduate and/or postgraduate students, residents, postdocs trained) 
• Collaboration cross colleges/centers at VinUni, and other hospital partners, academic institutions, NGOs and industry partners nationally and internationally 
• Peer-reviewed publications and citations (Q1 indexed papers preferred)  
• Clinical, translational, or policy-relevant outcomes 
• Potential for providing preliminary data for extramural funding 

Key Dates 

• Call opens: Jan 19, 2026 
• Application deadline: 23:59 Feb 8, 2026 
• Q&A session : Friday afternoon (time is TBD), Jan 23, 2026. Please submit your questions prior to the event HERE by COB Thursday Jan 22, 2026 
• Tentative announcement date: Mar 12, 2026 

How to Apply 

Please review the full guidelines and download the application templates HERE

Please compile ALL four required documents into a single pdf file prior to submission and the Budget Plan in excel format. The documents must be arranged in the following order: (1) Narrative Proposal; (2) Budget Plan (Detailed budget sheet); (3) Research Plan; (4) Brief CVs.  

Submit completed applications via this form and direct inquiries to: ihs@vinuni.edu.vn 

APPLICATION INSTRUCTION 

Step 1: Download and complete the required application templates above:  

Step 2: Submit your completed application package via the form above. 

 

POST-AWARD MANAGEMENT AND REPORTING 

Project Management 

• Projects must be completed within 24-36 months. A no-cost extension of a maximum of 6 months will be considered upon discussion with IHS. All extension requests be submitted no later than three months prior to the project’s end date.  

• PIs are fully responsible for ensuring project implementation in full compliance with all VinUni research-related requirements and regulations. 

• PIs are responsible for directing project expenditures in accordance with VinUni financial policies and requirements. 

• PIs must notify IHS’s designated person immediately of any significant deviations from the approved proposals by emailing ihs@vinuni.edu.vn. This includes but is not limited to: (1) Changes of PI; (2) Changes in approved budget lines; (3) Modifications of approved proposal objectives, deliverables, milestone timeline. The PIs must submit a formal research project amendment request explaining what changes are and how the proposed shifts align with the approved project’s objectives and deliverables. All modifications must be approved in writing by IHS leadership before implementation. 

 

Acknowledgement requirements 

• VinUni’s IHS support must be acknowledged in any publication, poster, oral presentation, reporting and deliverables.