Frequently Asked Question

• Infectious Diseases
  Research that strengthens regional capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious diseases, with emphasis on innovation, preparedness, and equitable access to prevention and care. 
• Climate Change in Health
  Research that deepens understanding of how climate and environmental changes affect health and identifies strategies to build resilience and adapt to emerging risks. 
• Mental Health
  Research that advances mental health and well-being across communities, focusing on inclusion, early intervention, and reducing stigma and barriers to care.  
• Health Systems and Access to Care
  Research that improves health system performance and ensures equitable, quality, and people-centered care for all populations in the region. 

SEA DREAM funds research that responds to the ASEAN Post-2015 Health Development Agenda (APHDA) 2021-2025 Health Priorities (HP), across four thematic areas: (1) Infectious Diseases; (2) Impact of Climate Change on Health; (3) Mental Health; and (4) Strengthening Health Systems and Access to Care. Relevant ASEAN Health Priorities include:  

• HP 5: Promoting mental health   
• HP 8: Prevention and control of communicable diseases, emerging infectious diseases, neglected tropical diseases, and zoonotic diseases   
• HP 9: Regional preparedness and response to public health emergencies   
• HP 11: Combating Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)   
• HP 12: Environmental health, Health Impact Assessment (HIA), and health impact of climate change   
• HP 13: Disaster health management   
• HP 15: Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, and Child Health (RMNCH)   
• HP 16: Universal Health Coverage (UHC), including health financing and health service delivery   
• HP 17: Migrant’s health   
• HP  20: Digital health and health information system

These priorities will be updated in line with the forthcoming ASEAN Health Development Agenda 2026–2030. 

A not-for-profit organisation, or public or private university registered as a legal entity in Brunei Darussalam; Cambodia; Indonesia; Lao PDR; Malaysia; Myanmar; Philippines; Singapore; Thailand; Timor-Leste; or Vietnam may apply as Lead Organisation of a research consortium.

Co-Applying Organisations are the organisations who will receive funds through the Lead Organisation in a hub-and-spoke model and play a substantial role in delivering the proposed activities alongside the Lead Organisation.​

Yes. In the application stage, organisations can submit multiple applications as the Lead Organisation; however, organisations will only be awarded one grant as the Lead Organisation within the same funding round.

Yes. Organisations can participate as Consortium Members in multiple Consortia within the same funding round, including serving as the Lead Organisation for one Consortium while also being a Consortium Member in others.

Yes. Commercial organisations, involved within not-for-profit divisions or clearly marked as not-for-profit generating activities, can be part of a consortium. With the exception of private universities, for-profit organisations cannot be Lead Organisation of the Consortium.

• A Consortium must include a minimum of three organisations, each from a different Southeast Asian country.
• Recommended total size of one Consortium is between three to five organisations*, including the Lead Organisation.

*In exceptional cases a Consortium may have more than five members where it is beneficial to the overall proposed activities. This must be justified within the application form. 

The consortium is structured to ensure effective leadership, collaboration, and coordination across participating institutions. The team composition includes the following key roles: 

A. Lead Organisation

• Principal Investigator (PI)  
• Deputy Principal Investigator (Deputy PI) 

B. Co-Applying Organisations

• Co-Principal Investigators (Co-PI) 

C. Collaborators (if essential)

Co-Applying Organisation will have intellectual input into, and part ownership of, the research. Collaborators are individuals named in the body of the application who may, for example, assist with specific elements of the research or provide access to resources, reagents or samples, but who would not normally be involved in the day-to-day running of the work.

The Principal Investigator (PI) is the individual that leads the Consortium, based at the Lead Organisation. The Principal Investigator should be an established researcher with experience in leading and managing research projects and partnerships, and should actively promote a diverse, inclusive and supportive environment within the team and across their organisation.

The Deputy Principal Investigator (D-PI) is an individual who is also based at the Lead Organisation. The D-PI will support the Principal Investigator with the overall leadership of the Consortium and management of the grant. They should have the necessary skills and experience to manage the Consortium if required.  They should be established researchers with experience of leading and managing large research grants, partnerships and/or training and development programmes.

A Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI) is a named individual representing the Co-Applying Organisations, or the Lead Organisation in addition to the PI and D-PI. The Co-PIs will work in partnership with the Principal Investigator and D-PI, contributing specific expertise, resources, or capabilities that complement the overall objectives of the Consortium.

An early-career researcher will have recently completed a PhD, or an equivalent higher research degree, or have equivalent research training. An early-career researcher may be managing their own research project under the direction of a principal investigator and may be beginning to develop their own research ideas and directions.  

In this SEA DREAM funding call, the Lead Organisation cannot appoint an early-career researcher as the Principal Investigator (PI) of the project, as this role requires a high level of research experience. However, an early-career researcher may be a member of the project team to support research activities in both Lead Organisation and Co-Applying Organisations, or may act as a Co-PI.  We encourage early career researcher Co-PIs to be embedded in formal mentorship arrangements with an experienced researcher at their organisation.

Yes. Organisations from countries outside of Southeast Asia can be Consortium Members and receive funds but are not eligible to be the Lead Organisation.

Yes. A Consortium must include at least one organisation from a Southeast Asian Lower Middle-Income Country, as per World Bank definition, either as a Consortium Lead or Consortium Member:   

• Cambodia,   
• Lao PDR,   
• Myanmar,   
• Philippines,   
• Timor-Leste,   
• Vietnam. 

Yes. Applications submitted to SEA DREAM can focus on a single thematic area or address multiple themes. While it is encouraged to explore intersections among these themes where beneficial, it is not mandatory for an application to cover all thematic areas.

No. The applications must align with SEA DREAM’s thematic areas.

Lead Organisations are strongly encouraged to be capable of receiving grants in USD. However, if they are unable to do so, grantees may opt to convert the received grants from USD to their local currency upon transfer and bear the foreign exchange fluctuation risks.

The consortium members should agree internally to select the most suitable, eligible Lead Organisation.

Maximum funding duration is 60 months. It is recommended that the funding duration ranges between 48 to 60 months.

SEAMEO Secretariat is receiving funding for SEA DREAM by Wellcome Trust and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) with potential additional funding from national health research funders and philanthropies.

Consortia members can request the budget that they need to implement their proposed activities. However, SEA DREAM places emphasis on equitable partnerships and therefore will evaluate applications based on appropriate and equitable resource distribution across consortium members.

The applicants should ask for the resources needed for their proposed activities, in alignment with the scale of impact and objectives that SEA DREAM aims to achieve. It is recommended that applications range between 5,500,000 and 6,500,000 USD. Applications that exceed this amount will be deprioritized.

No. Matching funds or in-kind contributions are not required. While they are highly appreciated to ensure bigger impact and support to research activities, they do not constitute an advantage in any application.

Yes. There are specific budget categories defined in the applicant guideline and cost eligibility guidance. Please refer to the cost eligibility guidance document for more information about eligibility costs.

Yes. One of SEA DREAM’s objectives is to nurture research talent and leadership. Within your application, you must clearly demonstrate the direct relevance of postgraduate training to the proposed activities and consortia goals, reflecting your commitment to fostering sustainable research careers.

Travel must be essential to the proposed activities and should apply to staff fully or partially funded by the grant, or to others contributing (e.g., collaborators) to the research to: 

• attend research meetings and conferences  
• visit collaborators and facilities  
• collect samples and undertake fieldwork  
• other travel directly related to conducting research or consortia activities

Travel and subsistence costs should be auditable, and organisations must be able to justify and account for all expenditure incurred. The mode of transport should be low carbon, even if it is more expensive (for example, travelling by train instead of flying). We do not cover business travel. 

Read more information on travel costs.

Organisations with an externally validated overhead rate may request contributions based on that validated rate. If an organisation cannot provide an externally validated rate, then they will be required to provide a breakdown of the costs requested.  

Overheads costs can include: 

• estates, for example building and premises.  
• utilities such as electricity, gas and water costs, and landline phone charges, based on an estimate proportionate to activities funded under the grant.  
• standard IT charges, based on an estimate proportionate to activities funded under the grant.  

If you are requesting funds for overheads, in your application you will need to provide a letter from your Chief Financial Officer or an equivalent senior financial officer providing information on how you have calculated these costs.   

Read more information on overheads.

Yes. You may request basic equipment that is essential for your research project. Eligible costs can include purchase, delivery, installation, maintenance, and training as well as VAT or import duty, if applicable. Specialized equipment may also be purchased if it is critical to the success of the proposed research and is not available at your organisation, at consortium members, or through other collaborative arrangements. If a complete piece of specialised equipment costs 150,000 USD or more and is purchased by or will be located in an organisation based in a High-Income Country, we expect a contribution of at least 25% of the total costs, including maintenance, from the procuring organisation or another source.  

Ownership of the purchased equipment will remain with the organisation that procured the equipment, or the consortium member it has been handed over to, which will be responsible for its use, maintenance, insurance, and eventual disposal.

Read more information on equipment costs.

No. Once the budget is submitted, no adjustments to the total budget amount can be made, if not stated differently in your award letter. However, budget can be moved between indicated budget lines to provide some flexibility.

Yes. Support for grant management or administrative staff can be included in the project’s budget proposal.

There are no additional funds at this stage for unforeseen circumstances. Applicants are not allowed to include contingency costs or inflation allowance in their proposed budget.

Generally, budget can move between cost categories, however all changes between cost categories requires approval through the regular reporting process. Certain cost categories, such as overheads, are ringfenced and cannot be increased.

Applicants must account for all applicable taxes across all regions involved in the project, including but not limited to tax implications related to the contracts and invoicing relationship between the consortia members and the Lead Organisation as well as between the funders and the Lead Organisation ; tax liabilities should be factored into the budget planning and justification.

The SEA DREAM funding call includes two separate two-stage application processes, as follows.  

1. Preliminary Application Submission 
Applicants are required to submit the Preliminary Application along with the eligibility self-declaration form. 

See detailed requirements of the preliminary application.

Successful applicants will be invited to submit the Full Application and feedback on Preliminary Applications may be provided. 

2. Full Application Submission 
Successful applicants are required to submit a comprehensive application along with the eligibility self-declaration for any changes. 

See detailed requirements of the full application.

The Preliminary Application and Full Application must be completed through the SEA DREAM application portal. 

To assist in your online submission, the online applicant guidance can be downloaded here. Only applications submitted through the SEA DREAM application portal will be accepted.

Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Firefox, and Safari are supported browsers for accessing the application on laptops and desktops. Please ensure your browser is up to date for the best experience. While the application is accessible on mobile devices, we recommend using a laptop or desktop computer for optimal performance.

If you are unable to access the online application, please contact us by email at info@sea-dream.org for support. All applications must be submitted through the online application portal to be considered. We request all applicants to ensure that the lead applicant (Principal Investigator) initiating the application process has reliable internet access and access to a computer.

Once you submit your application, our application portal will automatically send a confirmation email. This system-generated message may sometimes be marked as spam, so be sure to check your junk or spam folder regularly.

The Preliminary Application is a mandatory step, and only those who submit it and are shortlisted will be invited to proceed to the Full Application stage.

The Full Application can differ from the Preliminary Application. While the Full Application should generally align with the Preliminary Application in terms of overall research focus, themes and objectives, some changes, for example related to consortium members, are expected and even encouraged as the project is developed further.

Proposals will be assessed across five evaluation domains with weighted scores: scientific quality (30%), relevance and impact (25%), equity and partnership quality (20%), feasibility and management (15%), and capacity strengthening (10%).

See more information on selection criteria.

The Full Application will be reviewed by the selection and evaluation committee. The committee consists of regional and global experts with a range of scientific and technical expertise across a broad range of topics (e.g. identified priority health areas but also equity, inclusion, and ethics in research) The committee conducts a detailed analysis of applications by leveraging peer reviews to provide in-depth technical feedback and conducting interviews with applicants to further explain their proposal. Applicants are not permitted to request specific reviewers; however, they may suggest individuals who should or should not be considered. They may also provide a list of experts who have scientific and technical expertise.

The interview will be conducted in-person. Only in cases where applicants are unable to attend in person, virtual interviews may be considered. SEA DREAM will arrange the logistics and cover all costs of travel and accommodation for in-person interviews.

SEA DREAM will invite the Principal Investigator from the Lead Organisation as well as one Co-Principal Investigator per Consortium Member to attend the evaluation interviews.

Unsuccessful Preliminary Applications will be provided with a justification. Unsuccessful Full Applications will be provided with brief feedback on their proposals and justification.

After the closing date, all submissions are final and you cannot make any changes to the application after you have submitted. Only in highly exceptional cases, if changes must be made on an application that has been submitted before the closing date, you can contact grants@sea-dream.org.

No. The application must be submitted in English.

No. Only applications submitted within the official application window will be considered.

The selection is made by the consortium members.

You can make changes to consortium members between preliminary application and full application. If your consortium constellation changes in between the two application steps, a justification is expected within the full application, as well as updates on the  eligibility self-declaration form.   

Within each application window (preliminary and full application), no changes can be made to already submitted applications. Only in exceptional cases, if crucial changes must be made within the application window, you may send an email to grants@sea-dream.org. After the application window closing date, all submissions are final, and no changes will be accepted.

Read more about fostering regional collaboration.

• Individual Level: 
  Develop researchers through training, mentorship, fellowships and soft skills development.
   
• Institutional Level: 
  Create supportive environments by establishing research offices, providing internal funding, enhancing infrastructure, promoting knowledge sharing, and offering clear career pathways.

Research institutions and organisations from Southeast Asian Lower-Middle Income Countries, as per World Bank definition, are expected to have active and leading roles in a consortium, benefitting from equitable partnership structures. This includes joint research agenda-setting, building research and research support capacity and mentorship relations, leading ethically grounded projects, and participating in regional health policy discussions and research governance.  

Each SEA DREAM consortium is expected to include at least one organisation from a Southeast Asian LMIC, contributing to SEA DREAM’s objective to establish equitable regional partnerships that uplift the Southeast Asian research ecosystem as a whole.

The Lead Organisation is responsible for managing and distributing the grant within the consortium and holds overall legal and financial accountability to ensure compliance with the SEA DREAM grant conditions across all Consortium Members. The Lead Organisation oversees:  

• Consortium coordination and partnership management   
• Operational oversight of Consortium activities  
• Financial management of overall Consortium budget and disbursement to Consortium Members  
• Reporting and Communication, including Monitoring, Evaluation and Risk Management  

The Lead Organisation is also responsible for submitting the final application to SEA DREAM and signing the grant agreement.  

The Co-Applying Organisation will work in partnership with the Lead Organisation contributing to the proposed activities. This could include, but is not limited to, leading a strand of research, or meaningfully engaging in training and development or research ecosystem strengthening activities.  

The consortium should agree among themselves on additional roles, responsibilities, and authorities of the Lead Organisation and individual Consortium Members, official communication and representation of the consortium, arrangements for consortium meetings, and other governance matters.

SEA DREAM does not claim ownership of intellectual property; IP remains with the researchers’ employing organisations. The full Intellectual Property Rights policy will be published in January 2026.

Early-stage translation support can be applied within the SEA DREAM application. Large-scale commercialisation efforts will need to be funded by the consortia or other sources. 

All commercialisation is subject to SEA DREAM’s revenue and equity sharing policy.

Yes. Applicants are encouraged to collaborate with the private sector and local government as part of their research. A strong application will include strategic stakeholder involvement and effective dissemination strategies to achieve impact and support communities most affected.

No. Ethics approval is not required at the application stage. However, the applicant must address ethical considerations, the involvement of human participants or animal studies, and provide a data management plan in the proposal, as well as plan to receive ethical approval ahead of conducting research. 

Any research involving human and animal subjects must undergo an ethics review before research is conducted.

Yes. If the proposed activities involve human challenge studies, strict restrictions and methodological safeguards must be in place due to the high ethical sensitivity of such studies.  All researchers and organisations are required to adhere to ethical principles and guidelines, comply with all relevant legislation, and follow best practice standards for research involving human participants.

A safeguarding policy outlines an organisation's commitment to protect peoples' health, wellbeing and human rights, and enabling them to live free from harm, bullying, abuse and neglect.  

The organisation must ensure safeguarding policies, protocols, and procedures are in place and is being verifiably complied with effectively with no indication at all of any safeguarding breach. 

Applications must describe within their risk management approach how safeguarding risks will be identified and managed within the project.

Yes. The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is permitted. If generative AI has been used to develop your research question or assist in writing your application, the applicant must disclose any use of generative AI on their application form except where it has been used for translating application language and improving the standard of English used in applications. The applicants must be responsible for the content of their applications if generative AI has been used.

Gender Equity, Diversity, and Inclusivity (GEDI) is a framework used in ASEAN aimed at ensuring fair treatment and representation of all individuals, regardless of matters such as gender, ethnicity, religion, disability, or sexual orientation. These factors are essential to ensure that the research is conducted in a responsible, equitable, and inclusive manner. 

In general, the payment to grantees is done quarterly in arrears, subject compliance to all reporting requirements. Grantees must submit fund requests by the 20th of the month following the end of each quarter, based on expenditures incurred during that quarter. Grants are disbursed within the last week of the second month of the following quarter, approximately one month after the submission and approval of quarterly reports.

Yes, in exceptional cases. If a grantee operates in a limited financial resource setting; advanced payments can be considered. Advanced payments may be in the form of 1) a mobilisation (one-off) payment; or 2) ongoing advanced funding if conditions are met. 

Requests for advanced funding must be indicated in the application with the relevant evidence e.g., financial standing based on reserve funding ratio.

No. Should the grantee not be able to comply with specific terms and conditions in the grant agreement, they are not eligible for the award.  

When organisations and researchers accept grant funding from SEA DREAM they must agree to comply with the terms and conditions of the award. These terms and conditions are set out in the grant agreement, which includes our grant conditions and funding policies. 

The purpose of our terms and conditions is to ensure that funding is used for the purposes for which it was awarded, and that the research is managed lawfully and continues to be run in line with SEA DREAM’s strategic aims. 

However, potential adjustments or deviations in terms of grant management may be agreed to in the award letter, such as reporting and payment schedules, if a strong supporting rationale and justification are provided

Yes. Grantees are expected to conduct an annual independent external audit and budget accordingly in their proposal. The SEA DREAM Programme team may conduct site-visits in addition to the external audits to monitor compliance of each grantee to the terms and conditions and funding policies. 

Grantees must allow SEA DREAM, at our expense and on reasonable notice, to audit their accounts, records, systems and facilities in relation to the Grant. 

You must ensure that you are able to audit the Grant Activities of any Consortium Member Organisation in such a way that you are able to comply with your obligations to us.

You must keep all invoices, receipts, accounts, and other relevant documents relating to the Grant and Grant activities in accordance with your data retention policy, and at a minimum for three years after the Grant end date and provide these to us if we ask you for them.

For each Consortium, the Principal Investigator and supporting staff (i.e., Deputy-Principal Investigator, Co-Principal Investigators, Grants and Research Office support staff) are expected to meet with the SEA DREAM Programme every three (3) months in quarterly meetings tied to quarterly reporting. Ad-hoc meetings for coordination and consultation may be scheduled as required by SEA DREAM or requested by the grantee. 

At the beginning of your award, within the first month, a kick-off meeting will be set up by the SEA DREAM Programme team.   

Alternative meeting and reporting arrangements may be agreed on in exceptional cases.

The SEA DREAM Programme mandates regular reporting from Grantees, covering both technical and financial aspects. All reports must be submitted in English. 

Grantees are required to submit: 

• Quarterly financial and technical progress of the programme, including expenditure budget and variance, budget forecast, outputs and milestone achievements, as well as risk management.  
• Annual Report provides a comprehensive overview of the programme’s yearly progress, including outputs, outcomes, key achievements, and impact. It highlights accomplishments through select grantee case studies and includes analysis of risks, challenges, and lessons learned. 
• Midterm Report at the half-way point of your grant, focusing on reviewing progress, challenges and lessons in achieving the programme's objectives. It includes necessary adjustments, as well as analysis of the political and economic context and stakeholder engagement. 
• End of Grant Report provides a clear narrative towards the impact achieved towards strengthening the research ecosystem of Southeast Asia and lessons learned from all activities across the consortium.  
• IP and Commercialisation Report covers all IP-related activities for the previous calendar year that should include new invention disclosures, new patent applications and granted patents, copies of commercialisation agreements and transactions, revenue generated by commercialising IP, and revenue retention request (if relevant). If there is no IP-related activity within the grant, the grantee needs to submit the NULL report. 

Yes. The Lead Organisation will consolidate input from partners.

A succession plan should be in place and defined in the Consortium-level agreement between all Consortium Members. SEA DREAM will have to be informed immediately and asked for approval ahead of any changes. SEA DREAM might conduct additional due diligence checks and organisational and operational reviews for new Consortium Leads.

During project implementation, Consortium Lead and Members are expected to maintain a risk and issue register to identify, document, and manage potential risks and issues that could impact the successful completion of grant activities. The SEA DREAM risk management framework will be provided to the Lead Organisation for reference in developing the risk register that are specific to the proposed project by each consortium. If the project cannot be performed according to the proposed work plan and timeline, the Lead Organisation is responsible for informing SEA DREAM within (and in urgent cases outside) of regular reporting structures to highlight implementation and performance risks and develop mitigation strategies and solutions.

No. By default, an extension of the project is not permitted.

Yes. Throughout the funding call, prospective applicants can submit their questions to: 

• info@sea-dream.org for general programme inquiries. 
• grants@sea-dream.org for questions related to funding call and grants. 

Answers to clarification questions will be published on the SEA DREAM webpage.

Yes. SEA DREAM will hold a pre-launch webinar on 18 December 2025 to share details of the upcoming DREAM 4 Health Funding Call 2026-2031 with potential applicants.

The SEA DREAM “DREAM 4 Health” Funding Call 2026-2031 will be officially launched and the window for preliminary applications will open during the Prince Mahidol Award Conference (PMAC) 2026 in the last week of January 2026.  
In between the pre-launch, the launch, and the pre-liminary application window, SEA DREAM will host a series of webinars and Q&A sessions for potential applicants.

Interested applicants are encouraged to subscribe for the SEA DREAM Newsletter to receive programme updates. Information on the Funding Call and the Launch event is published e on the SEA DREAM website page at www.sea-dream.org.

Applicant guidelines will provide detailed instructions on how to complete the application form and submit the application. These guidelines will include information on eligibility criteria, evaluation criteria, submission deadlines, and specific requirements such as reporting cadence, risk management, and considerations related to Gender Equity, Disability, and Inclusion (GEDI), as well as value for money.  

Financial management guidance will also be included, covering eligible and ineligible costs, and financial management related policies.   

These guidelines are made available to applicants and published on SEA DREAM webpage, along with thematic briefs on the health priorities that SEA DREAM aims to address and objectives SEA DREAM wants to achieve through funding regional research consortia.

Communication of updates and clarifications regarding the funding call is made available on the SEA DREAM website. 

Sign up to SEA DREAM newsletter here.