SGH-NKF Renal Research Fund

Today, kidney disease remains a serious health challenge. Singapore ranks 4^th globally for number of people living with kidney failure and 5^th for newly diagnosed cases each year.³ The prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) has risen sharply, from 8.7% in 2019-2020 to 13.8% in 2021-2022, placing many Singaporeans at risk of progressing to kidney failure.⁴

To mark the 50^th anniversary of the SGH Department of Renal Medicine, SGH and NKF are once again joining forces in the fight against kidney disease in Singapore. The SGH-NKF Renal Research Fund, established in 2025 with S$11 million in joint funding from NKF and Duke-NUS, is dedicated to advancing research, innovation and programmes that improve patient care and prevent kidney failure.

Areas of Focus

The fund will support annual grant calls in the following areas:

1. Prevention and Management of CKD and its complication through screening and timely diagnosis
2. Reno-retardation programme to slow down progression of CKD
3. Renal Replacement therapies (RRT), with a preference of home-based RRT
4. Kidney Transplantation
5. Advocacy research on CKD prevention and management
6. Psychosocial aspects of patient's and caregiver’s journey

Eligibility Criteria

Each SGH-NKF application must be led by a Clinical Principal Investigator (PI) who has to fulfil the eligibility criteria listed below:

1. PI must be clinically qualified (i.e. with MD/MBBS/BDS) and preferably with post-graduate clinical training and experience.
2. Nurses and Allied Health Professionals who meet the following conditions may apply:
   1. Non-medically trained PIs who are nurses, pharmacists, or other allied health professions in clinical practice, doing research in clinical settings or doing research with clinical and healthcare applications/relevance, are eligible to apply.
   2. Applicants who are working in human clinical research, including epidemiologists, biostatisticians, and whose research is clinically relevant and has potential health impact, will be considered as exceptions on a case-by-case basis.
   3. Non-medically trained applicants conducting wet laboratory-based research are not eligible.
   4. Applicants must possess a minimum academic qualification of a PhD or the equivalent training.
3. For proposals involving patients, the clinical PI or co-I should be SMC registered; or should be able to demonstrate ability to access patients through SMC registered collaborators.
4. Only one PI is allowed per application. The number of applications by an individual (as PI) is capped at 1 grant application per grant type in a grant call.

Additional Eligibility Criteria Includes

1. Hold a primary appointment in a local public hospital/public health institutions/national specialty centre/public universities/Academic Medical Centres and salaried by the institution.
2. For non-SGH PI applicants, please include a nephrologist from SGH as collaborator/co-investigator in the research team.
3. Have a laboratory or clinical research program that carries out research in Singapore.

Grant Call Frequency

There will be one grant calls per year in Jan.

Funding Details

The inaugural SGH-NKF Renal Research Fund Grant Call opens on 12 January 2026. Researchers are invited to submit their proposals by 16 March 2026 (5:00pm), with each successful project eligible for funding of up to S$100,000 for 1 year project duration. Applications will be reviewed, and the grant will be awarded on 1 July 2026.

Review Committee

Submission

Click here to download the application form. Interested applicants are to upload a completed application form to https://for.sg/sghnkf2026. Softcopy of full proposal to be submitted as 1 file including all the annexes, pictures, tables, charts, and various attachments in the relevant section(s). Hardcopy submission is not required. For any enquiries/clarifications, please email to sgh-nkfresearch@sgh.com.sg.

Applications will close on 16 March 2026 at 5:00pm (SGT).

¹Pwee, H.S. and Khoo, O.T. (1982) ‘The history of dialysis in Singapore’, Annals of the Academy of Medicine, Singapore, 11(3), pp. 370–373.

²Choong, H.L. et al. (1991) ‘Maintenance Haemodialysis in Singapore’, Singapore Medical Journal, 32, pp. 133–138.

³United States Renal Data System (USRDS) 2024 Annual Data Report

⁴National Population Health Survey 2022