Calls for Research Funding

Suggested Links

Horizon Europe Programme

https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/home - Funding and Tenders tab

European Research Council

https://erc.europa.eu/apply-grant

Innovative Health Initiatives

https://www.ihi.europa.eu/apply-funding/future-opportunities

Leducq Foundation

https://www.fondationleducq.org/

European Research Area Network on Cardiovascular Diseases

https://www.era-cvd.eu/

Network of National Contact Points

https://horizoneuropencpportal.eu/

Open Calls

It is recommended to consult the detailed conditions for applying for a grant (see the links provided).

Horizon Europe

General conditions to participate in Horizon calls

To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries (member states of the European Union, including their outermost regions): Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.

Other overseas countries and territories (OCTs) linked to the member states, other countries associated with Horizon Europe, and some low- and middle-income countries can also be eligible – see the complete list.

In addition, any legal entity established in the United States of America is eligible to receive Union funding.

Unless otherwise provided for in the specific call conditions, only legal entities forming a consortium are eligible to participate in actions provided that the consortium includes, as beneficiaries, three legal entities independent from each other and each established in a different country as follows:

• at least one independent legal entity established in a Member State; and
• at least two other independent legal entities, each established in different Member States or Associated Countries.

HORIZON-JU-IHI-2023-05-03-single-stage: Improved prediction, detection, and treatment approaches for comprehensive stroke management

Deadline: 16 January 2024

Scope:

Stroke is one of the main causes of death and disability worldwide. While several effective treatment approaches are available, there are still silos existing between the different stages of care (e.g., primary, acute care, intensive care, chronic hospitalisation, rehabilitation). The implementation of connected healthcare pathways will lead to an improvement in the outcome for the patients and thereby drive efficiency and effectiveness from a clinical and health resource perspective. Better communication, sharing and integration of data along the whole stroke care pathway has the potential to be a game changer for stroke patients and for the healthcare professionals as well as payers.

Integrating data is key to allow for modelling, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML)-based evaluation to identify groups and individual persons at risk and assure early recognition of stroke, thereby providing faster diagnosis and optimal, patient-specific treatment, resulting in better outcomes for patients. Effective, personalised and rapid care is critical and can make a substantial difference between full recovery and possible permanent impairment or death. Innovative solutions for faster acquisition, integration, and better retention of multiple types of data and better organisation among the various actors across the entire stroke pathway are crucial to achieve optimal prevention and treatment focused on the needs of patients. Use of novel technologies for federated data analytics and interpretation could help in this direction and assist in providing the right treatment to patients in a timely manner, improving their outcomes.

Expected outcome:

Research and innovation (R&I) actions (projects) to be supported under this topic must aim to deliver results that contribute to all the following expected outcomes:

• Patients will benefit from superior healthcare compared to the current standard of care through the availability of a clear pathway for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of their stroke. This should be achieved by early and rapid diagnosis of stroke, more integrated and precise interventions, and treatment strategies with the patient in the centre.
• Healthcare professionals will have access to integrated patients’ health data, improved visualisation, predictive computational models and clinical support decision systems for stroke, and benefit from efficient coordination among and within stages of care and clinical specialities.
• Healthcare systems will benefit from more effective organisation of stroke management and personalisation of care delivery. This will increase treatment and care effectiveness and efficiency.
• Researchers will benefit from access to integrated data, innovative modelling-based tools, and a more patient-centred definition of clinical outcomes after stroke (including Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement and Patients Reported Experience Measurement), which will facilitate the continued improvement and development of future intervention strategies.
• Health care systems, researchers, and industry will benefit from new innovative modelling tools enabling integration and analysis of a wider, actionable range of patient-specific data, including federated analysis of data.

HORIZON-JU-IHI-2023-05-04 – single-stage: Maximising the potential of synthetic data generation in healthcare applications

Deadline: 16 January 2024

Scopes:

Healthcare research using individual patient data is often constrained due to restrictions in data access because of privacy, security, intellectual property (IP) and other concerns. Synthetic health data, i.e., data that is artificially created to mimic individual patient data, can reduce these concerns, leading to more rapid development of reliable data-driven methods including diagnostic, precision medicine, decision support and patient monitoring tools. However, while many synthetic data generation (SDG) methods are currently available, it is not always clear which method is best for which use case, and SDG methods for some types of data are still immature. Furthermore, it is still unclear whether highly detailed synthetic data, which are often needed for research, can be categorised as anonymous.
The projects should address the following objectives:

• assemble a cross-sectoral public-private consortium including synthetic data experts, public and private data owners, and healthcare solution developers;
• using high-quality public and private datasets, develop / further develop and validate reliable SDG methods for relevant healthcare use cases. The use cases to be explored must be described and justified in the proposal, complement work that is already ongoing, and should:
• ensure the broad applicability of the SDG methods developed and include data types that are not currently adequately addressed, such as device data, image data, genomic data etc;
• include methods to generate: a) fully synthetic datasets that do not contain any real data; b) hybrid datasets composed of a combination of data derived from both real and synthetic data; and c) synthetically-augmented datasets.
• pay particular attention to bias, both in source data and in the SDG methods.
• validate the synthetic data generation methods applied in the project using source data. This should include assessing the risk of re-identification;
• demonstrate the quality and applicability of the synthetic data generated in the project through the development of relevant models;
• encourage the uptake of the results of the project through a strong communication and outreach plan.
• Applicants are expected to consider allocating appropriate resources to explore synergies with other relevant initiatives and projects, including the EC proposal for an European Health Data Space (EHDS)1when it becomes operational.

Expected outcomes:

The proposals should contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• academic and industrial researchers should have access to relevant, robust, and generalisable synthetic data generation methodologies, including open source when relevant, to create and share pools of synthetic patient data in specific use cases;
• academic and industrial researchers should have access to relevant, high quality synthetic datasets;
• thanks to better availability of robust synthetic datasets for training data models, healthcare providers and industry should have a wider range of performant AI-based and other data-driven tools to support diagnostics, personalised treatment decision-making and prediction of health outcomes.

MSCA - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions - Calls

HORIZON-MSCA-2024-DN-01-01 - Doctoral Networks 2024

Opens 29 May 2024 - deadline 27 November 2024

Scopes:

MSCA Doctoral Networks will implement doctoral programs, by partnerships of universities, research institutions and research infrastructures, businesses including SMEs, and other socio-economic actors from different countries across Europe and beyond. The MSCA Doctoral Networks aim to train creative, entrepreneurial, innovative, and resilient doctoral candidates, able to face current and future challenges and to convert knowledge and ideas into products and services for economic and social benefit.

The MSCA Doctoral Networks will raise the attractiveness and excellence of doctoral training in Europe. They will equip researchers with the right combination of research-related and transferable competences and provide them with enhanced career perspectives in both the academic and non-academic sectors through international, inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary mobility combined with an innovation-oriented mind-set.

Expected outcomes:

Project results are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:

For supported doctoral candidates

• New research and transferable skills and competences, leading to improved  employability and career prospects within and outside academia;
• New knowledge allowing the conversion of ideas into products and services, where relevant;
• Enhanced networking and communication capacities with scientific peers, as well as with the general public that will increase and broaden the research and innovation impact.

For participating organisations

• Improved quality, relevance and sustainability of doctoral training programmes and supervision arrangements;
• Enhanced cooperation and transfer of knowledge between sectors and disciplines;
• Increased integration of training and research activities between participating organisations;
• Boosted R&I capacity;
• Increased internationalisation and attractiveness;
• Regular feedback of research results into teaching and education at participating organisations.

HORIZON-MSCA-2023-SE-01-01 - Staff exchanges

Deadline 28 February 2024

Scopes:

MSCA Staff Exchanges involve organizations from the academic and non-academic sectors (including SMEs) from across the globe.

The collaborative approach of MSCA Staff Exchanges should exploit complementary competences of the participating organizations and create synergies between them. The secondments should be essential to achieve the joint project’s R&I activities. The project should inter alia enable networking activities and the organization of workshops and conferences, to facilitate sharing of knowledge and testing of innovative approaches for specific R&I topics.

Expected outcomes:

Project results are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:

For staff members

• Increased set of research and transferable skills and competences, leading to improved employability and career prospects within and outside academia;
• More knowledge and innovative ideas converted into products, processes and services;
• More entrepreneurial mind-sets, testing new and innovative ideas;
• Increased international exposure leading to extended networks and opportunities;
• Enhanced networking and communication capacities with scientific peers, as well as with the general public that will increase and broaden the research and innovation impact.

For participating organisations

• Innovative ways of cooperation and transfer of knowledge between sectors and disciplines;
• Strengthened and broader international, inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary collaborative networks;
• Boosted R&I capacity.

Fellowships will be provided to excellent researchers undertaking international mobility. Applications will be made jointly by the researcher and a beneficiary in the academic or non-academic sector.

Postdoctoral Fellowships either can take place in Europe (i.e. in an EU Member State or a Horizon Europe Associated Country) or in a Third Country not associated to Horizon Europe:

• European Postdoctoral Fellowships are open to researchers of any nationality who wish to engage in R&I projects by either coming to Europe from any country in the world or moving within Europe. The standard duration of these fellowships must be between 12 and 24 months.
• Global Postdoctoral Fellowships are open to European nationals or long-term residents[1] who wish to engage in R&I projects with organisations outside EU Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries. These fellowships require an outgoing phase of minimum 12 and maximum 24 months in a non-associated Third Country, and a mandatory 12-month return phase to a host organisation based in an EU Member State or a Horizon Europe Associated Country.

Expected outcomes:

Project results are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:

For supported postdoctoral fellows

• Increased set of research and transferable skills and competences, leading to improved employability and career prospects of MSCA postdoctoral fellows within academia and beyond;
• New mind-sets and approaches to R&I work forged through international, inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary experience;
• Enhanced networking and communication capacities with scientific peers, as well as with the general public that will increase and broaden the research and innovation impact.

For participating organisations

• Increased alignment of working conditions for researchers in accordance with the principles set out in the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers;
• Enhanced quality and sustainability of research training and supervision;
• Increased global attractiveness, visibility and reputation of the participating organisation(s);
• Stronger R&I capacity and output among participating organisations; better transfer of knowledge;
• Regular feedback of research results into teaching and education at participating organisations.

ERC - European Research Council - Calls

• Starting Grant: Deadline 07/11/2023

Researchers of any nationality with 2-7 years of experience since completion of PhD, a scientific track record showing great promise and an excellent research proposal can apply.

Applications can be made in any field of research. Research must be conducted in a public or private research organisation (known as a Host Institution/HI). It could be the HI where the applicant already works, or any other HI located in one of the EU Member States or Associated Countries

• Consolidator Grant: Deadline 12/12/2023

Researchers of any nationality with 7-12 years of experience since completion of PhD, a scientific track record showing great promise and an excellent research proposal can apply.

Applications can be made in any field of research. Research must be conducted in a public or private research organisation (known as a Host Institution/HI). It could be the HI where the applicant already works, or any other HI located in one of the EU Member States or Associated Countries

• Advanced Grant: open 29/05/2023 - Deadline 29/08/2023

Applicants for the ERC Advanced Grants - called Principal Investigators (PI) - are expected to be active researchers who have a track-record of significant research achievements in the last 10 years.

Applications can be made in any field of research. Research must be conducted in a public or private research organisation (known as a Host Institution/HI). It could be the HI where the applicant already works, or any other HI located in one of the EU Member States or Associated Countries

• Synergy Grant: Deadline 15/11/2023

A group of two to maximum four Principal Investigators (PIs) working together and bringing different skills and resources to tackle ambitious research problems.  One will be designated as the corresponding PI (cPI). No specific eligibility criteria regarding the academic training are foreseen for ERC Synergy Grants. PIs must present an early achievement track-record or a ten-year track-record, whichever is most appropriate. Proposals are evaluated on the sole criterion of scientific excellence which takes on the additional meaning of outstanding intrinsic synergetic effect.

Applications can be made in any field of research. Research must be conducted in a public or private research organisation (known as a Host Institution/HI). It could be the HI where the applicant already works, or any other HI located in one of the EU Member States or Associated Countries

• Proof of Concept Grant: open 16/11/2023 - Deadline 14/03/2024 and 17/09/2024

All Principal Investigators in one of the ERC frontier research main grants (Starting, Consolidator, Advanced or Synergy) are eligible to participate and apply for an ERC Proof of Concept Grant. Principal Investigators in an ongoing main grant, or Principal Investigators in a main grant that has ended less than 12 months before 1 January 2023, are eligible to apply. The Principal Investigator must be able to demonstrate the relation between the idea to be taken to proof of concept and the ERC frontier research project (Starting, Consolidator, Advanced or Synergy) in question. A Principal Investigator may submit only one application per call.

The ERC Proof of Concept funding is made available only to those who already have an ERC award to establish proof of concept of an idea that was generated in the course of their ERC-funded projects. The objective is to enable ERC-funded ideas to progress on the path from ground-breaking research towards innovation.

IHI - Innovative Health Initiative

Published 23 October 2023) 
Draft topics for IHI Calls 6 and 7 which are planned to be launched in early 2024!
Stay tuned!
https://www.ihi.europa.eu/news-events/newsroom/just-published-draft-topics-ihi-calls-6-and-7

Reminder

Horizon Europe

Two stage calls – Second stage deadline: 11 April 2024

• HORIZON-HLTH-2024-STAYHLTH-01-05-two-stage: Personalised prevention of non-communicable diseases - addressing areas of unmet needs using multiple data sources.
• HORIZON-HLTH-2024-ENVHLTH-02-06-two-stage: The role of environmental pollution in non-communicable diseases: air, noise and light and hazardous waste pollution. 
• HORIZON-HLTH-2024-DISEASE-03-08-two-stage: Comparative effectiveness research for healthcare interventions in areas of high public health need.
• HORIZON-HLTH-2024-TOOL-05-06-two-stage: Innovative non-animal human-based tools and strategies for biomedical research