The European Partnership for Brain Health (EP BrainHealth) invites applications to combine a holistic approach to brain health with in-depth biological understanding. The aim of the call is to facilitate multinational, collaborative and interdisciplinary research that addresses critical translational questions. Applications for this call, should address how biological, social and environmental factors affect the trajectory of neurodegenerative disorders across the lifespan. Applications addressing predominantly neurological, mental and sensory disorders should be submitted to the EP BrainHealth call 1, dedicated to these diseases. Applications addressing risk factors that are shared between mental health, neurological, mental and sensory disorders on the one hand, and neurodegenerative disorders on the other are encouraged and should be submitted to the call that best suits their project. Please note that applying with the same proposal to both EP BrainHealth calls is not allowed. Applications must be interdisciplinary and address at least two of the three factors impacting brain health trajectories in the field of neurodegenerative disorders, as listed below:

1. Biological factors, e.g. genetics, epigenetics, -omics, neuroplasticity, inflammation, infection, synaptogenesis, circuits, vascular factors, sensory impairment, co-morbidities;
2. Lifestyle and social factors, e.g. exercise/activity, nutrition, sleep, smoking, alcohol and drug abuse, work (income, employment), socio-economic background/status, race/ethnicity, sex and gender, education, safety, social interactions (family/friends), access to healthcare, stress, trauma, migration.
3. Environmental factors, e.g. pollution/contaminants, urbanicity, disasters, pandemics, war/conflicts, climate change, microbiota, nature.

In addition, applications must investigate at least two of the following aspects:

1. Mechanisms of action of the identified factors;
2. Early recognition, diagnosis and prognosis linked to the identified factors;
3. Prevention/treatments/interventions/technological development/care and support linked to the identified factors.

Furthermore, the following aspects are important in the context of this call:

1. Applications should investigate how factors impact brain health trajectories along the life course.
2. Outcomes benefiting the quality of life of patients and their carers are of special importance and should be explicitly defined and stated.
3. Applications focusing on disability, gender, ethical, cultural and socio-economic aspects are encouraged.
4. Approaches such as integration of multimodal data, use of accessible wearable technologies (e.g. mobile devices), artificial intelligence/digital twins and drug repurposing are particularly welcome.

Excluded are the following topics/aspects:

1. Applications focusing on cancers;
2. Applications addressing predominantly research questions in the field of the EP BrainHealth call 1 (neurological, mental disorders and sensory disorders).

Collaboration, interdisciplinarity and translationality

Each consortium should have the critical mass to achieve the identified scientific goals and should specify the benefit of working together. Applicants should demonstrate that they have the expertise and range of skills required to conduct the research project or that appropriate collaborations are in place. Leveraging expertise from fields outside brain health research, which can introduce innovative approaches, is encouraged. The added value to ongoing activities and the expected impact on research, medical applications, improved patient well-being, health related outcomes and benefits for society should be explicitly stated. If a proposal is complementary to research already funded or submitted to other funding initiatives, it must be stated how EP BrainHealth funding can supplement the ongoing activities. Double funding is not permitted.

Consortium Composition

Only transnational projects will be funded. Each consortium submitting a proposal must involve a minimum of three research partners eligible for funding by organisations listed in this call text. The eligible research partners must be from at least three different participating countries and including at least two EU Member States or Associated Countries. The total number of research partners in a consortium is limited to six, including partners participating at their own expenses. For reasons of transnational balance, no more than two partners from the same country are allowed to join a proposal. Gender balance among the partners of a consortium is encouraged.

Eligibility

Proposal may be submitted by applicants strictly according to the eligibility criteria laid down in the call documents and the respective national regulations provided as annexes to the call text (https://www.brainhealth-partnership.eu/calls/jtc2026-neurodegenerative-disorders/).

Review

The review process will be in two stages namely a pre-proposal step (first stage) and a full proposal step (second stage). In both steps each proposal will be assigned to at least three reviewers. All reviewers are required to declare the absence of conflicts of interest (CoI) and must refrain from reviewing an application or from discussing a proposal for which a conflict has been identified. Proposals will be ranked according to the evaluation results and the selection will be made on the basis of this ranking. Only proposals complying with all central Horizon Europe and regional/national ethical requirements, will be funded.

An independent observer will be appointed. The independent observer will be an internationally recognised expert who will assess the conformity of the implementation of the joint call and, in particular, review the proper implementation of the independent international peer review and the establishment of the ranking list of transnational projects. The observer’s assessment report will be submitted to the European Commission.

Redress Procedure

Applicants can appeal against the evaluation outcome if they suspect a breach in the application of the evaluation and selection procedures. Requests must:

1. be related to the evaluation process, or eligibility checks;
2. include a clear description of the grounds for complaint;
3. be received by the Joint Call Secretariat within the time limit specified, i.e. 7 days after the date of dispatch of the evaluation outcome.

The redress cannot call into question the scientific or technical judgement of appropriately qualified experts. The proposal outcome email containing the results of the evaluation will give information on the appeal procedure, which is: Upon receipt of an appeal, an acknowledgement of receipt will be sent by the call secretariat. The acknowledgement will report the redress process and the anticipated date by which a decision on the appeal will be communicated to the appellant. All appeals received by the 7 calendar days deadline will be processed together and the decision will be communicated to the appellant within 7 calendar days from the deadline for submitting the appeals. The redress procedure outlined here does not overrule national appeal rights and procedures.

Please, be reminded that the above summary does not include all potentially relevant details for applicants. Applicants are invited to refer to the full information available at the EP BrainHealth website (https://www.brainhealth-partnership.eu/calls/jtc2026-neurodegenerative-disorders/).