The Off Road programme focuses on curiosity-driven, fundamental research at the start of the knowledge chain and the ability to quickly explore a promising idea into a proof of concept within the biomedical and health sciences field.

Who can apply

ZonMw Off Road challenges creative and adventurous researchers, between 2-6 years after their PhD, to explore their promising, innovative and risky ideas. 

The aim of this is to realise new insights and unexpected breakthroughs in medical and/or health research. Additional conditions for applicants can be found in paragraph 3.1.1 of the Call for proposals. Information regarding the extension scheme can be found in the appendix Extension Scheme Off Road (see section 'To prepare'). 

What for

By focusing on high-risk, high-reward research, ZonMw is responding to the global need for out-of-the-box ideas to promote new insights and unexpected breakthroughs in all scientific disciplines. 

Off Road focuses on groundbreaking research in the biomedical and/or healthcare field, with a high-risk character that is not on the beaten path of research. The emphasis of the applications is mainly on developing a promising but risky out-of-the-box idea into a proof of concept. This means that, although the developed idea can have a long-term character, the project is mainly aimed at testing the hypothesis behind the concept/idea. The outcome may be negative, but what counts is that every result, whether or not there is an effect, helps science move forward. 

What to request

The total available grant budget in this grant round (Off Road 2025) is €2,000,000.-. Additionally, the ZonMw programme More Knowledge with Fewer Animals makes an amount of €600,000,- available for the New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) investment module. This amount includes a contribution of €250,000,- by Stichting Proefdiervrij (The Dutch Society for the Replacement of Animal Testing). Together with the Off Road grant budget of €2,000,000.-, the total grant budget for this round is €2,600,000.-.

Per application, a maximum of €100,000.- can be applied for by Zonmw, with a duration of 12 to 18 months. Additionally, it is possible to apply for the optional NAMs investment module for an amount of up to €30,000.-. This amount is in addition to the requested grant amount upon possible approval. The maximum subsidy amount available for applications that include an investment module is €130,000 (for more information, see the paragraph ‘Financial conditions’).

When