Find below details on the call’s implementation:

Timeline

The timeline of the JTC 2020 “Sensory Disorders” is shown below:

WhenWhat
8 January 2020Launch of the call
10 March 2020Deadline for pre-proposal submission
16 May 2020Selection of a short list of 37 projects
26 June 2020Deadline for full proposal submission
9-10 September 2020Peer review panel meeting, ranking list
Oct-Nov 2020Funding decision
First half 2021Start of projects

Proposal submission, peer review process, funding decision

Proposal submission

Research consortia had to consist of 3 - 5 research groups from at least three NEURON partner countries participating in this call. Consortia including partners from countries that are to date underrepresented in this funding scheme (Hungary, Latvia, Romania, Turkey and Slovakia) could increase the total number of partners to six. The two-step process required at first the submission of short pre-proposals describing the research idea. From these a short list was selected and the respective consortia were invited to submit full proposals (see also below).
Both pre- and full proposals had to be submitted electronically by the coordinator of the consortium. Proposal templates and guidelines were provided by the Joint Call Secretariat in order to support the applicants in terms of the proposal format. The Joint Call Secretariat is hosted by the State Research Agency (AEI), Spain.

Peer Review

In order to properly cover all aspects of the broad topic, 30 experts were recruited from NEURON partner countries and beyond. Each pre-proposal was assessed in writing by three evaluators. The assessments were based on the criteria listed in the call text and consisted of a global score and additional comments. The projects were ranked according to the reviewer’s scores. Based on this ranking list, the funding organisations selected 37 projects whose coordinators were invited by the Joint Call Secretariat to submit full proposals. Seventeen experts on the Peer Review Panel (PRP) discussed these full proposals thoroughly in a virtual meeting and eventually provided a funding recommendation for each proposal and a ranking list.

Funding decision and granting process

The funding decision was taken by the funding organisations participating in the joint call for proposals. Starting with the best proposal and following the ranking list, as many proposals were selected for funding taking into account the national budgets available.

As a result of this step, the top 12 projects could be funded. The projects comprise 48 research groups (Principal Investigators) from 12 countries. The total funding volume amounts to about 9.6 m€ for three years.

In a last step, the Principal Investigators had to fulfil legal and administrative requirements of their national / regional funding agencies, in order to receive the grant.

Most of the projects started during the first half of 2021.

Funding organisations supporting this call

19 funding agencies from 16 different countries participating with an earmarked budget of 12,8 Mio€ in the JTC 2020 “Sensory Disorders”.

Funding OrganisationCountry
Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique-FNRS (F.R.S.-FNRS)Belgium
Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO)Belgium
Fonds de recherche du Québec - Santé (FRQS) (Québec)Canada
Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction (CIHR-INMHA)Canada
French National Research Agency (ANR)France
Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)Germany
General Secretariat for Research and Technology (GSRT)Greece
National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NKFIH)Hungary
Ministry of Health (CSO-MOH)Israel
Ministry of Health (MOH)Italy
State Education Development Agency (VIAA)Latvia
The Research Council of Norway (RCN)Norway
National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR)Poland
Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research,Development & Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI)Romania
Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS)Slovakia
National Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII)Spain
Spanish State Research Agency (AEI)Spain
Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)Switzerland
The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK)Turkey