When What
7 January 2021Launch of the call
9 March 2021Deadline for pre-proposal submission
17 May 2021Selection of a short list of 53 projects
30 June 2021Deadline for full proposal submission
13-14 September 2021Peer review panel meeting, ranking list
November 2021Funding decision
First half 2022Start of projects

Proposal submission, peer review process, funding decision

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 (Latvia, Hungary, 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 DLR Project Management Agency, Germany.

Peer Review

In order to properly cover all aspects of the broad topic, 53 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 53 projects whose coordinators were invited by the Joint Call Secretariat to submit full proposals. In total 23 scientific, 11 lay, and 9 ethics reviewers gave written evaluation on the full proposals. On their basis 17 of the scientific and of the lay reviewers discussed these full proposals thoroughly in a virtual meeting and provided funding recommendations 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 considering the national budgets available.
As a result of this step, the top 18 projects could be funded. The projects comprise 80 research groups (Principal Investigators) from 15 partner countries. The total funding volume amounts to about 19.2 m€ for three years.

Funding organisations supporting this call

22 funding agencies from 20 different countries plus the European Commission contributed with a budget of 19.2 Mio€ to the funding of the project of the JTC 2021 “Neurodevelopmental Disorders”.

Funding OrganisationCountry
Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique-FNRS (F.R.S.-FNRS)Belgium
Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO)Belgium
Ministarstvo Znanosti i Obrazovanja (MZO)Croatia
 Estonian Research Council (ETAg)Estonia
 Suomen Akatemia (AKA)Finland
French National Research Agency (ANR)France
 Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)Germany
 National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NKFIH)Hungary
Health Research Board (HRB)Ireland
Chief Scientist Office, 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
Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT)Portugal
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
Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST)Taiwan
The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK)Turkey