Implementation of the call 2024 “Bidirectional Brain-Body Interactions”
Timeline
8 January 2024 | Launch of the call |
8 March 2024 | Deadline for pre-proposal submission |
14 May 2024 | Selection of a short list of 43 projects |
28 June 2024 | Deadline for full proposal submission |
10-11 September 2024 | Peer review panel meeting, ranking list |
November 2024 | Funding decision |
First half 2025 | Start 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 (Croatia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Taiwan and Türkiye) 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 Spanish State Research Agency, Agencia Estatal de Investigación, AEI (Spain).
Peer Review
In order to properly cover all aspects of the broad topic, 45 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 43 projects whose coordinators were invited by the Joint Call Secretariat to submit full proposals. In total 16 scientific, 11 patient, and 9 ethics reviewers gave written evaluation on the full proposals. On this basis, 13 of the scientific reviewers, 6 of the patient reviewers and an ethics spokesperson discussed these full proposals thoroughly in a hybrid 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 as possible were selected for funding, taking into account the national budgets available.
As a result of this step, 14 projects could be funded. The projects comprise 64 research groups (Principal Investigators) from 13 different countries. The total funding volume amounts to about 15.2 m€ for three years.
Funding organisations supporting this call
19 funding agencies from 17 different countries participated in the JTC 2024 on “Bidirectional Brain-Body Interactions”.
Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique-FNRS (F.R.S.-FNRS) | Belgium |
Ministry of Science and Education (MSE) | Croatia |
French National Research Agency (ANR) | France |
Federal ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) | Germany |
German Research Foundation (DFG) | Germany |
National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NKFIH) | Hungary |
Chief Scientist Office, Ministry of Health (CSO-MOH) | Israel |
Italian Ministry of Health (IT-MOH) | Italy |
Latvian Council of Science (LZP) | Latvia |
Research Council of Lithuania (LMT) | Lithuania |
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 |
Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) | Spain |
Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) | Spain |
Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) | Switzerland |
National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) | Taiwan |
The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TUBITAK) | Türkiye |