Excellent Paper In Neuroscience - EPNA Award 2024: Biomedical call with a thematic focus on “Cerebrovascular Diseases”
Contact
For general information, please contact the ERA-NET NEURON EPNA Joint Call Secretariat
Mr. Maxime Beaudoin
ERA-NET NEURON EPNA Joint Call Secretariat
Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé (FRQS)
Email: Maxime.Beaudoin@frq.gouv.qc.ca
Details
Please download the application form here:
Details for the EPNA AWARD 2024
1. General call description
The ERA-NET NEURON partner countries are issuing the EXCELLENT PAPER IN NEUROSCIENCE AWARD to recognize the remarkable and outstanding scientific publications by early-career researchers in the field of disease-related, translational, neurosciences. Sole First Author of original research articles published between January 1, 2023, and December 31, 2023, and affiliated with the call partner countries listed below are eligible to apply.
The submission deadline has passed.
The deadline for proposal submission is November 1st, 2024 (has been extended).
The Excellent Paper in Neuroscience Award 2024 focuses on Cerebrovascular Diseases. The article should contribute progress on important translational research questions related to Cerebrovascular diseases including small vessels disease (CSVD) and the dysfunction of brain barriers.
Research areas may cover a broad range of aspects associated with cerebrovascular disease such as genetic, epigenetic and molecular mechanisms of disease. Neuroinflammatory processes often play an important role in cerebrovascular diseases and are included in the call. The development of preventive, diagnostic or therapeutic approaches including pharmacological studies (e.g. on drug target identification) and technological developments based on pathophysiological mechanisms are within the scope of the call.
The call will accept research papers ranging from understanding basic mechanisms of cerebrovascular disease and brain barriers dysfunctions through proof-of-concept clinical studies in humans¹.
An award of EUR 3 000 will be granted to the best proposal. The winner will be invited as an “Excellent Paper in Neuroscience” special lecturer during the NEURON Midterm Symposium 14. /15. May 2025. ERA-NET NEURON will cover the award and travel costs related to the lecture.
Call Partner Countries (24): Australia, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom.
2. Aim of the call
Currently ERA-NET NEURON (the Network of European Funding for Neuroscience Research) links 28 national research funding programs and organizations in the field of disease-related neurosciences in Europe, Israel, Turkey, Taiwan, and Canada. The EXCELLENT PAPER IN NEUROSCIENCE AWARD will emphasize the importance of neuroscience and will contribute to integrating the neuroscience research community. The award is designed as a form of support and encouragement for researchers at the early stage of their career.
3. Eligibility
The application must fulfil the following criteria:
Author:
- The sole first Author in the proposed publication. Shared first authorships is not considered for the award.
- The Author must have been affiliated with a call partner country at the time of publication (list of eligible countries above).
- Pre-doctoral and postdoctoral early career researchers until a maximum of three years from a PhD or an equivalent degree¹ at the date of publication.
- Eligible breaks include parental leaves, long-term illness, and national service. Concerning parental leave, national rules apply, or 12 months per child, whichever is the greatest.
¹Equivalent degrees to the PhD may vary from a different country. A Medical degree alone is not sufficient. In addition, a minimum formation in research (M.Sc. or Ph.D.) is required or proof of an appointment that requires doctoral equivalency (e.g. post-doctoral fellowship, professorship appointment).
Publication:
- Award period: published between January 1, 2023, and December 31, 2023.
- Affiliation of the sole first Author with a call partner country as stated in the publication.
- Articles published in open access or available via open access publication repository is encouraged.
- Original research articles published in an international peer review journal.
- The topic of the article must be clearly relevant to disease-related bio-medical research, translational, neurosciences and, it must fall into one of the following two categories:
a) Fundamental research addressing the pathogenesis, aetiology, progression, treatment, and prevention of cerebrovascular diseases including CSVD as well as basic research to elucidate the role of brain barriers on cerebrovascular diseases. This may include the development of innovative or shared resources and technologies including computational and statistical tools, as considered of relevance in the context of this call.
b) Clinical research to develop novel strategies for prevention (including secondary prevention), diagnosis, patient stratification, therapy and/or rehabilitation for cerebrovascular diseases.
The following research areas are excluded from this call:
- Neurodegenerative disorders that are addressed by the EU Joint Programme – Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND)² .
- Proposals focussed primarily on cardiological or metabolic causes or comorbidities (i.e. diabetes, obesity, Covid-19/long Covid) to cerebrovascular diseases.
²Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative dementias, Parkinson’s disease (PD) and PD-related disorders, Prion disease, Motor neuron diseases, Huntington’s disease, Spinocerebellar ataxia, Spinal muscular atrophy
4. Application
Eligible early-career researchers may submit a proposal for the EXCELLENT PAPER IN NEUROSCIENCE AWARD – BIOMEDICAL CALL. The proposal must be submitted by email using the online form available through the NEURON web page. Both pre- and postdoctoral early-career researchers working in ERA-NET NEURON partner countries are encouraged to apply.
Applications are only accepted from the sole first author of an original research article. The on-line application must include the following information bundled in one single PDF format attachment.
- Introduction (minimum font size 11, Arial/Calibri/Times or comparable) including the following:
- Application form (of the first author)
- One-page short biosketch of the author
- One-page summary addressing the significance of the work
- A pitch of not more than 250 characters (including spaces) describing the research focus of the article and the applicant’s role in it.
- PDF of the original research article (published within the eligible award period)
The deadline for applications is November 1st, 2024, Applications must be sent by email to the ERA-NET NEURON EPNA joint call secretariat (see details in the application form) by 5:00 PM (UTC-GMT). Incomplete or late applications will be automatically rejected.
5. Evaluation
ERA-NET NEURON partners will select the proposals upon consultation of high-level scientists in the neuroscience field. The proposals will be evaluated as a whole, based on the following criteria:
- theoretical approach and scientific quality
- novelty and innovativeness of research,
- scientific and societal impact for the area
- contribution of the ECR to the research discovery.
The aforementioned criteria should be reflected through the different sections of the proposal.
Based on the evaluation, the highest-ranked proposal will be awarded the prize.
6. Management
The ERA-NET NEURON EPNA Joint Call Secretariat together with the national funding agencies will be responsible for the management of the evaluation process.
The Joint Call Secretariat will inform the applicants about the decisions individually in early 2025.
7. Award Presentation
The winner will be awarded at the NEURON Midterm Symposium 14. /15. May 2025. The winner may also be invited to present in ERA-NET NEURON events and contribute to the planning of the future support activities of the early-career researchers (ECR) or other activities within the NEURON network.
8. Call Schedule
Announcement of the call:
Early August
Deadline for proposal submission:
November 1st, 2024
Evaluation of the proposals:
November - December 2024
Decisions and information about the evaluation results:
Early 2025
Award Presentation Ceremony
14./15. May 2025 at the NEURON Mid-Term Symposium (location tbc)
9. National Contact points
For further information, follow the links below or contact your national representative:
Table 1: List of all the eligible countries for this call
| Country | Contact person | Contact information |
| Australia | Dr. Adam Chapman | National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Adam.Chapman@nhmrc.gov.au https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/ |
| Belgium (Flanders) | Dr. Kristien Peeters Mr. Toon Monbaliu | Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO) eranet@fwo.be www.fwo.be |
| Belgium (French-speaking community) | Dr. Florence Quist | Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique – FNRS (F.R.S.-FNRS) florence.quist@frs-fnrs.be www.frs-fnrs.be |
| Canada (Québec) | Mr. Maxime Beaudoin | Fonds de recherche du Québec - Santé (FRQS) Maxime.Beaudoin@frq.gouv.qc.ca http://www.frqs.gouv.qc.ca |
| Croatia | Mr. Mateo Ante Bosnić | Ministarstvo Znanosti I Obrazovanja (MZO) MateoAnte.Bosnic@mzo.hr https://mzo.gov.hr/en |
| Estland Estonia | Mr. Argo Soon | Eesti Teadusagentuur (Estonian Research Council, ETAG) Argo.Soon@etag.ee www.etag.ee |
| Finland | Dr. Aki Salo | Academy of Finland (AKA) aki.salo@aka.fi www.aka.fi |
| France | Dr. Catherine Marquer | National Research Agency (ANR) Health & Biology Department catherine.marquer@agencerecherche.fr www.agence-nationale-recherche.fr |
| Prof. Dr. Bernard Poulain | Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) bernard.poulain@cnrs-dir.fr http://www.cnrs.fr/ | |
| Dr. Etienne Hirsch | INSERM etienne.hirsch@inserm.fr www.inserm.fr | |
Germany | Dr. Christina Müller | German Programme Management Health Research (DLR-PT) chr.mueller@dlr.de www.gesundheitsforschung-bmbf.de |
| Hungary | Dr. Klára Horváth | National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NKFIH) klara.horvath@nkfih.gov.hu nkfih.gov.hu/palyazoknak |
| Ireland | Dr. Amanda Daly | Health Research Board (HRB) Amanda.Daly@hrb.ie https://www.hrb.ie/ |
| Israel | Dr. Liron Even-Faitelson | Chief Scientist Office, Ministry of Health (CSO-MOH) liron.ef@moh.gov.il www.health.gov.il |
| Italy | Dr. Chiara Ciccarelli | Ministero della Salute (IT-MOH) c.ciccarelli@sanita.it www.ministerosalute.it/ |
| Latvia | Dr. Uldis Berkis | Latvian Council of Science (LZP) Uldis.Berkis@viaa.gov.lv www.lza.lv |
| Lithuania | Dr. Živilė Ruželė | Research Council of Lithuania (LMT) zivile.ruzele@lmt.lt www.lmt.lt/en |
| Norway | Dr. Alexandra Bjørk-Skaflestad | The Research Council of Norway (RCN) alb@rcn.no or alb@forskningsradet.no www.forskningsradet.no |
| Poland | Dr. Marcin Chmielewski | National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR) marcin.chmielewski@ncbr.gov.pl www.ncbir.pl |
| Portugal | Dr. Alexandre Mauricio | Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) Alexandre.Mauricio@fct.pt www.fct.pt |
| Romania | Prof. Mihaela Manole | CAROL DAVILA University of Medicine and Pharmacy/Neuroscience (UEFISCDI) Mihaela.manole@uefiscdi.ro www.uefiscdi.gov.ro |
| Slovakia | Dr. Katarina Bibova | Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS) bibova@up.upsav.sk www.sak.sk |
| Spain | Mrs. Esther Chacón | Agencia Estatal de Investigación – State Research Agency (AEI) neuron@aei.gob.es http://www.aei.gob.es/ |
| Mrs. Maria Cristina Nieto Garcia | National Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII) mnieto@isciii.es http://www.isciii.es/ | |
| Switzerland | Dr. Francis Parlange | Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) francis.parlange@snf.ch www.snf.ch |
| Taiwan | Ms. Ching-Mei Tang | National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) cmtom@nstc.gov.tw https://www.nstc.gov.tw/?l=en |
| Turkey | Dr. Recep Emrah Çevik | The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) emrah.cevik@tubitak.gov.tr www.tubitak.gov.tr |
| UK | Dr. Pip Johnstone | Medical Research Council (MRC) Pip.johnstone@mrc.ukri.org www.mrc.ac.uk |