Call: Towards a molecular and neurobiological understanding of mental health and illness
Logo | ![]() | ||||||||
Programme | |||||||||
Acronym | HORIZON-HLTH-STAYHLTH | ||||||||
Type of Fund | Direct Management | ||||||||
Description of programme "Horizon Europe - Cluster 1 - Destination 1: Staying healthy in a rapidly changing society" | Calls for proposals under this destination are directed towards the Key Strategic Orientation KSO-D ‘Creating a more resilient, inclusive and democratic European society’ of Horizon Europe’s Strategic Plan 2021-2024. Research and innovation supported under this destination should contribute to the impact area ‘Good health and high-quality accessible health care’ and in particular to the following expected impact, set out in the Strategic Plan for the health cluster: ‘citizens of all ages stay healthy and independent in a rapidly changing society thanks to healthier lifestyles and behaviours, healthier diets, healthier environments, improved evidence-based health policies, and more effective solutions for health promotion and disease prevention’. In addition, research and innovation supported under this destination could also contribute to the following impact areas: ‘High quality digital services for all’, ‘Sustainable food systems from farm to fork on land and sea’, and ‘Climate change mitigation and adaptation’. People´s health care needs are different, depending on their age, stage of life and socio-economic background. Their physical and mental health and well-being can be influenced by their individual situation as well as the broader societal context they are living in. Furthermore, health education and behaviour are important factors. Currently, more than 790 000 deaths per year in Europe are due to risk factors such as smoking, drinking, physical inactivity, and obesity. Upbringing, income, education levels, social and gender aspects also have an impact on health risks and how disease can be prevented. Moreover, people´s health can be impacted by a rapidly changing society, making it challenging to keep pace and find its way through new technological tools and societal changes, which both are increasing demands on the individual´s resilience. In order to leave no one behind, to reduce health inequalities and to support healthy and active lives for all, it is crucial to provide suitable and tailor-made solutions, including for people with specific needs. In this work programme, destination 1 will focus on major societal challenges that are part of the European Commission’s political priorities, notably diet and health (obesity), ageing and demographic change, mental health, digital empowerment in health literacy, and personalised prevention. Research and innovation supported under this destination will provide new evidences, methodologies and tools for understanding the transition from health to disease. This will allow designing better strategies and personalised tools for preventing diseases and promoting health, including through social innovation approaches. Specific measures will also be developed to educate and empower citizens of all ages and throughout their life, to play an active role in the self-management of their own health and self-care, to the benefit of an active and healthy ageing. In 2022, it will also call for proposals for improving the availability and use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to predict the risk for onset and progression of chronic diseases. Key to achieving the expected impacts is the availability and accessibility of health data from multiple sources, including real-world health data, which will require appropriate support by research and data infrastructures, AI-based solutions, and robust and transparent methodologies for analysis and reporting. Dialogue and coordination between stakeholders and policy makers as well as integration across different settings will be needed to develop more effective cross-sectoral solutions for health promotion and disease prevention and deliver improved evidence-based health for all. In view of increasing the impact of EU investments under Horizon Europe, the European Commission welcomes and supports cooperation between EU-funded projects to enable cross-fertilisation and other synergies. This could range from networking to joint activities such as the participation in joint workshops, the exchange of knowledge, the development and adoption of best practices, or joint communication activities. Opportunities for potential synergies exist between projects funded under the same topic but also between other projects funded under another topic, cluster or pillar of Horizon Europe (but also with ongoing projects funded under Horizon 2020). In particular, this could involve projects related to European health research infrastructures (under pillar I of Horizon Europe), the EIC strategic challenges on health and EIT-KIC Health (under pillar III of Horizon Europe), or in areas cutting across the health and other clusters (under pillar II of Horizon Europe). For instance, with cluster 2 “Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society” such as on health inequalities, on other inequalities affecting health, or on citizens’ behaviour and engagement; with cluster 4 “Digital, Industry and Space” such as on digital tools, telemedicine or smart homes; with cluster 5 “Climate, Energy and Mobility” such as on urban health or on mitigating the impact of road traffic accidents and related injuries; with cluster 6 “Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment” such as on the role of nutrition for health (incl. human microbiome, mal- and over-nutrition, safe food), personalised diets (incl. food habits in general and childhood obesity in particular) and the impact of food-related environmental stressors on human health (incl. marketing and consumer habits).[[Strategic Plan 2021-2024 of Horizon Europe, Annex I, Table 2.]] Expected impacts: Proposals for topics under this destination should set out a credible pathway to contributing to staying healthy in a rapidly changing society, and more specifically to one or several of the following impacts:
Health policies and actions for health promotion and disease prevention are knowledge-based, people-centred and thus targeted and tailored to citizens' needs, and designed to reduce health inequalities. | ||||||||
Link | Link to Programme | ||||||||
Call | Towards a molecular
and neurobiological understanding of mental health and illness | ||||||||
Description of call "Towards a molecular and neurobiological understanding of mental health and illness" | Expected Outcome This topic aims at supporting activities that are enabling or contributing to one or several impacts of destination 1 “Staying healthy in a rapidly changing society”. To that end, proposals under this topic should aim for delivering results that are directed, tailored towards and contributing to one or several of the following expected outcomes:
Scope: Mental illnesses represent a huge and growing burden for Europe, both at individual and societal level. There is an enormous stigma and they often remain undetected as diagnoses largely depend on symptom-based criteria without any biological markers linked to causative mechanisms. Currently available medications are primarily used by trial and error (rather than in a targeted and personalised manner) and they are all very similar in their mechanisms of action with rather little breakthrough innovation in the last few decades. There is further a lack of evidence base on the optimal use of different pharmacological and non-pharmacological prevention strategies. A deeper molecular and neurobiological understanding of the interplay between genetic, epigenetic and environmental risk and resilience factors, including neural circuit alterations, is critical for the development of objective biomarkers and evidence-based interventions that will significantly improve mental health outcomes. Accordingly, the proposed research is expected to deliver on several of the following:
For biomarker discovery, applicants are encouraged to take stock of advances in disciplines such as for instance neuropsychology, neurophysiology, neuroendocrinology, neuroimaging, electrophysiological monitoring, e-health/m-health, -omics (genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, lipidomics, exposomics, microbiomics including the role of the microbiota-gut-brain axis), optogenetics, nanomedicine, stem cell biology, neuroimmunology and immunopsychiatry.
Proposals may cover different stages in the continuum of the innovation cycle (from basic and translational research to the validation of findings in real-world settings) and should ensure strong involvement of end-users, including citizens and patients. Sex and gender differences and the effects of age should be duly taken into account. International cooperation is encouraged and the proposed research is expected to be multidisciplinary, including through the involvement of medical sciences, psychological sciences, social sciences and the humanities. All projects funded under this topic are strongly encouraged to participate in networking and joint activities, as appropriate. These networking and joint activities could, for example, involve the participation in joint workshops, the exchange of knowledge, the development and adoption of best practices, or joint communication activities. This could also involve networking and joint activities with projects funded under other clusters and pillars of Horizon Europe, or other EU programmes, as appropriate. Therefore, proposals are expected to include a budget for the attendance to regular joint meetings and may consider to cover the costs of any other potential joint activities without the prerequisite to detail concrete joint activities at this stage. The details of these joint activities will be defined during the grant agreement preparation phase. In this regard, the Commission may take on the role of facilitator for networking and exchanges, including with relevant stakeholders, if appropriate. Cross-cutting Priorities: | ||||||||
Link | Link to Call | ||||||||
Thematic Focus | Clustering, Development Cooperation, Economic Cooperation, Research & Innovation, Technology Transfer & Exchange, Health, Social Affairs, Sports | ||||||||
Funding area | EU Member States Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) United States of America | ||||||||
Origin of Applicant | EU Member States Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) United States of America | ||||||||
Eligible applicants | Education and Training Centres, Federal State / Region / City / Municipality / Local Authority, Research Institution, Lobby Group / Professional Association / Trade Union, International Organization, Small and Medium Sized Enterprises, SMEs (between 10 and 249 employees), Microenterprises (fewer than 10 employees), NGO / NPO, Public Services, National Government, Other, Start Up Company, University, Enterprise (more than 250 employees or not defined), Association | ||||||||
Applicant details | eligible non-EU countries:
At the date of the publication of the work programme, there are no countries associated to Horizon
Europe. Considering the Union’s interest to retain, in principle, relations with the countries associated to Horizon 2020,
most third countries associated to Horizon 2020 are expected to be associated to Horizon Europe with an intention to secure
uninterrupted continuity between Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe. In addition, other third countries can also become associated
to Horizon Europe during the programme. For the purposes of the eligibility conditions, applicants established in Horizon
2020 Associated Countries or in other third countries negotiating association to Horizon Europe will be treated as entities
established in an Associated Country, if the Horizon Europe association agreement with the third country concerned applies
at the time of signature of the grant agreement.
Legal entities which are established in countries not listed above will be eligible for funding if provided for in the specific call conditions, or if their participation is considered essential for implementing the action by the granting authority. Specific cases:
| ||||||||
Project Partner | Yes | ||||||||
Project Partner Details | Unless otherwise provided for in the specific call conditions , legal entities forming a consortium are eligible to participate in actions provided that the consortium includes:
| ||||||||
Further info | Proposal page limits and layout: The application form will have two parts:
Page limit: 45 pages | ||||||||
Type of Funding | Grants | ||||||||
Financial details |
| ||||||||
Submission | Proposals must be submitted electronically via the Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic Submission System. Paper submissions are NOTpossible. |
Register now and benefit:
Personalised newsletter
Register now and benefit:
Save calls in your personal funding basket
Register now and benefit:
Export calls as pdf
Contact us at office@euro-access.eu to
Share your success story on EU project funding with the help of EuroAccess!
News
Published on 01.07.2022
Improved monitoring of threats, intrusion detection and response in complex and heterogeneous digital systems and infrastructures
Horizon Europe - Cluster 3 - Destination 4: Increased Cybersecurity
Link to CallPublished on 01.07.2022
Trustworthy methodologies, tools and data security “by design” for dynamic testing of potentially vulnerable, insecure hardware and software components
Horizon Europe - Cluster 3 - Destination 4: Increased Cybersecurity
Link to Call