A CALL FOR UNDERSTANDING THE MECHANISMS OF NON-PHARMACOLOGICAL INTERVENTIONS
On January 4, 2022, the EU Joint Programme – Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND) initiative launched a transnational call for understanding the mechanisms of non-pharmacological interventions.
Neurodegenerative diseases are debilitating and largely untreatable conditions that are strongly linked with age. Worldwide, there are estimated to be 50 million people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders, the most common class of neurodegenerative diseases. This figure is expected to double every 20 years as the population ages. The total direct and informal care costs of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and related disorders are expected to surpass €350 billion per year across the European Union and about US$ one trillion worldwide. Existing treatments for neurodegenerative diseases are limited in effect and mainly address the symptoms rather than the cause or the progressive course. With this in mind, JPND has identified a pressing need for investment aimed at enabling research projects on understanding the mechanisms of non-pharmacological interventions.
Several non-pharmacological interventions have been shown to be effective and accepted by patients, e. g. from existing cohort data. Such interventions may include, among others, psychosocial interventions, neuromodulation, nutrition or exercise. Although neurodegenerative diseases are recognised as multifactorial syndromes, there is little interaction between biomedical and psychosocial approaches. One rationale for integrating biomedical and psychosocial research is the discordance between neuropathology and cognitive functioning. However, there is yet little knowledge about the mechanisms of non-pharmacological interventions, e. g. on the molecular or cellular level.
This transnational call invites proposals for ambitious, innovative, multinational and multidisciplinary collaborative research projects aimed at improving the understanding of the mechanisms and biological substrates that underlie non-pharmacological interventions, in order to tailor a holistic personalised treatment approach.
Funding: The total made available for this call is about 19.4 million euros.
Participating JPND Countries
The funding organisations that have agreed to fund this joint call for multinational research projects, with a view to adding value to their existing nationally funded activities, are listed below.
- Australia, National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)
- Belgium, The Fund for Scientific Research (F.R.S.-FNRS)
- Belgium, The Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO)
- Canada, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
- Czech Republic, Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MEYS)
- Denmark, Innovation Fund Denmark (IFD)***
- Finland, Academy of Finland (AKA)
- France, French National Research Agency (ANR)
- Germany, Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)
- Hungary, National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NKFIH)
- Israel, Ministry of Health (CSO-MOH)
- Italy, Ministry of Health (IT-MOH)
- Latvia, State Education Development Agency (VIAA) / Latvian Council of Science (LZP)
- Luxembourg, National Research Fund (FNR)
- Netherlands, The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Dev. (ZonMw)**
- Norway, The Research Council of Norway (RCN)
- Poland, National Science Centre (NCN)
- Portugal, Foundation for Science and Technology, FCT *
- Slovakia, Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic (MESR)
- Spain, National Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII)
- Switzerland, Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)
- Türkiye, Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TUBITAK)* Joined the call on 24 January 2022
Deadlines
Pre-proposals must be submitted no later than 12:00h C.E.T. on March 1, 2022, via the electronic submission tool.
Full proposals must be submitted no later than 12:00h C.E.S.T on June 28, 2022, via the electronic submission tool.
Where can I get more information about this call? Links to the relevant documents and resources can be found below:
Call text* – download all specific information about the call. [PDF]
Call procedures – description of the evaluation procedure and decision-making process applied for this call. [PDF]
Country-specific information – all requirements and details from participating funding organisations.
Pre-proposal template – mandatory for creating proposals. No other formats are accepted.
Proposal Submission Tool – mandatory for submitting proposals. No other routes are accepted.
*Updated 27/02/2022
**Updated 08/02/2022
***Updated 11/02/2022
Joint Call Secretariat representatives are available for questions:
Dr Sabrina Voß and Dr Vera Mönter-Telgen
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (+49) 228-3821 2111