Horizon Europe (HORIZON-HLTH-2024-DISEASE-03-14-two-stage)

Eligibility

1. Admissibility conditions: described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes. Applicants submitting a proposal under the blind evaluation pilot (see General Annex F) must not disclose their organisation names, acronyms, logos, nor names of personnel in Part B of their first stage application (see General Annex E). Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System.

2. Eligible countries: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Canadian-based researchers may be co-applicants but are not automatically eligible for funding and therefore by default have to participate at their own cost. These participants should explain in the proposal how their funding will be secured. They can however receive exceptional funding, if the granting authority considers that their participation as a beneficiary is essential for implementing the project, for example in view of their: 

• outstanding competence/expertise 
• access to particular research infrastructures 
• access to particular geographical environments 
• access to particular data.

3. Other eligibility conditions: described in Annex B, Annex C,  Annex D, and Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Summary

"Tackling diseases and reducing disease burden (2023/24)"

This topic aims at supporting activities that are enabling or contributing to one or several expected impacts of destination 3 “Tackling diseases and reducing disease burden”. To that end, proposals under this topic should aim for delivering results that are directed, tailored towards and contributing to most of the following expected outcomes:

• The scientific and clinical communities make effective use of state-of-the-art information, data, technologies, tools and best practices to better understand the condition, underpinning the development of diagnostics, therapeutics and/or preventive strategies.
• The scientific and clinical community exchange data, knowledge and best practices, thereby strengthening their collaboration and building knowledge and care networks in Europe and beyond.
• The scientific and clinical community make wide use of newly established and where relevant open access databases and/or integrate them with existing infrastructures for storage and sharing of collected data according to FAIR^[1] principles, thereby encouraging further use of the data.
• Policymakers and funders are informed of the research advances made and consider further support in light of the sustainability of the studies.
• Patients and caregivers are constructively engaged with the research, which also caters for their needs.
• Health professionals have access to and use improved clinical guidelines on diagnosis and/or treatment of the condition.

Scope:

A number of medical conditions fail to be recognised and/or be correctly diagnosed in a significant proportion of patients. As a consequence they are inadequately treated and often can become a chronic and high burden for the patient. These medical conditions^[2] may be insufficiently researched even though they manifest with high prevalence^[3], [4]. This topic excludes rare diseases.

Proposals should address all of the following aspects:

• Proposals should address the gaps in robust, scientific evidence for improved policies and practices to tackle such medical condition(s), and aim at identifying the pathophysiological mechanism(s) (e.g. genetic, cellular and molecular) and potential risk factors (e.g. psychological and environmental) of the medical condition(s) through basic, pre-clinical and/or clinical research. These efforts should underpin the development of diagnostics, therapeutics, and/or preventive strategies for the condition.
• Proposals should demonstrate that the medical condition(s) under study is/are insufficiently understood, inaccurately diagnosed or inadequately treated in a significant proportion of patients, and as such represent a high burden for patients and society. This could be through referencing key literature.
• Sex and gender aspects, age, ethnicity, socio-economic, lifestyle and behavioural factors should be taken into consideration. In addition, the emotional and societal long-term effects of these chronic disorders for the affected individuals should be addressed.
• Where applicable, the development of biomarkers and other technologies for diagnosis, monitoring in patients, and stratification of patient groups should be considered.
• Where applicable, the development of clinically relevant, (non-)human model systems that can complement clinical investigations should be considered.
• Exploitation of existing data, biobanks, registries and cohorts is expected, together with the generation of new (e.g. genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics) data.
• To enable sharing of samples, quality data and advanced analytical tools, it is encouraged to make use of existing infrastructures developed at the European^[5] or national level.
• Inclusion of patients or patient organisations in the research is strongly encouraged, to ensure that their views are considered.
• SME participation is strongly encouraged.

This topic requires the effective contribution of social sciences and humanities (SSH) disciplines and the involvement of SSH experts, institutions as well as the inclusion of relevant SSH expertise, in order to produce meaningful and significant effects enhancing the societal impact of the related research activities.

Applicants invited to the second stage and envisaging to include clinical studies should provide details of their clinical studies in the dedicated annex using the template provided in the submission system. See definition of clinical studies in the introduction to this work programme part.

Two-Stage Submission Process:

• stage 1 — applicants submit a short outline proposal, which is evaluated. University of Calgary participants should submit an RMS pre-award/Letter of Intent record for review and approval by 12:00pm MT, September 13, 2023.
• stage 2 — for successful proposals, applicants are invited to submit a full proposal, which will again be evaluated. University of Calgary participants should inform the RSO of their invitation to submit a full proposal, and an RMS pre-award/application record will be generated from their LOI record. RMS pre-award applications should be submitted for review and approval by 12:00pm MT, April 5, 2024.

Overhead

Variable.

Pre-application deadlines

RSO internal deadline

Pre-application program deadline

Application deadlines

RSO detailed review deadline

RSO final internal review deadline

Program application deadline

NOTE: Consult your Faculty Associate Dean (Research) (ADR) regarding Faculty-specific deadlines and submission processes.

Principal Investigators: Complete a Research Management System (RMS) record, including a copy of your complete application, and submit this for approvals in RMS.

Approvals: The University of Calgary requires that all funding applications be approved prior to submission. Approval requires signatures via either RMS or the RFAA Trainee form, in the following order:

• Principal Investigator
• Department Head
• Faculty ADR/Dean
• Research Services (on behalf of the Vice-President Research)

Read the Meaning of Grant Signatures policy to understand what your approval means. Please see the agency guidelines for details about which signatures are required on your application, as it may differ from internal requirements.

Late submissions: Late submissions will only be accepted in cases of medical or family emergencies, or other exceptional circumstances. If you submit your RMS record to Research Services after the internal deadline has passed, you must secure additional approvals. Please read: Late Applications Process.

Resources

Standard application form (HE RIA IA Stage 1) - call-specific application form is available in the Submission System
Standard application form (HE RIA, IA) - call-specific application form is available in the Submission System
Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA and CSA Stage 1)
Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA)

Lump Sum MGA v1.0

Information on clinical studies (HE)
Guidance: "Lump sums - what do I need to know?"
Detailed budget table (HE LS)

Additional Documents

HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 4. Health
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 13. General Annexes

HE Programme Guide
HE Framework Programme and Rules for Participation Regulation 2021/695
HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764
EU Financial Regulation
Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment
EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual
Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions
Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement