European Partnership for Brain Health: Biological, social and environmental factors that impact brain health trajectories

Eligibility

Eligibility to Apply

For an application to be eligible, all the requirements stated below must be met:

1. The Nominated Principal Applicant (NPA) must be an independent researcher affiliated with a Canadian postsecondary institution and/or its affiliated institutions (including hospitals, research institutes and other non-profit organizations with a mandate for health research and/or knowledge mobilization).
2. The NPA must have their substantive role in Canada for the duration of the requested grant term.
3. The Institution Paid receives and administers the funds on behalf of the NPA and therefore must be authorized by CIHR before the funds can be released.
4. All Canadian applications must also meet EP Brain Health eligibility criteria.

EP Brain Health Eligibility Criteria:

Institutions: 

Proposals may be submitted by research groups working in universities or other higher education institutions, non-university public or private research organisations, hospitals, foundations and other health and social care settings, as well as commercial companies, in particular small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and organisations representing patients. Collaborations with companies from outside the traditional medical sector (e.g. computing, artificial intelligence) are welcome. With regard to the research setting and collaborations with companies, specific regulations of individual funding organisations, as well as the EU State aid regulations, must be considered when creating the consortium. The eligibility of the aforementioned institutions, together with details of eligible costs (e.g. personnel, material, consumables, travel money, investments), are subject to the administrative requirements of individual funding organisations and will therefore differ. Clarification must be obtained from the individual funding organisations. It is strongly recommended to carefully read the funder-specific regulations regarding eligibility and funding and to contact the respective funding organisations, since additional national/regional procedures might be mandatory.

Partners: 

onsortia may consist of research partners, who are eligible for research funding from the funding organisations participating in this joint call, cf. organisations listed under section 4 (“regular partners”), as well as non-funded external collaborators (“partner on own funds”).
Regular partners are represented by a single leader of individual research groups (typically a principal investigator or an early career group leader) within research institutions. No co-leads are possible.
In addition, external collaborators (i.e., partners who are not eligible for funding from their national/regional funding organisations or from countries/regions that are not involved in this call) may participate in the proposals only if a) their participation clearly provides an added value to the consortium, and b) they have secured a budget for their part in the project.

Transnationality: 

Only transnational projects will be funded. Each consortium submitting a proposal must involve a minimum of three research partners eligible for funding from at least three different participating countries and including at least two EU Member States or Associated Countries. The total number of research partners in a consortium is limited to six (6), including partners participating at their own expenses. For reasons of transnational balance, no more than two partners from the same country are allowed to join a proposal. Gender balance among the partners of a consortium is encouraged.

Summary

The European Partnership for Brain Health (EP BrainHealth) gathers 53 partners from 31 countries, with the common goal of improving brain health for all by developing scientific knowledge as a ground to promote brain health throughout lifetime, to prevent and to cure brain diseases as well as to improve wellbeing of people living with neurological and mental disorders in Europe and beyond. In this frame, the EP BrainHealth is launching a call in the field of neurodegenerative disorders.

The EP BrainHealth invites applications that combine a holistic approach to brain health with in-depth biological understanding. The aim of the call is to facilitate multinational, collaborative and multidisciplinary research that addresses critical translational questions. Applications for this call, should address how biological, social and environmental factors affect the trajectory of neurodegenerative disorders across the lifespan.

Research Areas

Applications must be multidisciplinary and address at least two of the three types of factors impacting brain health trajectories in the field of neurodegenerative disorders:

1. Biological factors, e.g. genetics, epigenetics, -omics, neuroplasticity, inflammation, synaptogenesis, circuits, vascular factors, sensory impairment, co-morbidities;
2. Lifestyle and social factors, e.g. exercise/activity, nutrition, sleep, smoking, alcohol and drug abuse, work (income, employment), socio-economic background/status, education, safety, social interactions (family/friends), stress, trauma, migration.
3. Environmental factors, e.g. pollution, urbanicity, disasters, pandemics, war/conflicts, climate change, nature.

In addition, applications must investigate at least one of the following aspects:

1. Mechanisms of action of the identified factor(s);
2. Biomarkers identification and validation linked to the identified factor(s);
3. Treatments/interventions/technological development linked to the identified factor(s).

Aspects this call aims to highlight:

1. Applications should investigate how factors impact brain health trajectories along the life course.
2. Approaches such as integration of multimodal data, use of accessible wearable technologies (e.g. mobile devices), artificial intelligence/digital twins and drug repurposing are particularly welcome.
3. Applications focusing on women's health and diverse populations are encouraged.
4. Outcomes benefiting the quality of life of patients and their carers are of special importance and should be explicitly defined and stated.

Overhead

N/A

Pre-application deadlines

RSO internal deadline

Pre-application program deadline

Application deadlines

RSO final internal review deadline

Program application deadline

Additional application deadlines

Abbreviated Application to CIHR

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.

Postdocs, students, and trainees: For fellowships and externally-sponsored research training awards or opportunities, you must complete the Research Funding Application Approval (RFAA) Trainee PDF form, and submit it, along with a complete copy of the application, to Research Services at rsotrainee@ucalgary.ca. Trainees should not use RMS at this time.

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.

How to Apply

The Policy on Sensitive Technology Research and Affiliations of Concern (STRAC Policy) is applicable to this funding opportunity. Consult the Tri-agency guidance on the STRAC Policy for more information.

The Application Process for this funding opportunity is comprised of up to three steps: 1 - Pre-Proposal to EP Brain Health, 2 - Full Proposal to EP Brain Health, and 3 - Abbreviated Application to CIHR.

Step 1 – Pre-Proposal to EP Brain Health

• Note that NO documents need to be submitted to CIHR at this stage.
• Pre-Proposal must be submitted to the EP Brain Health Joint Call Secretariat via the Proposal Submission Tool. For more information, please consult the EP Brain Health Call for Proposals.
• Pre-Proposals must be submitted in English only.

Step 2 – Full Proposal/Full Application to EP Brain Health (if invited)

• Full proposals will be accepted only from those consortia explicitly invited to submit them by the Joint Call Secretariat.
• Full Proposals must be submitted to the Joint Call Secretariat via the Proposal Submission Tool. For more information, please consult the EP Brain Health Call for Proposals.
• Full Proposals must be submitted in English only.

Step 3 – Abbreviated Application to CIHR (only if invited to Full Proposal stage)

This additional application to CIHR is to provide CIHR with an Operating Budget for the project with the amounts quoted in Canadian dollars, a complete justification for funds requested, and a one-page research summary of the project, as well as to ensure compliance with the STRAC policy.

• Canadian consortium members invited to submit a Full Proposal to EP Brain Health must complete an abbreviated CIHR application (in one of the two official languages of Canada) and submit it using ResearchNet.
• The deadline for submission of this application is the same as the full proposal deadline to EP Brain Health.
• All participants listed, with the exception of Collaborators are required to:
  • Have/obtain a CIHR PIN
  • Complete the Tri-Agency Self-identification Questionnaire.

RESOURCES

Reminder: The sooner the researcher engages with Research Services, the more help we can be!

Contact the following Research Service units for support with:

Projects Involving Indigenous Research:

Support with incorporating wise practices in Indigenous research, community engagement, and Indigenous data management is available through the Indigenous Research Support Team (IRST).

Applicants can reach out by email to IRST at IRST@ucalgary.ca in advance of the RSO internal deadline. For more information about IRST, please visit the IRST webpage.

Knowledge Mobilization, Research Impact Assessment, DORA:

Support for knowledge mobilization/engagement/translation, community partnerships, research impact, responsible research assessment (DORA), and open science, is available through the Knowledge to Impact team.

Applicants can reach out by email to the KI team at knowledge.impact@ucalgary.ca.

For more information and access to resource archives, please visit the KI team webpage.

Research Data Management:

For information on research data management plans, processes, or best practices for your research program, please contact research.data@ucalgary.ca.

EDI in Research:

RSO can provide resources and support to research teams on the integration of equitable and inclusive practices in research design and research practice.

Contact edi.rso@ucalgary.ca for more information.

Research Security:

The Research Security Division is available to ensure researchers adhere to research security guidelines and policies, including the National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships (NSGRP) and the policy on Sensitive Technology Research and Affiliations of Concern (STRAC).

Visit the Research Security website to learn more or contact researchsecurity@ucalgary.ca.

Pre-Award Submissions:

RMS: Creating a Pre-Award LOI
RMS: Creating a Pre-Award Application