[ ERA-NET NEURON - Call for Proposals for Transnational Research Projects on Neurodevelopmental Disorders | Research funding ]

The 'Network of European Funding for Neuroscience Research' (NEURON) aims at coordinating research efforts and funding programmes of its partner countries in the field of mental, neurological and sensory disorders.

The ERA-NET NEURON call aims to facilitate multinational, collaborative research projects that will address important translational questions relating to the neurodevelopmental nature of neurological and mental disorders. This call is limited to disorders that show their first manifestations before the end of adolescence and impair the development and the function of the nervous system. Research on the continuation or progression of those symptoms with a lifetime perspective is allowed if addressing the consequences of disorders starting before adolescence.

The call will accept research proposals ranging from understanding basic mechanisms of neurodevelopmental disorders to proof-of-concept clinical studies in humans. The NEURON funding organisations particularly wish to promote interdisciplinary work and translational research proposals that combine basic and clinical approaches. In the context of the present call, the collaboration across different disciplines including both clinicians and fundamental neuroscientists is highly encouraged.

Research proposals should cover at least one of the following areas:

1. Fundamental research addressing the pathogenesis, aetiology, susceptibility, and resilience mechanisms of neurodevelopmental disorders. This may include the development of innovative or shared resources and technologies that are relevant for neurodevelopmental disorders.
2. Clinical research to develop novel strategies for prevention, diagnosis, patient stratification, therapy and/or rehabilitation for neurodevelopmental disorders.

• International consortia composed from minimum 3 to maximum 5 researchers (including partners) from universities, research institute, hospitals, foundations and/or companies from at least 3 different participating countries (besides the partners). No more than two researchers can be from the same country. Partners from other countries may be part of a consortium if they can secure their own funding.

• Swiss-based applicants: must be eligible for SNSF Project Funding (see EPFL Instructions for SNSF Project Funding) and cannot participate in more than one proposal per call. Please contact [email protected] to verify your eligibility for the call. Proposals with overlapping funding periods with ongoing SNSF grants are only approved if the research projects pursue different goals in the context of this programme. The SNSF exclusively funds research conducted for non-commercial purposes.

• Deadline for pre-proposals: 9 March 2021 at 14:00 CET
• Swiss applicants must submit pre-proposals and full proposals via mySNF at the same deadline as the consortium applications are submitted to the Call Secretariat via the electronic submission system.
• Invitation to submit a full proposal: mid-May 2021
• Deadline for full proposals: 30 June 2021 at 14: CET
• Decision: October-December 2021
• Project start: between the end of 2021 and the second semester of 2022