ERA-NET NEURON: Joint Transnational Call for Proposals for Multinational and Translational Research Projects on Bidirectional Brain-Body Interactions
The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation), an associated partner of the ERA-NET NEURON, is pleased to announce the launch of the 2024 joint call for research proposals on the topic of “Bidirectional Brain-Body Interactions”.
The aim of the call is to facilitate multinational collaborative research projects that will address critical translational and clinical questions to improve our knowledge concerning the role of bidirectional central nervous system-body interactions in the genesis and progression of neurological and psychiatric diseases. A better understanding of these interactions has the potential to find solutions in order to prevent and treat those disorders.
The call will be conducted simultaneously by the respective national and regional funding organisations and coordinated centrally by the Joint Call Secretariat (see below).
The present call aims to fund preclinical and clinical research up to proof-of-concept clinical studies addressing the pathophysiology and therapeutic developments for neurological or psychiatric disorders associated with bidirectional brain-body interactions. Research areas may cover a broad range of aspects such as genetic, epigenetic and molecular mechanisms of disease. They may include research on the role of the immune system, gut and microbiome, metabolic system, autonomic system, hormonal system in neurological or psychiatric disorders, without ruling out others, e.g. the role of body representation in the brain. The development of preventive, diagnostic and/or therapeutic approaches including pharmacological studies and technological developments based on pathophysiological mechanisms are within the scope of the call.
The ERA-NET NEURON funding organisations particularly wish to promote multi-disciplinary work and translational research proposals that combine basic and clinical approaches. The consortia should submit novel, ambitious ideas that can only be achieved by the complementary collaboration between partners. Only transnational projects with three to five eligible research partners from at least three different participating countries will be funded. No more than two consortium partners can be from the same country. Attention should be paid to respect gender balance among the partners of a consortium.
Research proposals should cover at least one of the following areas:
- Fundamental research on the role of the bidirectional brain-body interaction on the pathogenesis and/or aetiology of neurological and psychiatric diseases. This may include the development of innovative or shared resources and technologies considered of relevance in the context of this call.
- Pre-clinical and clinical research to develop new strategies for prevention, diagnosis, therapy and rehabilitation procedures for diseases in which alterations in brain-body communication constitute a relevant process of the pathology.
The following research areas are excluded from this call:
- Neurodegenerative disorders that are addressed by the EU Joint Programme – Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND)2
- Proposals focusing on neuro-oncology
- Proposals dealing primarily with periphery organ functions (e.g. lung, sensory organs, liver, cardiovascular, etc.) without specifically focusing on the brain-body interaction aspect
- Proposals focusing solely on technological developments disregarding neurobiological mechanisms
Applications
There will be a two-stage procedure for joint proposals: pre-proposals and proposals. In both cases, one joint proposal document (in English) shall be prepared by the partners of a joint transnational proposal and must be submitted to the Joint Call Secretariat by the coordinator.
The submission deadline for pre-proposals is 8 March 2024, 14:00 CET.
By mid-May 2024, the coordinators of selected pre-proposals will be invited by the Joint Call Secretariat to submit a proposal by June 2024. Proposal submissions will be accepted only from those applicants explicitly invited by the Joint Call Secretariat.
Proposals selected for funding will be assigned to the DFG and the BMBF by the management organisations. Applicants from non-university research institutions are strongly advised to follow the BMBF regulations (e.g. regarding the calculation of overheads), whereas applicants from universities should refer to the DFG's funder-specific information.
Applicants will receive a personalised invitation to submit the proposals via the electronic systems of the respective funding organisation (see below).
Funding is expected to start early to mid-2025.
The individual research partners in a consortium will be funded by the respective national/regional NEURON funding organisation(s). Eligibility criteria are the matter of individual partner funding organisations, and additional national/regional regulations and requirements may apply. Applicants are strongly advised to follow the instructions in the funder-specific eligibility section, published on the NEURON website, and to contact their national/regional funding organisation to confirm eligibility requirements before submitting a proposal.
Please note that according to a resolution of the DFG General Assembly, since 1 August 2019, DFG funding may only be awarded to institutions that have implemented the guidelines laid down in the Code of Conduct for Safeguarding Good Research Practice in their own regulations in a legally binding manner.
This means that also for international proposals, funding from the DFG can only be received if the guidelines for ensuring good research practice (see link below) have been implemented by the institution of the German applicant. If you have any questions on this subject, please contact the Research Integrity team at the DFG Head Office (see contact below). Further information regarding implementation can be found at the webpage on Research Integrity (see link below).
For projects financed by the DFG and partially or completely executed abroad, all local/national ethical and legal regulations must be complied with. All applicants conducting investigations involving humans and/or human tissue/organoids, regardless of whether they are ultimately funded by the BMBF or the DFG, have to submit a statement issued by the relevant national or local ethics committee(s) to the DFG prior to the funding decision by the DFG Joint Committee. Please note that the German ethics committee must confirm that the project parts conducted abroad also comply with German regulations. The German ethics committee can either check the entire project plan with all ethically relevant parts (also those conducted in other countries) or follow a simplified procedure in which they can adopt the ethics vote of the foreign committees as their own. It is strongly recommended to start the respective procedures when the applicant is invited to the proposal stage.
The DFG strongly welcomes proposals from researchers of all genders and sexual identities, from different ethnic, cultural, religious, ideological, or social backgrounds, from different career stages, types of universities and research institutions, and with disabilities or chronic illness.
Further Information
DFG elan portal accessible at:
Applicants must be registered in elan prior to submitting a proposal to the DFG. You will normally receive confirmation of your registration by the next working day.
Guidelines for Safeguarding Good Research Practice. Code of Conduct:
Information on the implementation of the Guidelines for Safeguarding Good Research Practice. Code of Conduct:
Contact of the DFG´s Research Integrity team (Good Research Practice):
Please note the DFG’s data protection notice on research funding, which can be viewed and downloaded at
If necessary, please also forward this information to those individuals whose data will be processed by the DFG due to their involvement in your project.
NEURON JTC2024 website:
Call text:
Eligibility criteria and national regulations:
Contact:
DFG Head Office:
- Dr. Anke Ley
Life Sciences II
Phone: +49 228 885 3197
anke.ley@dfg.d
NEURON Joint Call Secretariat:
- Silvia Lorrio
Spanish State Research Agency, Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI)
neuron@aei.gob.e