ERA-NET NEURON JTC Call 2023

The NEURON Network has launched a joint transnational call for projects on “Mechanisms of resilience and vulnerability to environmental challenges in mental health”.

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

With the newly launched call, ERA-NET NEURON wishes to facilitate multinational, collaborative research projects that will address critical translational questions to improve our knowledge concerning neurobiological mechanisms involved in resilience or vulnerability to environmental challenges in mental health. The present call is aimed at funding preclinical research up to proof-of-concept clinical studies addressing neurobiological mechanistic understanding of vulnerability and resilience to mental disorders.

Research areas may cover a broad range of aspects including genetic, epigenetic, anatomical, molecular, immunological, and endocrine mechanisms. Proposals aimed at developing predictive, preventative, diagnostic and/or therapeutic approaches with the potential to enhance resilience based on known or hypothesised neurobiological mechanisms are within the scope of this call, as are proposals to understand the neurobiological basis of therapeutic technologies promoting resilience.

The NEURON funding organisations particularly strive to fund multidisciplinary and translational research proposals that combine basic, clinical and/or technological approaches.

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

  • Fundamental research addressing mental health vulnerability and resilience including the pathogenesis, aetiology, progression, treatment and prevention of mental diseases caused by exposure to adverse environmental challenges. This may include the use of knowledge on neurobiological mechanisms for the development of innovative technologies with the potential to promote mental health, reduce the incidence of mental disorders and improve clinical outcomes.
  • Clinical research addressing mental health vulnerability and resilience with the aim of developing novel strategies for prevention, diagnosis, patient stratification, therapy and/or rehabilitation for mental diseases caused by exposure to adverse environmental challenges. This may include research proposals aiming at the identification of neurobiological targets to enhance resilience.

Research on neurodegenerative disorders addressed by the EU Joint Programme – Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND), proposals focusing on existing pharmacological treatments with their current indications and proposals focusing solely on technological developments in disregard of neurobiological mechanisms are excluded from this call.

Pre-proposals must be submitted no later than 14:00 CET on 7 March 2023 via the electronic submission tool.

Full proposals must be submitted no later than 14:00 CEST on 29 June 2023 via the electronic submission tool.