ERa-Net NEURON II - Joint Call
The aim of the Network of European Funding for Neuroscience Research (NEURON) project is to link European national research funding programmes and funding activities in the field of disease-related neurosciences.
There is little doubt that the maintenance and restoration of health are highly valued and fundamental to citizens in all countries. Among the many diseases affecting health, brain disorders are major causes for impaired quality of life. According to estimates by the World Health Organization, more than one billion people suffer from disorders of the central nervous system (WHO 2001). In Europe, approximately one-third of all burden of disease is caused by brain diseases. With increasing average life-expectancy, especially in highly industrialized countries, and with the rapidly growing incidence of neurodegenerative diseases this percentage will rise even further. Neuroscience research and its translation into diagnostic and therapeutic measures are therefore a high priority, and form an important basis for the improvement of healthy living.
This fact is clearly recognized by health research policy makers, and is reflected in the considerable amount of money allocated to the support of neurological and psychiatric research. However, while the cooperation level among research institutions in the various European countries appears satisfactory, clear deficiencies are present with regard to the coordination of respective research funding. Funding activities are fragmented and scattered at national and regional levels, and only few approaches have been undertaken to phase them. Thus, the coordination of national and regional funding programs can improve efficient use of high but still limited resources, and increase their impact. Coordinated funding activities can avoid redundancy, fill gaps, and use synergies.
Since some of the participating countries have only recently become EU member states or are associated countries, NEURON is able to facilitate integration for countries with different status within and towards the EU.
In NEURON as well as in other ERA-Nets, funding organisations exchange information about their work, their review procedures and funding philosophies. This already is an achievement and will eventually lead to improvement of standards throughout partner countries. The ultimate goal of the ERA-Net scheme, however, is to initiate joint funding from national research budgets. These budgets are more or less strictly limited to national borders, and funding across borders is usually not possible. Concepts regarding how to overcome legal and administrative barriers need to be developed. Eventually, it will depend on the political will in each country whether the ambitious aims of NEURON and other ERA-Nets will materialize. There is no doubt that this would be beneficial to both the scientific community and the patients suffering from brain diseases.
Key stages of the project:
- Systematic exchange of information and good practices
- Strategic activities
- Implementation of joint activities
- Transnational research activities
- Dissemination
The Neuron structure consists of a Network Steering Committee, a Scientific Advisory Board and an Executive Board.
Network Steering Committee
The Network Steering Committee (NSC) constitutes the decision-making unit within the NEURON consortium, receiving all relevant information (reports, concepts etc.) from the coordinator and from the WP leaders via the coordinator. The general coordination of the consortium is performed by the Co-ordinator, PD Dr. Marlies Dorlöchter (The NEURON Secretariat is located at the PT-DLR).
Scientific Advisory Board
To ensure a high scientific quality of the network and the flow of information with the scientific community.
Executive Board
The Executive Board comprises the members of each Work Package (WP) Group, will take decisions for daily management of the consortium and meets regularly to oversee the Work Package progress.
Joint Calls
Implementation of joint funding schemes is one of the most ambitious activities of ERA-Nets. In NEURON I, four joint calls were launched:
2011 - "European Research Projects on Cerebrovascular Diseases" - This call is closed.
2010 - "Mental disorders" - This call is closed.
2009 - "Development and advancement in methods and technologies towards the understanding of brain diseases" - This call is closed.
2008 - "European research projects on neurodegenerative diseases of the central nervous system" - This call is closed.
In addition, the Excellent Paper in Neuroscience Award (EPNA) was announced:
2010 - "Young scientists paper award" - This call is closed.
2009 - "Young scientists paper award" - This call is closed.
Under the umbrella of NEURON, the fifth joint call is going to be launched in January 2012, the 20th .
For more details about the call, please see the preliminary announcement published on the NEURON website.
There will be a two-stage submission procedure for joint applications: pre-proposals and full proposals. In order to facilitate the eligibility check process, the Italian Ministry of Health will grant eligibility clearance to the Italian applicants participating in the multinational research consortia, prior to the submission of the preliminary proposals to Neuron. To this end, applicants must complete a pre-submission eligibility check form.