JOINT TRANSNATIONAL CALL 2022

“PREVENTION IN PERSONALISED MEDICINE”

THE CALL IS CLOSED 

ERA PerMed is an ERA-NET Cofund, supported by 32 partners of 23 countries and cofunded by the European Commission (EC). To align national research strategies, promote excellence, reinforce the competitiveness of European players in Personalised Medicine (PM), and enhance the European collaboration with non-EU countries, 33 funding organisations have agreed to launch the fifth Joint Transnational Call for collaborative innovative research projects in PM. This represents the fourth additional call non-cofunded by the EC. The funding organisations participating in this call particularly wish to promote innovative interdisciplinary collaboration and to encourage translational research proposals. The available budget for this call is 29 Mio € (approx.).

  • Opening of online submission tool: 1st December 2021

  • Submission deadline for pre-proposals: 17 February 2022 (17:00 CEST)

  • Submission deadline for invited full-proposals: 14 June 2022 (17:00 CEST)

Electronic submission website

Electronic proposal submission is mandatory on PT-Outline. Research project consortia who intend to submit a transnational proposal should register as soon as possible, by clicking on “Sign up” and follow further instructions.

Contact persons for the Joint Call Secretariat (JCS)

The ERA PerMed JCS is hosted by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR), France: 

      • Monika Frenzel and Michael Joulie

      • 50 Avenue Daumesnil, 75012 Paris, FRANCE

      • Phone: +33 1 73 54 83 32 / +33 1 80 48 83 57

      • Email: ERAPerMed@agencerecherche.fr

  • with the support of the National Health Institute Carlos III (ISCIII), Spain.

CALL Documents

The call text and all additional documents can be downloaded below or on the online submission tool:

AIMS OF THE CALL

With its fifth transnational call (non-cofunded by the EC), ERA PerMed aims to foster research in prevention in personalised medicine. The overarching goal of the call is the development of tailor-made strategies for prevention of disease and disease progression, at three different levels:

i. preventive measures decreasing the rate of incidence (primary prevention),
ii. early detection to increase the efficacy of a preventive therapy, even before symptoms are developed (secondary prevention), and
iii. interventions preventing disease recurrence or improving patients’ care and quality of life (tertiary prevention).

Research on prevention from over-treatment or overmedicalisation in primary, secondary and tertiary personalised preventive approaches is optional and could be part of research proposals, if applicable.

The clinical relevance of the proposed PM approach needs to be convincingly demonstrated.

The overall objectives of the ERA PerMed call are to:

  • Support translational research projects in the field of personalised medicine;

  • Encourage and enable interdisciplinary collaborations towards implementation of PM, in combining pre-clinical or clinical research with bio-informatics components as well as ELSA research or implementation research, including health economics;

  • Encourage collaboration between academia (research teams from universities, higher education institutions, public research institutions, research centres), clinical/public health research (research teams from hospital/ public health, healthcare settings and other healthcare organisations), private partners e.g. SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) as well as policy makers, regulatory/HTA agencies and patient organisations.

As Personalised Medicine is non-disease-specific, but rather an overall approach that can be adopted and adapted to a multiplicity of medical conditions, research projects in every disease entity are encouraged. The involvement of partners with the respective expertise in the consortium is required.

[1] https://ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/business-friendly-environment/sme-definition_en

SCOPE OF THE CALL

The JTC2022 is constructed around the following three research areas in order to ensure the development of specific PM approaches considering the major aspects needed for their successful implementation in the health systems: (1) “Translating Basic to Clinical Research and Beyond”, (2) “Data and Information and Communication Technology (ICT)” and (3) “Responsible and Effective Implementation in Healthcare”.

Each proposal MUST address at least one module out of each research area:

Assessment of the coherent integration and combination of the different research areas and modules in the proposals is part of the evaluation process.

 GENERAL (eligibility) CONDITIONS FOR APPLICATION

Joint research proposals may be submitted by applicants belonging to the following categories (subject to regional/national funding regulations):

A. Academia (research teams working in universities, other higher education institutions) or research institutes;

B. Clinical/public health sector (research teams working in hospitals/public health and/or other healthcare settings and health organisations). Participation of clinicians (e.g. medical doctors, nurses) in the research teams is encouraged;

C. Private for-profit (industry) partners, e.g. SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) and private non-profit partners, e.g. foundations, associations or non-governmental organisations.

Whilst applications will be submitted jointly by groups from several countries, individual groups will be funded by the individual ERA PerMed funding organisation respective of the region/country from which applicants have applied. The applications are therefore subject to eligibility criteria and regulations of individual funding organisations. Applicants are strongly advised to contact their regional/national representatives of the participating relevant funding organisation as soon as possible in order to confirm their eligibility (see also below “Contact details of participating members”).

Only transnational projects will be funded. Each consortium submitting a proposal must involve at least three partners eligible for funding coming from three different countries whose funding organisations participate to the call (see list below). All three legal entities must be independent from each other. At least two partners out of the minimum three eligible project partners of the consortium must be from two different EU Member States or Associated Countries.

The maximum number of partners per pre-proposal is six though not more than 2 partners from the same country participating in the call will be accepted in one project consortium (including those partners with own funding). At the full-proposal stage, a consortium might be increased up to seven partners in total only by inclusion of a partner coming from an underrepresented country. A list of underrepresented countries will be provided to coordinators invited for full-proposals submission.

Research groups not eligible for funding (e.g. from non-funding countries or not fundable according to regional/national regulations of the participating funding organisation) may participate in transnational projects if they are able to secure their own funding. They are considered as full partners and have to be integrated in the pre- and full-proposal templates as such. No more than one partner with own funding is allowed in consortia with at least three partners eligible for funding.

The project coordinator must be eligible to be funded by his/her regional/national participating funding organisation.

It is mandatory to integrate as principle investigator at least one early-career researcher in a consortium.

Exception: To facilitate the integration of patient organisations in consortia, they can be added to a consortium as additional partners at the pre-proposal stage or the full-proposal stage. The consortia must follow all of the above-mentioned rules regarding consortia composition without counting the patient organisations. The latter can be added as additional partners either through their own funding or by applying for funding, if eligible, from the respective funding organisations. Not more than two consortium partners per country can request funding, including patient organisations. An exception is possible in countries with more than one funding organisation: in these countries, three partners from the same country may apply for funding, if one of them is a patient organisation and at least one of them is requesting funding to a regional funding organisation.

* minimum 3 partners eligible for funding from three different countries participating in the call. Patient organisations are not counted in this calculation.

** patient organisations are not counted in this calculation and can be added as partners participating with own funding in the pre- and full-proposal step.

*** patient organisations are not counted in this calculation and can be added as additional partners in the pre-proposal or full-proposal stage. They can participate either on own funds or apply for funding, if eligible, from the regional/national funding organisation. Please note: Not more than two consortium partners per country can request funding, including patient organisations. For some funding agencies, the maximum number of eligible partners that can be funded in one project is limited to one. In countries with more than one funding organisation, three partners from the same country may apply for funding, if one of them is a patient organisation and at least one of them is requesting funding to a regional funding organisation.

Peer Review Panel

The list of scientific experts that conformed the Peer Review Panel of the full proposals evaluation can be consulted here. 

ICPerMed Partnering tool

If you are looking for potential partners, please have a look also at the ICPerMed Partnering Tool for Personalised Medicine Research. To access it, please follow this link.

The ICPerMed Partnering Tool facilitates networking among universities, clinical sector, research and patient organisations, SMEs, industry and all other stakeholders interested in personalised medicine. The tool enables users to present their expertise to the personalised medicine research community and to search for partners. By completing and activating the profile, it becomes available to all users. The partner search function is available for all users, also for those who do not publish their partnering profile. The tool assists users in finding suitable cooperation partners. The tool might be of particular help for applicants coming from countries that joined ERA PerMed calls recently.

Contact details of participating members

The following countries (26) are participating in the preparation of the call: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania*, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan and Turkey (contact list is provided below).

Besides national funders, the following regions are participating (7): Wallonia-Brussels (Belgium), Quebec (Canada), Federation Saxony (Germany), Lombardy (Italy), Tuscany (Italy), Catalonia (Spain) and Navarre (Spain), and one Charity (AECC-FC).

* The decision on participation is still pending for a funding organisation of this country.

The contact list is accessible: here

Contact details of national patients organisations

The following national patients organisations have expressed their interest in participating in previous ERA PerMed calls. For further information and contact details: here.

If there is any other patient organisation interested in participating in the JTC2022, please contact the JCS2022 or join the ICPerMed Partnering Tool.