The aim of the call is to establish a number of ambitious, innovative, multi-disciplinary and multinational collaborative research projects that aim at understanding the biomedical, psychological and/or social mechanisms of non-pharmaceutical interventions in order to identify potential target sites for enhanced personalized interventions or a combination of pharmacological and nonpharmacological interventions. Proposals must focus on one or several of the following neurodegenerative diseases:

• Alzheimer's disease and other dementias
• Parkinson's disease and PD‐related disorders
• Prion diseases
• Motor neuron diseases
• Huntington's disease
• Spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA)
• Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA)

Proposals submitted under this call may include, but are not limited to, the following types of research:  

• Determining biomolecular and/or physical underpinnings of effects of non-pharmacological interventions;  
• Examining the mechanisms of effective non-pharmacological interventions on the molecular and cellular level by applying cutting-edge technologies;  
• Identification of the mechanisms of non-pharmacological interventions within the brain, using brain imaging, electrophysiology and other equivalent state-of-the-art techniques;  
• Identification of biological, psychological and social health markers and their associations to allow the identification of modifiable risk factors amenable to non-pharmacological interventions and better predict and monitor the effects of these interventions for future largescale clinical studies; Elaborating modified concepts of non-pharmacological interventions with enhanced efficacy based on a deeper understanding of the mechanisms;  
• Identification of potential drug-target sites for a combination of pharmacological and nonpharmacological interventions; 
• Finding (individual) factors that predict response to interventions. 

Proposals must be hypothesis-driven and should have a strong focus on methodology. They should  be based on mechanistic approaches rather than pure correlational research and focused on those  interventions where there is solid and demonstrable indication of effectiveness. Special attention  should be paid to the development of non-biased methods to control for potential 'placebo like'  effects of non-pharmacological interventions. The potential of existing cohorts should be used as  much as possible. However, gaining data on effectiveness and efficacy itself, e.g. by conducting  clinical trials, is not within the scope of this call. Consortia should include researchers from social sciences, where needed. 

Under this scheme, joint transnational research proposals can be funded for a period of up to three years.

Eligible countries for this call are: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey.

BUDGET

The call is made at European level but each partner of the consortium is funded by its national funding agency and must follow its national funding rules. Spanish participants are funded by ISCIII. There are eligibility requirements for the institutions and principal investigators funded by ISCIII. (please see annex B of the Call text) For Spanish applicants funded by ISCIII: after the evaluation at European level, successful applicants will be invited to submit an application to ISCIII. Due to the complexity of the call, if you are interested in submitting an application we strongly recommend that you contact leonor.norton@sjd.es well in advance of the deadline.

The amount of the grant for Spanish applicants:

• Up to 100.000 € per partner (overheads included)
• Up to 175.000 € per coordinator (overheads included)

Proposals may be submitted by research groups working in universities or other higher education institutions, non-university public or private research organisations, hospitals and other health and social care settings, as well as commercial companies, in particular small and mediumsize enterprises (SMEs). Collaborations with companies from outside the traditional medical sector (e.g. computing, artificial intelligence) are welcome.

Consortia may consist of partners who receive funding for research by funding organisations participating in this joint call ("regular funded partners") as well as non-funded external collaborators. Regular partners are represented by the leaders of individual research groups (typically a principal investigator or a young academic group leader) within individual institutions. Each regular partner must verify their eligibility to request funding from one of the funding organisation(s) of their respective country participating in the call (see section one). If different research groups from the same institution request funding, these groups will be treated as separate regular partners under this call.

Each proposal must involve a minimum of three and a maximum of six regular partners, including the coordinator, from at least three different countries participating in this call (see section one). However, if the proposal involves at least one regular partner from an EU-13 country (i.e. Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia) or from Turkey, the maximum number of regular partners is extended to seven. For reasons of transnational balance, no more than two regular partners from the same country are allowed to join a proposal.

There will be a two-stage procedure for applications: pre-proposals and full-proposals. At both stages, one joint proposal document shall be prepared by the consortium and submitted by the coordinator.

Pre-proposals must be submitted by the coordinator in electronic format no later than 12:00h (noon) C.E.T. on March 1, 2022, via the JPND electronic submission system. No other means of submission will be accepted. A pre-proposal template is available at the JPND website. Adherence to this template is mandatory.

Due to the complexity of this call, in case of interest for further information, please contact frecerca.internacional(ELIMINAR)@sjd.es