The aim of the call is to facilitate multinational, collaborative research projects that will address important translational questions in the areas of stroke and other cerebrovascular diseases including small vessels disease (CSVD) and the dysfunction of brain barriers.

The present call aims to fund preclinical and clinical research addressing the pathophysiology and therapeutic developments for stroke and other cerebrovascular diseases. Proposals relating CSVD and the dysfunction of brain barriers to cerebrovascular disease are encouraged. Research areas may cover a broad range of aspects associated with cerebrovascular disease such as genetic, epigenetic, molecular mechanism of disease. The call will accept research proposals ranging from understanding basic mechanisms of cerebrovascular disease and brain barriers dysfunctions through proof-of-concept clinical studies in humans.

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

• Fundamental research addressing the pathogenesis, aetiology, progression, treatment, and prevention of cerebrovascular diseases including CSVD as well as basic research to elucidate the role of brain barriers on cerebrovascular diseases. This may include the development of innovative or shared resources and technologies including computational and statistical tools, as considered of relevance in the context of this call.
• Clinical research to develop novel strategies for prevention (including secondary prevention), diagnosis, patient stratification, therapy and/or rehabilitation for cerebrovascular diseases

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.

Anticipated funding for organisations in Spain is (for 3 years):

• Maximum funding from ISCIII per awarded Spanish project partner: Up to 175,000 € per partner (overheads included). Up to 250,000 € per coordinator (overheads included).
• Maximum funding from AECC awarded to a research group: up to 150.000€ (overheads not included), for projects related to cancer. Please note that for cancer research proposals funding can be requested to both, ISCIII and FCAECC, and comply with the eligibility criteria of both Institutions. Funding cannot be requested only to FCAECC. However, funding can be requested only to ISCIII (for example, for non-cancer related projects).
• Maximum funding per grant from the Health Department of Generalitat de Catalunya the awarded to a project partner: 200.000 € per partner - 250.000 € per coordinator

Joint transnational research proposals may be submitted by research teams working in universities (or other higher education institutions), non-university public or private research organisations, hospitals or foundations, as well as in commercial companies, particularly small and medium-size enterprises.

Only transnational projects will be funded.

Each consortium should have the critical mass to achieve ambitious scientific goals and should clearly demonstrate added value from working together. Each consortium must nominate a coordinator who represents the consortium externally and is responsible for its internal management. Applicants should demonstrate that they have the expertise and range of skills required to conduct the study including already established collaborations. Eligibility criteria are the matter of individual partner funding organisations and additional national/regional regulations and requirements may apply

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 focussed primarily on cardiological or metabolic causes or comorbidities (i.e. diabetes, obesity, Covid-19/long Covid) to cerebrovascular diseases.

Countries participating in this project: Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Estonia, France, German, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland,Taiwan, Turkey

Due to the complexity of this call, if you are interested or want more information, please contact frecerca.internacional(ELIMINAR)@sjd.es