FLAG-ERA Launches Fifth Transnational Call for Proposals

The call will support collaborative research projects in synergy with the two large-scale European initiatives: Graphene Flagship and Human Brain Project – EBRAINS.

FLAG-ERA is a consortium of European research and innovation funding agencies, research councils and ministries that work jointly towards enabling the coordination of national and regional funding for the Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) Flagship initiatives Graphene Flagship and Human Brain Project – EBRAINS. It consists of 39 funding agencies from 26 countries in Europe and beyond (22 full members and 17 associate members).

FLAG-ERA has now launched its fifth Joint Transnational Call for proposals to support collaborative research projects in synergy with Graphene Flagship and Human Brain Project – EBRAINS. The call has a total budget of approximately €9-€10 million.

The call is divided into three sub-calls: two sub-calls support the Graphene Flagship and one sub-call supports Human Brain Project – EBRAINS. Not all countries and funding organisations are participating in all three sub-calls, so applicants are advised to consult their own regional/national regulations before submitting an application:

Sub-call Graphene Flagship (basic research)

The goal is to lay the foundations for the graphene and 2D materials technologies of the future. The focus is on basic research, and the projects should explore novel phenomena, concepts, resources, protocols, algorithms, and/or address major challenges that prevent broad applications of some graphene and 2D materials technologies.

Sub-call Graphene Flagship (applied research and innovation)

The goal is to take known graphene and 2D materials effects and established concepts from basic research, translate them into technological applications. These could be novel devices that are based on known effects and that will serve a novel application, or devices and systems that translate known applications into products and industrial applications.

Sub-call Human Brain Project – EBRAINS (basic and applied research)

This sub-call focuses on Preclinical and clinical neuroscience research through data reuse.

It targets research proposals using cross dataset analysis as well as the development of robust modelling and simulations to address ambitious and novel research objectives. Proposals should be primarily based on pooling, harmonisation, transformation and/or reanalysis of existing research datasets or a combination of them.

Ongoing projects funded through FLAG-ERA and other national, European or international initiatives such as the ERA-NET NEURON and the JPND are encouraged to broaden their initial objectives by exploring and making use of existing datasets. This sub-call is intended to contribute to the transformation of neurosciences research landscape enabled by Open Science opportunities, such as EBRAINS. Applicants are encouraged to exchange with the EBRAINS infrastructure.

The following countries and organisations are participating in the call:

  • Belgium – FNRS
  • Bulgaria – BNSF
  • Estonia – ETAg
  • France – ANR
  • Germany – DFG
  • Israel – Innovation Auth
  • Lithuania – LMT
  • The Netherlands – ZonMw
  • Romania – UEFISCDI
  • Slovakia – SAS
  • Slovenia – MIZS
  • Sweden – VINNOVA and VR
  • Taiwan – NSTC

Eligibility requirements, national/regional topics of interest, eligible costs and funding provisions may vary according to the respective funding organisation’s regulations. Project partners must therefore refer and adhere to their own regional/national regulations and scientific remits, as detailed in the relevant regional/national announcements.

Projects are anticipated to start between December 2023 and February 2024 and may be funded for up to three years.

Applications should be submitted by the 1 June 2023 (17:00 CET) deadline.

(This report was the subject of a ResearchConnect Newsflash.)