Pre-Announcement of a Call for Transnational Collaborative Research Projects:

“One Health Approach to Zoonoses Research and Innovation”

The International Coordination of Research on Infectious Animal Diseases (ICRAD) is an ERANet
under Horizon 2020 (Grant Agreement NR.862605).

The key mission of ICRAD is to:

  • support cross-cutting research to improve animal health and welfare, with associated benefits towards public health, the environment and the economy.

  • connect research partners with different but complementary scientific and technological expertise to maximise resources and share risks, costs and skills. The partnership between industrial and academic researchers, where appropriate, will improve and accelerate the development of technological solutions for the benefit of animal health and welfare.

Research and innovation jointly funded by the ICRAD partners seeks collaborative approaches towards the development of novel and improved instruments to address, detect and control zoonotic diseases, particularly regarding novel detection, intervention and prevention strategies.

The previous co-fund call within the ICRAD ERA-NET successfully funded 19 collaborative projects looking at infectious animal diseases. This first additional call looks to further knowledge in the area of One Health with an emphasis at the animal-human interface.

In light of this, ICRAD announces the upcoming call for joint transnational research projects on animal health. The Joint Call is expected to bring together twenty-two funding organisations from eighteen countries to take a One Health approach to Zoonoses Research and Innovation.

Aim and scope of the call

The overall goal of the ICRAD call is to support cross-cutting research and innovation to better understand zoonoses focusing on the animal-human-environment interface and by developing novel vaccine and diagnostics technology platforms to improve animal health and by consequence animal welfare.

The objective of this funding call is to increase preparedness and improve the ability to respond to (re)-emerging zoonotic disease threats and contribute to improved animal and public health. This will be done through studies focusing on (re)-emergence of pathogens with zoonotic potential, understanding animal host-pathogen interactions and the immune response, and by developing detection and prevention platforms.

The pre-proposals should address one of the following research areas:

  • Research area 1: Improved understanding of animal-human-environment interface
               – Pathogen (Re)-Emergence and Host Adaptation
               – Host/Pathogen Interactions

  • Research area 2: Detection and Prevention
               – Vaccine Technology Platforms
               – Diagnostic Technology Platforms

The research funded through this call is to improve health of livestock, therefore, research that mainly focuses on the below are not in scope of the call and are excluded

  • improving human health

  • AMR

  • companion animals

  • climate/ecology/environment

  • food-borne pathogens

  • animal welfare

Eligibility

In this call, ICRAD expects proposals for collaborative research, development and innovation from transnational consortia composed of members from at least three different countries with a maximum of eight (including associated countries), with no more than two partners from one country. National and regional eligibility rules must be followed. They will be published together with the full call announcement on 1st of October 2021 at: http://www.submission-icrad.udanet.it.

Application procedures & Evaluation

In a two-stage submission process, the short pre-proposals will be peer-reviewed after passing an eligibility check. Consortia successfully passing the pre-proposal phase will be invited to submit a full proposal. The full proposals will be evaluated by a panel of independent experts, using the evaluation criteria published with the Call. Projects are expected to start from April 2023 at the latest, depending on grant negotiations with the relevant regional or national funding organisations.

Phase Date
Pre-proposals Opening date

Deadline for pre-proposal submission

1st October 2021

15th December 2021

Full proposals Invitation to submit a full proposal

Deadline for full proposal submission

15th April 2022

30th June 2022

Funding decisions and project start Communication of the funding decisions 1st November 2022
Envisaged Project start April 2023 
Icrad call office
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