Periodic Reporting for period 1 - NEURON Cofund2 (Network of European funding for neuroscience research - NEURON Cofund2)
Reporting period: 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31
The brain is in its complexity the most challenging organ in the human body. It determines our humanity, our thinking and decisions, and motor activity. Despite enormous research efforts and progress in recent years many aspects of its functioning remain to be understood as well as of its dysfunctioning. Consequently, diseases of the brain and nervous system decrease the quality of life of those afflicted by them, their families and carers. In numbers, more than 380 million patients in Europe alone suffer from neurological and mental disorders. Diseases of the brain and nervous system represent not only a major societal but also an economic burden, causing costs of more than 800 billion euros per year in the EU. The neurological disorders included in the Global Burden of Disease Study of 2015 caused over 9 million deaths, comprising 17% of global deaths. As measured in Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYS), neurological and mental disorders accounted for 413.1 million DALYs globally, by far exceeding those from cancer (209.4 million) or cardio-vascular disease (228.9 million, without stroke). Trends are increasing, mostly due to aging populations (Eur. J. Neuropsychopharm. 2011, 21:718; Lancet Neurol. 2017, 17:877).
Tackling an issue of such magnitude requires concerted action and collaboration between all relevant key players at all levels. Research into the brain, nervous system and their diseases, greatly benefits from an interdisciplinary approach of excellent European and international research groups. The European Commission invested in its current framework programme, Horizon 2020 from 2014 to 2020, more than 3 billion euros in research on the brain and nervous system at European and international levels.
Research into the diseases of the brain benefits from joint funding schemes by networks of funding agencies and ministries in Europe and beyond the European borders. The ERA-Net NEURON, as a funding platform focused on brain-related diseases and disorders of the nervous system, holds a strategic position in bringing pre-clinical and clinical research communities closer together and fostering translational research, while covering the entire value chain. Based on its Strategic Research Agenda, NEURON pursues a unique funding programme addressing a variety of disorders, neurological, mental, and sensory organ-related. Since 2008, overall 31 funders from 23 countries in the network mobilized 136 million euros for collaborative grant awards to around 655 Principal Investigators (PIs) in over 150 consortia. As evident from the name of the ERA-Net, the scope of NEURON is broad. It covers the entire value chain and ranges from pre-clinical studies to clinical trials, as well as prevention or rehabilitation studies. Similarly, the calls tackle a variety of disorders. The majority of NEURON-funded projects address the area of mental health, e.g. depression, schizophrenia, autism. However, neurological disorders, e.g. Traumatic Brain Injury, epilepsy or stroke, are also well represented among funded projects and the joint transnational calls (JTCs) for proposals often cover topics across disease areas.
Tackling an issue of such magnitude requires concerted action and collaboration between all relevant key players at all levels. Research into the brain, nervous system and their diseases, greatly benefits from an interdisciplinary approach of excellent European and international research groups. The European Commission invested in its current framework programme, Horizon 2020 from 2014 to 2020, more than 3 billion euros in research on the brain and nervous system at European and international levels.
Research into the diseases of the brain benefits from joint funding schemes by networks of funding agencies and ministries in Europe and beyond the European borders. The ERA-Net NEURON, as a funding platform focused on brain-related diseases and disorders of the nervous system, holds a strategic position in bringing pre-clinical and clinical research communities closer together and fostering translational research, while covering the entire value chain. Based on its Strategic Research Agenda, NEURON pursues a unique funding programme addressing a variety of disorders, neurological, mental, and sensory organ-related. Since 2008, overall 31 funders from 23 countries in the network mobilized 136 million euros for collaborative grant awards to around 655 Principal Investigators (PIs) in over 150 consortia. As evident from the name of the ERA-Net, the scope of NEURON is broad. It covers the entire value chain and ranges from pre-clinical studies to clinical trials, as well as prevention or rehabilitation studies. Similarly, the calls tackle a variety of disorders. The majority of NEURON-funded projects address the area of mental health, e.g. depression, schizophrenia, autism. However, neurological disorders, e.g. Traumatic Brain Injury, epilepsy or stroke, are also well represented among funded projects and the joint transnational calls (JTCs) for proposals often cover topics across disease areas.
The specific objectives relate to the co-funded call and additional activities, in highly interlinked work packages (WPs).
The tasks related to lauching and conducting the co-funded JTC2021 addressing the highly relevant area of neurodevelopmental disorders have successfully been completed. Further focus is to assure and improve the quality of the funded projects by monitoring their progress (WP4), and to adequately disseminate knowledge of the results from the projects funded through the JTC2021 (WP5).
Additional Joint Activities to achieve the formulated aims
• Advance NEURON as a work platform for funding agencies and ministries in Europe and outside European geographic boundaries to streamline and align their national priorities and strategies through implementation of the goals described in the Strategic Research Agenda (WP8).
• Maintain the NEURON funding scheme with upgraded financial commitments as a reliable funding platform through 4 additional annual calls for proposals in the field of disease-related neuroscience and 1-2 in neuroethical research (Ethical, Legal, Societal Aspects (ELSA) of neuroscience) (WP6).
• Strengthen translational and clinical approaches and application of results by engaging patients and encouraging the interaction of researchers and clinicians in all steps of the call design and proposal selection process and involve regulatory bodies and other stakeholders where appropriate. • Design the upcoming JTCs in a way that spans the value chain, from translational preclinical studies in animal models and humans to clinical trials, health care, rehabilitation studies and guidelines on ethical issues in neurosciences (WP6).
• Provide support for early-career researchers into an independent research career by creating an educational environment and providing training and networking opportunities (WP7).
• Tackle the strong need for sharing data and other resources and foster collaboration of research groups across NEURON JTCs by introducing new instruments and networking measures (WP6, 8 and 9).
• Partner with pertinent initiatives in the area of brain research in Europe and beyond, develop collaboration strategies and take the necessary steps towards the envisaged European and global Brain Research Area (WP6, 8, 9).
• Reach out to and interact with relevant societal groups and disseminate knowledge about research into the brain and its diseases, research outcomes and the role of public funding (WP5, 9).
The tasks related to lauching and conducting the co-funded JTC2021 addressing the highly relevant area of neurodevelopmental disorders have successfully been completed. Further focus is to assure and improve the quality of the funded projects by monitoring their progress (WP4), and to adequately disseminate knowledge of the results from the projects funded through the JTC2021 (WP5).
Additional Joint Activities to achieve the formulated aims
• Advance NEURON as a work platform for funding agencies and ministries in Europe and outside European geographic boundaries to streamline and align their national priorities and strategies through implementation of the goals described in the Strategic Research Agenda (WP8).
• Maintain the NEURON funding scheme with upgraded financial commitments as a reliable funding platform through 4 additional annual calls for proposals in the field of disease-related neuroscience and 1-2 in neuroethical research (Ethical, Legal, Societal Aspects (ELSA) of neuroscience) (WP6).
• Strengthen translational and clinical approaches and application of results by engaging patients and encouraging the interaction of researchers and clinicians in all steps of the call design and proposal selection process and involve regulatory bodies and other stakeholders where appropriate. • Design the upcoming JTCs in a way that spans the value chain, from translational preclinical studies in animal models and humans to clinical trials, health care, rehabilitation studies and guidelines on ethical issues in neurosciences (WP6).
• Provide support for early-career researchers into an independent research career by creating an educational environment and providing training and networking opportunities (WP7).
• Tackle the strong need for sharing data and other resources and foster collaboration of research groups across NEURON JTCs by introducing new instruments and networking measures (WP6, 8 and 9).
• Partner with pertinent initiatives in the area of brain research in Europe and beyond, develop collaboration strategies and take the necessary steps towards the envisaged European and global Brain Research Area (WP6, 8, 9).
• Reach out to and interact with relevant societal groups and disseminate knowledge about research into the brain and its diseases, research outcomes and the role of public funding (WP5, 9).
NEURON pursues a holistic view of the brain and a focus on mental health. The heavy burden of brain diseases requires concerted action of all players involved in the research area, across Europe and globally. Mobilizing in partnership with the European Commission 19.2 Mio€ NEURON Cofund2 will fund 18 projects under the JTC2021’Neurodevelopmental Disorders’. 22 funding agencies from 20 different countries plus the European Commission contribute to the funding of 18 projects. The projects comprise 80 research groups (Principal Investigators) from 15 partner countries. The projects will impact research in this area and in the long run improve the quality of life of the afflicted patients, who are often children and adolescents, and their families.
The overall strategy addresses a variety of stakeholders and fields of activity to pave the path for the vision of a global Brain Research Area. Towards this goal NEURON hosted important meetings:
1. The Symposium 'Together for Brain Research' in January 2021, the symposium booklet can be found on the website. In the subsequent Lancet Neurology editorial, Vol 20, February 2021, the ERA NET NEURON was highlighted.
2. The Foresight symposium in May 2021 on the topic “Blood-Brain Barrier and Cerebrovascular Diseases”, and the corresponding report can be found on the website.
Frequent presence on social media enable engagement with target audiences.
1. Twitter was established and is active with frequent posts.
2. A LinkedIn “group” for researchers was establishedand refers to newsletters, the website, events, discussions and twitter.
3. A NEURON YouTube channel was officially launched (and also announced on twitter).
The overall strategy addresses a variety of stakeholders and fields of activity to pave the path for the vision of a global Brain Research Area. Towards this goal NEURON hosted important meetings:
1. The Symposium 'Together for Brain Research' in January 2021, the symposium booklet can be found on the website. In the subsequent Lancet Neurology editorial, Vol 20, February 2021, the ERA NET NEURON was highlighted.
2. The Foresight symposium in May 2021 on the topic “Blood-Brain Barrier and Cerebrovascular Diseases”, and the corresponding report can be found on the website.
Frequent presence on social media enable engagement with target audiences.
1. Twitter was established and is active with frequent posts.
2. A LinkedIn “group” for researchers was establishedand refers to newsletters, the website, events, discussions and twitter.
3. A NEURON YouTube channel was officially launched (and also announced on twitter).