Joint Transnational Call 2026 for the BE READY Partnership: Advancing knowledge of host and pathogens dynamics to better combat emerging diseases

Please, for all details on the scope and the requirements of the call, as well as national/regional specific requirements, refer to the full call text published on the BE READY website (link: https://beready4pandemics.eu/joint-transnational-calls/)

The aim of this call is to increase scientific understanding and evidence-based knowledge on emerging and re-emerging pathogens with pandemic potential as well as on the host responses triggered by infection in order to improve our capacity to anticipate, prevent and respond to infectious health threats through a multinational, collaborative and interdisciplinary approach that bridges research and development. The scope of the call is primarily addressing Priority 1 of the BE READY Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA), Accelerate knowledge in a coordinated and integrative manner, focusing on the proposed Action 1.1 (Increase knowledge on understanding, identifying and addressing therapeutic targets on pathogens) and Action 1.2 (Increase knowledge on pathophysiology).

Therefore, proposals are expected to deliver results that are directed towards and contributing to at least one of the following expected outcomes:

1. Identification of novel pathogen-specific molecular targets and mutation hotspots (i.e. discovery of critical proteins, enzymes or signalling molecules that play a central role in pathogen infectivity, survival and/or resistance);
2. Improving the understanding of cross-species (zoonotic) aspects of host–pathogen interactions (in the context of the One Health approach);
3. Application of the “Pathogen X” approach to generate transferable knowledge that can then be applied to other threatening viruses of the same family;
4. Identification, development and optimisation of (new) structures with optimal therapeutic activity and low toxicity that can be potential lead compounds (particularly for vulnerable groups);
5. Identification and validation of targets, alongside data integration, interoperability and modelling efforts to demonstrate the potential of these targets, including antigenic structures suitable for vaccine development, for subsequent therapeutic development (i.e. proof-of-concept studies);
6. Improving data integration and modelling to predict pathogen behaviour and therapeutic susceptibilities;
7. Understanding the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying host-pathogen interactions, in humans including host predisposing factors, to guide future diagnostic, therapeutic and vaccine development;
8. Development and improvement of advanced immunological assays, experimental models and preclinical studies that link host genetics to disease outcomes.

Proposals should focus exclusively on one or multiple viruses belonging to the families listed below. Proposals addressing global approaches towards a whole family of these pathogens are also feasible.

i. Arenaviridae

ii. Coronaviridae

iii. Filoviridae

iv. Flaviviridae

v. Hantaviridae

vi. Nairoviridae

vii. Orthomyxoviridae

viii. Paramyxoviridae

ix. Phenuiviridae

x. Poxviridae

xi. Togaviridae

xii. “Pathogen X”

Beyond the listed research aspects, proposals must demonstrate the following aspects:

a) Proposals must be hypothesis-driven and should have a strong emphasis on reliable and rigorous methodology;

b) The composition of the consortium must be interdisciplinary, i.e. it is expected that consortia must include partners with expertise from different, relevant disciplines (e.g. basic/pre-clinical research, clinical research, computing science/bioinformatics, veterinary science, Public Health, social and environmental science) to create a broad, thematically diverse research approach in terms of pandemic prevention and response and pathogen spectra. Added value from working together (transnational and interdisciplinary) on the proposed research question(s) must be demonstrated;

c) Proposals must take into account sex and gender dimensions, and/or diversity aspects in their research plan/activities.

Furthermore, the following aspects for proposal submissions are explicitly encouraged:

d) Research questions related to specific populations or vulnerable groups;

e) The inclusion of highly innovative methodologies or state of the art technologies in order to advance the development of health innovations;

f) Collaboration with the private sector/private entities is encouraged (see Annex A for national/regional eligibility criteria for the funding of industry partners);

g) The use of existing cohorts and data sets.

Excluded are the following topics / aspects:

i. Antimicrobial resistant (AMR) pathogens (resistant to antibiotics and antifungal agents). AMR pandemic will be addressed in detail in other networks/organisations such as the European partnership on One Health Antimicrobial Resistance (EUP OHAMR);

ii. Research addressing SRIA priority actions 1.3 (Increase knowledge on environmental and social aspects driving pathogen emergence) and 1.4 (Increase knowledge on transmission dynamics and epidemiology);

iii. Clinical studies.

Eligibility

Proposals may be submitted by applicants strictly according to the eligibility criteria laid down in the call documents and the respective national regulations provided as annexes to the call text (link: https://beready4pandemics.eu/joint-transnational-calls/).

General conditions for application

1. The duration of the (transnational collaborative) projects is maximum 36 months.
2. Double funding of research projects is not permitted. The Joint Call Secretariat (JCS) and national/ regional funding organisations may perform cross-checks against other funding initiatives managed by the same organisations (both national/regional calls and Joint Transnational Calls). In addition, there can be no double funding for activities already receiving EU funding, e.g. through Horizon 2020 or Horizon Europe.
3. To avoid conflicts of interest, staff directly involved in the call implementation are not eligible to apply to this call and must maintain strict confidentiality (Firewall measures) regarding any sensitive/confidential information related to the call.

Composition of the transnational consortium

1. Each consortium partner must be eligible to be funded by the respective regional/national participating funding organisation. If a partner is found to be non-eligible at any stage of the process by one of the funding organisations, the entire proposal could be rejected without further review.
2. The consortium must involve a minimum of three (3) consortium partners (including the coordinator), from at least three (3) different eligible countries (including at least two EU Member States or associated countries), whose funding organizations participate in the call (see section 3: list of participating countries).
3. The consortium may not have more than six (6) consortium partners (including external partner (own/in-kind budget)).
4. If the consortium includes an under-represented country[1] or a company[2],the maximum number of project partners can be increased to seven (7) including the coordinator.
5. Per consortium, only one (1) partner can request funding from the same funding organisation. Exceptions may apply, see country- and region-specific guidelines in Annex A.
6. The consortium coordinator cannot be changed between the first and second stage and can coordinate only one (1) submitted proposal. In addition, coordinators can be partner in max. one (1) other project proposal.
7. Consortium partners cannot be involved in more than two (2) research proposals submitted to this call.
8. It is permitted to include one (1) external partner from countries that are not participating in this call, but only if own funding is secured. A signed statement declaring that the external partner will run the project on own resources has to be enclosed in the proposal. The budget of non-funded partners must be included in the proposal (own/In-Kind-budget) and shall not exceed 20% of the requested total transnational project budget. External partners cannot be coordinator of a proposal. They have the same responsibilities as funded partners, i.e. they must accept all BE READY Partnership rules and guidelines as set out in this Call Text.

Application procedures

There will be a two-stage procedure for the applications: pre-proposals in the first stage and full-proposals in the second stage (only upon invitation to selected pre-proposals). At both stages, one joint proposal document (in English) must be prepared by the consortium and submitted by the project coordinator exclusively through the dedicated submission electronic platform (PT-Outline). Pre-proposals or full-proposals that do not follow the template guidelines will be rejected without further review. Templates and further information on electronic submission are available on the BE READY website and in the pre-proposal template.

Applicants must take note of individual regional/national rules, and must contact their regional/national funding organisation if they have any questions in this regard. Indeed, applicants from some regions/countries may be required to submit additional information (in some cases before the deadline of this call) directly to their relevant regional/national funding organisations.

Evaluation

Eligibility check and evaluation procedure

Formal check and evaluation of pre-proposals

The JCS will check all proposals to ensure that they meet the call’s formal criteria. In parallel, the JCS will forward the proposals to the national/regional funding organisations, which will perform a check for compliance with national/regional regulations. In case of non-compliance with national/regional regulations the coordinator will be informed by the JCS.

Each proposal passing both eligibility checks will be evaluated independently by three (3) reviewers (see evaluation criteria below). Potential conflicts of interest of the evaluators will be taken into consideration during the allocation of the proposals. The reviewers complete a written evaluation form with scores and comments for each evaluation criterion, they will then meet to discuss their evaluations (international peer review expert group meeting, IPEG meeting) and produce a ranking list. Evaluators with a conflict related to a specific proposal will neither be present during nor participate in the discussion of that proposal.

The CSC will meet to decide which applicants will be invited to submit a full-proposal based on the reviewers’ ranking list and recommendations and to ensure a reasonable balance of requested and available national/regional budgets. The coordinators of the consortia not selected for full proposal submission will receive a summary review report. The coordinators of the accepted pre-proposals will receive an evaluation summary report, which should be commented in the full proposal template. The list of consortia invited to submit a full-proposal will not be published online.

Formal check and evaluation of full-proposals

The JCS will check the full-proposals to ensure that they meet the call’s formal criteria and have not changed substantially from the respective pre-proposals (e.g. composition of the consortium, the objectives of the project or the requested budget). In parallel, the JCS will forward the proposals to the national/regional funding organisations, which will perform a check for compliance with national/regional regulations. In case of non-compliance with national/regional regulations the coordinator will be informed by the JCS. Each full-proposal passing both checks will be allocated to three reviewers taking potential conflicts of interest into consideration. Coordinators of accepted pre-proposals are expected to respond to the comments of the pre-proposal reviews (evaluation summary report) in a dedicated section of the full proposal (“rebuttal”). The reviewers will perform an individual assessment of the full-proposal before the IPEG meeting and each proposal will be discussed at the meeting. During a second IPEG meeting, the reviewers will discuss all proposals and produce a ranking list of proposals recommended for funding. Evaluators with a conflict related to a specific proposal will neither be present during nor participate in the discussion of that proposal. The final summary review report prepared by the evaluators will be sent to the respective project coordinators.

Ethics and legal requirements

Applicants will be required to complete a self-assessment checklist for ethics at the full-proposal stage and will have to provide details i.e. on safety, animal studies, genetically modified organisms and microorganisms, environmental hazards and waste handling, data management, statistical methods, ethics and legal issues. Applicants should anticipate this requirement and ensure that they have consulted with relevant experts to verify the feasibility of the project, and that the project can be completed within the defined budget and within the prescribed time window.

Selected full-proposals will undergo an ethics assessment. Ethics experts will remotely check the selected proposal for their compliance with ethical norms and regulations. If necessary, a dedicated meeting may also be organised and the ethics experts may ask the consortium for clarifications. The ethics experts may highlight some vigilance points that need to be monitored during the implementation of the funded project. Only the proposals approved by the ethics assessment (complying with all central Horizon Europe and regional/national ethical requirements) will be recommended for funding.

Decision

The funders will take the final funding decision, based on the ranking lists established by the IPEG, the available funding and the ethics assessment. The JCS will send by e-mail the funding recommendation to the coordinator, who is then responsible to communicate this information to the respective consortium partners. After successful grant negotiation, the list of funded projects will be published online on the BE READY webpage. The selection procedure is followed by an independent expert observer, who must make a report.

Redress Procedure

Redress request for national/regional eligibility

Requests for redress on national/regional eligibility compliance decisions will not be handled by the JCS and need to be addressed to the responsible funding organization (see Annex A of call text).

Redress for procedural aspects

If applicants suspect a breach in the implementation of the evaluation and selection procedures, they can appeal against the procedural aspects of the evaluation (see below). A mere disagreement with peer reviewers or panel members’ comments are not grounds for an appeal. The redress procedure will not call into question the scientific or technical judgement of appropriately qualified experts.

The applicants shall submit their appeal to the JCS via E-mail ([email protected]) up to seven (7) calendar days after the date of the notification of evaluation outcome sent by the JCS at the end of each stage (evaluation of the pre- or full-proposal).

For an appeal to be admissible the following conditions must be met:

1. The appeal must be submitted by the consortium coordinator of the proposal to which the appeal relates.
2. Only one appeal per proposal can be submitted after each stage.
3. The appeal must contain the following minimum information: the name of the call for proposals, the proposal acronym, the title of the proposal, a description of the alleged shortcomings of the evaluation procedure.
4. All consortium partners must formally approve the redress request with their electronic signature on the submitted appeal.

The appeal must demonstrate a procedural irregularity, factual or manifest errors in the evaluation process, misuse of powers, or a conflict of interest. Appeals that do not meet the above conditions, or do not deal with the evaluation of a specific proposal or express mere disagreement with the result or the reasoning of the evaluation will be judged as not suitable for redress.

Upon receipt of an appeal, an acknowledgement of receipt will be sent by the JCS within maximum seven (7) calendar days. The acknowledgement shall report the redress process and the anticipated date by which a decision on the appeal will be communicated to the appellant. All appeals received by the seven (7) calendar days deadline will be processed together by a designated redress committee and the decision will be communicated to the appellant within 14 calendar days from the deadline for submitting the appeals by the JCS.

Please, be reminded that the above summary does not include all potentially relevant details for applicants. Applicants are invited to refer to the full information available at the BE READY website (link: https://beready4pandemics.eu/joint-transnational-calls/).

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[1] Hungary, Czech Republic, Republic of Moldavia, Estonia

[2] possible funding of industrial partners depends on national/regional eligibility criteria (please check “Annex A” for individual national/regional funding rules)