EU Partnership for Brain Health – Joint Transnational Calls 2026

JTC2026 Call 1: Neurological, Mental and Sensory Disorders | JTC2026 Call 2: Neurodegenerative Disorders

The European Partnership for Brain Health (EP BrainHealth), co-funded by the European Commission under Horizon Europe, brings together 54 partners from 33 countries, with the common goal of building a coordinated research and innovation ecosystem that strengthens Europe’s capacity to prevent, diagnose, and treat brain-related disorders, while promoting mental well-being across all stages of life.

Guided by its shared Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda (SRIA), EP BrainHealth is simultaneously launching its first Joint Transnational Calls (JTCs):

• Biological, social and environmental factors that impact the trajectory of brain health across the lifespan – in the field of neurological, mental and sensory disorders (Call 1)
• Biological, social and environmental factors that impact the trajectory of brain health across the lifespan – in the field of neurodegeneration (Call 2)

In total, 35 funding organisations across 30 countries are participating in Call 1 with an available budget of ~€26 million, and 38 funding organisations across 32 countries in Call 2 with an available budget of ~€27.5 million.

Research Ireland is supporting proposals submitted under both Call 1 and Call 2.

Each call call follows a two-step procedure, with a pre-proposal stage and an invited full-proposal stage.

Call 1: Applications for this call should address how biological, social and environmental factors affect the trajectory of neurological, mental and sensory disorders across the lifespan.

Call 2: Applications for this call should address how biological, social and environmental factors affect the trajectory of neurodegenerative disorders across the lifespan.

Applications addressing risk factors that are shared between mental health, neurological, mental and sensory disorders on the one hand, and neurodegenerative disorders on the other are encouraged and should be submitted to the call that best suits their project.

Applicants should select either Call 1 or Call 2 for their proposal.

Please note that applying with the same proposal to both EP BrainHealth calls is not allowed.

Applications submitted under both calls must be interdisciplinary and include at least two of the three factor categories:

• Biological factors (e.g., genetics, epigenetics, -omics, neuroplasticity, inflammation, infection, synaptogenesis, circuits, vascular factors, sensory impairment, co-morbidities).
• Lifestyle and social factors (e.g., exercise/activity, nutrition, sleep, smoking, alcohol and drug abuse, work, socio-economic status, race/ethnicity, sex and gender, education, safety, social interactions, access to healthcare, stress, trauma, migration).
• Environmental factors (e.g., pollution/contaminants, urbanicity, disasters, pandemics, war/conflicts, climate change, microbiota, nature).

In addition, proposals must investigate at least two of the following aspects:

• Mechanisms of action of the identified factors.
• Early recognition, diagnosis, and prognosis linked to these factors.
• Prevention, treatments, interventions, technological development, care, and support related to these factors.

Furthermore, the following aspects are important in the context of this call:

1. Applications should investigate how factors impact brain health trajectories along the life course.
2. Outcomes benefiting the quality of life of patients and their carers are of special importance and should be explicitly defined and stated.
3. Applications focusing on disability, gender, ethical, cultural and socio-economic aspects are encouraged.
4. Approaches such as integration of multimodal data, use of accessible wearable technologies (e.g. mobile devices), artificial intelligence/digital twins and drug repurposing are particularly welcome.

Applications focussing on cancers are excluded from both Calls.

Awarded projects will have a duration of up to 36 months. For applicants based in Ireland, Research Ireland will provide the following funding for projects:

• Up to a maximum of €330,000 direct costs* per project for Irish applicants as Partner on transnational proposals.
• Up to a maximum of €405,000 direct costs* per project for Irish applicants as Coordinator on transnational proposals.

*The maximum total award per project, including overhead contribution, will be €430,000, for a partner and €530,000 for applicants who take on the role of coordinator.

All requested costs must be comprehensively justified. Please include detailed descriptions and cost itemisation in the proposal.

1. Salary-related costs for research personnel. Please use current Research Ireland Team Member Salary Scales. The Irish partner cannot request their own salary or buy-out.
2. Equipment costs up to a maximum value of €10K
3. Travel costs with consideration for Research Ireland’s Guidance for Sustainable Travel Policy  
4. Direct running costs (materials and consumables)
5. Dissemination and knowledge exchange costs    
6. Subcontracting costs may be considered an eligible budget category however strong justification for subcontracting must be provided and pre-approved directly with Research Ireland in advance of pre-proposal submission.

Unless otherwise stated, all rules regarding listed eligible costs apply as defined within Research Ireland’s grant budget policy. Please refer to this policy closely in the development of the budget request.

Only an academic partner or coordinator based in an eligible Irish Host Research body may apply for Research Ireland funding.

The Irish-based applicant requesting Research Ireland funding must:

• hold a PhD or equivalent qualification for at least 3 years by the pre-proposal deadline. The official date is defined as the day, month and year that the degree was conferred i.e., the month and year printed on the official PhD certificate.

AND

• be a member of the academic staff of an eligible Research Body (permanent or with an active contract that covers the period of the grant)

OR

• be a contract researcher with a contract that covers the period of the grant, who is recognised by the eligible Research Body as an independent investigator and will have an independent office and research space for which he/she will be fully responsible for at least the duration of the Research Ireland grant

OR

• be an individual who will be recognised by the eligible Research Body upon receipt of the grant as an academic staff or as a contract researcher as defined above. The applicant does not necessarily need to be employed by the Research Body at the time of the application submission.

AND

• be an author on at least three international peer-reviewed articles. Only original research publications, and not review articles or other secondary research literature, are acceptable.

Applicants must also meet the primary eligibility and consortium requirements of the relevant EP BrainHealth Call as defined in the Call Text: JTC 2026 Call 1 or JTC 2026 Call 2

In addition: 

Research Ireland will only accept one application per applicant. 

Please give a brief notification of your intent to submit a pre-proposal through email to eu-cofund@researchireland.ie before the submission deadline. Within the notification, please include the following information:

• Call (1 or 2)

• List of project partners

• Irish Host institution*

• Total budget request to Research Ireland

• Whether you intend to apply as a coordinating or non-coordinating partner

 *Please note it is also the responsibility of the applicant to notify the Research Office of their Host Institution of their intention to submit a pre-proposal.

The completed pre-proposal must be submitted directly on the EP BrainHealth submission platform.

Website: https://www.brainhealth-partnership.eu/

Call 1 Website: https://www.brainhealth-partnership.eu/calls/jtc2026-neurological-mental-sensory-disorders/

Call 2 Website: https://www.brainhealth-partnership.eu/calls/jtc2026-neurodegenerative-disorders/

Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda for Brain Health: https://www.brainhealth-partnership.eu/news-events/news/sria-online-partnership-brainhealth/

An information webinar organised by EBRAINS, titled: Leveraging Research Infrastructures for the Joint Transnational Calls 2026, will be held on Monday, 2 March 2026, 10:00 – 11:30 local Irish time.

For further information and to register, visit: https://ebrains.eu/news-and-events/events/2026/ep-brainhealth-webinar-leveraging-research-infrastructures-for-the