Nutrition and Mental Health

The European Union's grant opportunity titled "Nutrition and Mental Health" under Horizon Europe Cluster 6 is focused on exploring the intricate link between dietary factors and mental health outcomes. It aims to enhance understanding of how nutrition impacts mental well-being across various demographics in Europe.

Eligible applicants include research institutions, universities, SMEs, NGOs, healthcare providers, and consumer organizations, primarily from EU Member States and Associated Countries. It promotes a multi-actor approach, which necessitates collaboration among diverse stakeholders including industry, nutrition professionals, scientists, and patient associations.

The funding type is primarily a grant in the form of a HORIZON Lump Sum, with a variable range typically between €200,000 and €5 million depending on specific topics and themes within the call. The application process is single-stage, with a submission deadline of September 16, 2025.

The grant seeks to address several key outcomes, including enhanced monitoring of diet impacts on mental health for different age groups, improved science-based communication to decision-makers about nutrition and mental health, and identification of specific dietary components that may prevent mental disorders. Proposals should focus on generating empirical evidence, particularly regarding the gut microbiome's role in mental health, and produce actionable recommendations for policymakers and healthcare professionals.

The call encourages public engagement and citizen science approaches, aligning with the EU's broader health initiatives, and adhering to the FAIR principles for data management. Proposals must consider complementarity with existing projects and avoid duplication, and involve SSH disciplines.

Overall, the initiative aims to generate significant research and innovation outputs that translate into improved public health strategies, dietary guidelines, and preventive measures against mental health disorders in Europe. The funding opportunity opens on May 6, 2025, and includes specific eligibility criteria, evaluation processes, and necessary application documentation detailed in the Work Programme General Annexes.

This EU funding opportunity focuses on the connection between nutrition and mental health, aiming to address challenges highlighted in the Food 2030 report and contribute to the Commission's initiatives on mental health and non-communicable diseases. The goal is to improve understanding of how diet impacts mental well-being across different age groups and socioeconomic contexts in Europe.

The expected outcomes of successful projects include:

Improved monitoring of healthy and unhealthy diets' effects on mental health in children (above 36 months), adults (above 18 years old), and older adults (above 65 years old) across diverse social and economic contexts in Europe.

Enhanced science-based communication to policymakers and professionals regarding the link between healthy diets, nutrition, and mental health.

Identification of mechanisms to understand nutrition's effects (food groups, beverages, macro- and micronutrients) on mental health disorders, including prevention strategies, considering gender-specific dietary patterns.

Generation of new evidence to support decision-makers in assessing the effects of nutrition on mental health.

Identification of sound data for standardized metrics and analysis approaches, including Omics approaches, to understand the gut microbiome's role and its interaction with host metabolism.

Enhanced knowledge to improve nutrition for individuals with mental health disorders, promoting better health and longevity.

Development of indicators to measure the beneficial or detrimental effects of food groups, beverages, and macro- and micronutrients on preventing mental health disorders.

The scope of the proposals should include the following activities:

Identifying specific food groups, beverages, and macro- and micronutrients needed in a daily diet to prevent mental health disorders in Europe. This includes exploring the need to characterize and supplement healthy diets with specific nutrients for different age groups affected by mental health disorders, using interviews and literature reviews.

Mapping recent research and innovation projects to understand the interplay between diet, gut microbiome, and host health. This aims to elucidate molecular mechanisms and causal relationships between changes in the gut microbiome and mental health disorders, potentially identifying relevant biomarkers.

Providing recommendations and developing communication materials for prevention campaigns, aligned with international and national health and dietary advice. These materials should target national authorities and nutritional professionals to communicate the link between healthy diets and mental health, including the need for dietary supplements or pattern adjustments to prevent mental health disorders.

Recommending how to address deficiencies or excess intake of macro- and micronutrients, in line with health and dietary advice, particularly for vulnerable groups. This includes strategies to increase or decrease nutrients in the diet.

The call encourages the involvement of citizens and civil society, including the use of Citizen Science approaches. Data produced should adhere to FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Re-usable). Proposals should include a dedicated task and resources for collaboration with other projects funded under this topic.

The 'multi-actor approach' is mandatory, requiring the involvement of relevant stakeholders and value chain actors, such as industry, nutritionists, healthcare professionals, scientists, patients, and consumer associations. The effective contribution of SSH (Social Sciences and Humanities) disciplines is also required.

Proposals should consider complementarities and avoid duplication with related funded projects, including the ERA4Health partnership, the Nutribrain call topic, and the EURO-FINGERS project.

The general conditions for this funding opportunity include:

Admissibility conditions related to proposal page limits and layout, as described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes and Part B of the Application Form.

Eligibility criteria related to eligible countries, as described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes. Specific provisions may apply to non-EU/non-Associated Countries, as detailed in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.

Other eligibility conditions, including the mandatory application of the multi-actor approach.

Financial and operational capacity and exclusion criteria, as described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Evaluation and award criteria, scoring, and thresholds, as described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Submission and evaluation processes, as described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual.

Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement, as described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Legal and financial setup of the grants, with eligible costs taking the form of a lump sum, as defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021.

Specific conditions are described in the specific topic of the Work Programme.

Application and evaluation forms and model grant agreement (MGA) information is available in the Submission System, including standard application and evaluation forms, the HE Programme Guide, Lump Sum MGA, call-specific instructions, a detailed budget table, information on clinical studies, and guidance on lump sums.

Additional documents include the HE Main Work Programme 2025, the HE Programme Guide, the HE Framework Programme 2021/695, the HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764, the EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509, rules for legal entity validation, the EU Grants AGA, and the Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual.

The budget overview provides a breakdown of funding across different topics, action types (RIA, IA, CSA, COFUND), and years (2025, 2026, 2027). The opening date for submissions is May 6, 2025, and the deadline is September 16, 2025.

Partner search announcements are available for those seeking collaboration on this topic.

In summary, this funding opportunity aims to foster research and innovation projects that explore the intricate relationship between nutrition and mental health, ultimately contributing to improved dietary guidelines, communication strategies, and preventive measures for mental health disorders across Europe. It emphasizes a multi-faceted approach involving various stakeholders and encourages citizen engagement to generate impactful and sustainable results.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types are not explicitly stated but can be inferred from the requirement for a 'multi-actor approach'. This suggests a consortium or partnership is needed, including stakeholders such as industry, nutritionists, healthcare professionals, scientists, patients, and consumer associations. Therefore, eligible applicants could include industry, research institutes, universities, NGOs, healthcare providers, and consumer organizations.

Funding Type: The funding type is primarily a grant, specifically a HORIZON Research and Innovation Action (HORIZON-RIA) or HORIZON Innovation Action (HORIZON-IA) or HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions (HORIZON-CSA) or HORIZON Programme Cofund Actions (HORIZON-COFUND). The eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum.

Consortium Requirement: A consortium is required, as the proposals must implement the 'multi-actor approach' and ensure adequate involvement of all relevant stakeholders and value chain actors.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The information is collected for different ranges of the population in Member States and Associated Countries. A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects.

Target Sector: The target sectors are health, food, agriculture, nutrition, and research and innovation, with a focus on the intersection of nutrition and mental health. It also involves citizen science and SSH (Social Sciences and Humanities) disciplines.

Mentioned Countries: The opportunity mentions Member States and Associated Countries of the EU. It also refers to non-EU/non-Associated Countries that have specific provisions for funding participants in Horizon Europe projects.

Project Stage: The project stage appears to be focused on research, development, and validation, with an emphasis on generating evidence-based recommendations and communication materials. The presence of Innovation Actions also suggests a focus on demonstration and implementation of innovative solutions.

Funding Amount: The funding amounts vary depending on the specific topic within the call, ranging from €2,000,000 to €50,000,000 for the year 2025. Some topics also have specified budgets for 2026 and 2027. The indicative number of grants per topic ranges from 1 to 3, with one topic (HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-CLIMATE-05) indicating a possibility of 1 grant with a very large contribution.

Application Type: The application type is an open call with a single-stage submission process.

Nature of Support: Beneficiaries will receive money in the form of a lump sum grant to cover eligible costs.

Application Stages: The application process is a single-stage process.

Success Rates: The success rates cannot be determined from the provided text.

Co-funding Requirement: Co-funding may be required for HORIZON Programme Cofund Actions (HORIZON-COFUND), but this is not explicitly stated in the provided text.

Summary: This Horizon Europe Cluster 6 call focuses on the critical link between nutrition and mental health, aiming to address challenges highlighted in the Food 2030 report and contribute to the EU's broader mental health and non-communicable diseases initiatives. The call encourages projects that establish the connection between diet, gut microbiome, and mental health, and provide evidence-based recommendations for policymakers, healthcare professionals, and the public. It emphasizes the importance of a multi-actor approach, citizen involvement, and FAIR data principles. The funding is provided as lump-sum grants, with varying budgets across different topics within the call, ranging from research and innovation actions to coordination and support actions and innovation actions. Eligible applicants include a wide range of stakeholders, such as research institutions, industry partners, healthcare providers, and consumer associations, primarily from EU Member States and Associated Countries, with potential participation from non-EU countries under specific provisions. The call is a single-stage submission process with a deadline of September 16, 2025.