The impact of pollution on the development and progression of brain diseases and disorders

The Horizon Europe grant opportunity titled "The impact of pollution on the development and progression of brain diseases and disorders" (HORIZON-HLTH-2025-03-ENVHLTH-01-two-stage) is a targeted funding program focusing on the intersection of environmental health and neuroscience. It aims to investigate how various pollutants contribute to neurological, neurodegenerative, and neurodevelopmental disorders.

Eligible applicants include universities, research institutes, and consortia that must involve multidisciplinary teams, including social sciences and humanities experts. A mandatory collaboration with EU agencies, such as the Joint Research Centre and the European Chemicals Agency, for data sharing and joint activities is required. The funding type is a lump-sum grant, with each project expected to receive between €6 million to €7 million, contributing to a total pool of €40 million.

The grant is open to participants from EU member states and associated countries, as well as international partners linked to EU research infrastructures. Proposals are expected to focus on research and innovation actions (RIA), encompassing applied research on how pollution affects brain health. The project should explore causal links between environmental exposures and health outcomes, incorporating long-term exposure studies and the potential impacts on vulnerable populations.

Submissions are invited through a two-stage open call, with initial deadlines set for September 16, 2025, and April 16, 2026. The process includes a preliminary proposal, which must then advance to a full application if it meets necessary evaluation thresholds. Success rates are expected to be competitive, likely between 10% to 39%, typical for Horizon Europe calls.

Projects must emphasize gender and sex-related differences, use non-animal methods where applicable, and adhere to FAIR data principles for transparency and accessibility. Successful proposals will also form a collaborative cluster to enhance shared impact, contributing around 2% of their budgets to joint networking activities.

The overarching goal is to generate robust scientific evidence to inform public policies aimed at mitigating health impacts due to pollution, ultimately protecting citizens through improved understanding of pollution exposure and its effects on brain health. Resources and support services for applicants are readily available, including guidance documents and partner search tools to facilitate collaboration.

This is a Horizon Europe call, specifically HORIZON-HLTH-2025-03-ENVHLTH-01-two-stage, focusing on the impact of pollution on the development and progression of brain diseases and disorders. It falls under Cluster 1 Health and is a two-stage Research and Innovation Action (RIA). The call utilizes a lump sum grant agreement. The opening date for submissions is May 22, 2025, with deadlines on September 16, 2025, and April 16, 2026.

The expected outcomes include supporting global and EU policies to prevent and reduce health impacts of pollution with scientific evidence, protecting citizens through better insight into pollution exposure and its effects on brain health, providing public access to FAIR data on the link between pollution and brain health, and helping public authorities develop evidence-based measures to mitigate pollution's negative impacts.

The scope of the call involves research activities exploring the causal links between exposure to pollutants and the development or progression of neurological, neurodegenerative, or neurodevelopmental diseases. Proposals should consider occupational, living, or social environments and include vulnerable population groups. Specific activities include gaining insights into pathogenesis, generating evidence on pollution's impact on comorbidities, developing better models and methods, applying the exposome framework, contributing to health indicator development, strengthening the understanding of causative links through longitudinal studies, and generating evidence on long-term exposure to pollutants and neurological diseases.

Applicants should address gender and sex-related differences, use non-animal experimental methods where relevant, adhere to FAIR data principles, and be acquainted with related activities and partnerships like the Environment, climate and health research portfolio, EFSA activities, and PARC. The call requires the contribution of social sciences and humanities (SSH) disciplines. Proposals should connect to European research infrastructures and services for environmental exposure assessment and ensure data sharing in relevant platforms like IPCHEM. Projects selected will form a cluster and participate in common networking activities, allocating around 2% of their budget for this purpose. Applicants invited to the second stage should provide details of their clinical studies.

The general conditions cover admissibility, eligible countries (including the US), financial and operational capacity, exclusion criteria, and the blind evaluation pilot. Evaluation criteria, scoring, thresholds, submission processes, and indicative timelines are detailed in the Work Programme General Annexes and Online Manual. Eligible costs will be in the form of a lump sum. Selected projects will form a cluster and participate in networking activities, allocating around 2% of their budget to a dedicated work package.

Application and evaluation form templates, guidance documents (HE Programme Guide, Model Grant Agreement, Lump Sum MGA), call-specific instructions, and additional documents (HE Main Work Programme, HE Framework Programme, EU Financial Regulation, etc.) are available. Support services include the Online Manual, Horizon Europe Programme Guide, Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ, Research Enquiry Service, National Contact Points, Enterprise Europe Network, IT Helpdesk, European IPR Helpdesk, and CEN-CENELEC/ETSI Research Helpdesks. Partner search tools are also available.

The budget overview lists several topics under the same call, including HORIZON-HLTH-2025-03-DISEASE-02-two-stage, HORIZON-HLTH-2025-03-ENVHLTH-01-two-stage, HORIZON-HLTH-2025-03-ENVHLTH-02-two-stage, HORIZON-HLTH-2025-03-IND-03-two-stage, and HORIZON-HLTH-2025-03-STAYHLTH-01-two-stage. Each topic is a HORIZON-RIA with a two-stage submission process, opening on May 22, 2025, and having deadlines on September 16, 2025, and April 16, 2026. The contributions and indicative number of grants vary for each topic.

There are 56 partner search announcements available for collaboration.

In summary, this Horizon Europe call aims to fund research projects that investigate the impact of pollution on brain health, focusing on identifying causal links between pollutants and neurological disorders. It encourages a multidisciplinary approach, involving social sciences and humanities, and emphasizes data sharing and collaboration among funded projects. The call is structured in two stages with a lump sum funding model and provides various resources and support services for applicants. The overall goal is to generate scientific evidence to inform policies and protect citizens from the negative impacts of pollution on brain health.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types are not explicitly stated but can be inferred to include legal entities such as universities, research institutes, SMEs, large enterprises, and other organizations capable of conducting research and innovation activities in the health and environment sectors. The Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), and other relevant decentralised EU agencies may also participate as members of a consortium.

Funding Type: The funding type is a grant, specifically a HORIZON Research and Innovation Action (HORIZON-RIA) provided as a lump sum.

Consortium Requirement: The opportunity requires a consortium of multiple applicants. The Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), and other relevant decentralised EU agencies may participate as members of the consortium selected for funding.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): Eligible countries are described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes. 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. Any legal entity established in the United States of America is eligible to receive Union funding.

Target Sector: The program targets the health and environment sectors, focusing on the impact of pollution on brain health and neurological, neurodegenerative, and neurodevelopmental diseases and disorders. It also involves social sciences and humanities (SSH) disciplines.

Mentioned Countries: United States of America, EU Member States (explicitly mentioned as 27 EU Member States). The opportunity is geared towards European research, so it is implied that EU member states and associated countries are the primary target.

Project Stage: The project stage is research and innovation actions, implying activities ranging from research to demonstration. The call encourages clinical studies, suggesting projects should be at least in the development stage and potentially in the validation or demonstration stages.

Funding Amount: The funding ranges from 6,000,000 to 8,000,000 EUR for most topics, while one topic (HORIZON-HLTH-2025-03-DISEASE-02-two-stage) has a budget of 50,000,000 EUR and contributions ranging from 6,000,000 to 8,000,000 EUR.

Application Type: The application type is a two-stage open call.

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

Application Stages: The application process involves two stages. In the first stage, the thresholds for each criterion will be 4 (Excellence) and 4 (Impact). The overall threshold applying to the sum of the two individual scores will be set at a level that ensures the total requested budget of proposals admitted to stage 2 is as close as possible to four times the available budget, and not less than three and a half times the available budget. For the second stage, the thresholds for each criterion will be 4 (Excellence), 4 (Impact) and 4 (Implementation). The cumulative threshold will be 12.

Success Rates: Success rates are not explicitly mentioned, but the evaluation process indicates that the budget requested by proposals admitted to stage 2 should be approximately four times the available budget.

Co-funding Requirement: Co-funding requirements are not explicitly mentioned.

Summary: This Horizon Europe call (HORIZON-HLTH-2025-03-ENVHLTH-01-two-stage) aims to fund research and innovation actions focused on understanding the impact of pollution on brain health and the development/progression of neurological disorders. It is a two-stage call with a lump sum grant mechanism, encouraging consortia to apply. The call is part of the broader "Living and working in a health-promoting environment" destination and seeks to provide scientific evidence for policies, protect citizens, and provide FAIR data to stakeholders. The research should explore the causal links between pollutants and brain diseases, considering vulnerable populations and various environmental factors. The call also emphasizes the use of advanced models, data sharing, and collaboration with EU agencies and infrastructures.