Joint transnational call 2018 for proposals on nutrition and the epigenome through the ERA-NET: ERA HDHL

The French National Research Agency, in partnership with 10 countries, is launching a joint transnational call for proposals on “Research projects on Nutrition and the Epigenome” through the ERA-NET ERA HDHL.

The overall objectives of this call are (i) to coordinate research in the areas of food, diet, physical activity and health in order to achieve tangible societal and health impacts and to strengthen European leadership and competitiveness in this field; (ii) to encourage collaboration between multidisciplinary academic groups, clinical/public health research and private partners.

This call for proposals includes 12 research-funding organisations from 10 countries: Germany, Canada, Spain, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Netherlands and Czech Republic.

The aim of this call is to support transnational, collaborative research projects that gain a better understanding of the diet- epigenome relationships and their effect on human health.

Proposals must cover one of the following areas:

• Establishing cause-and-effect relationships between diet and epigenome and metabolic health including molecular and cellular mechanisms, its reversibility and long-term effects where feasibile;
• Identifying risk factors and early stage epigenetic changes involved in the development of metabolic diseases;
• Epigenetic effects across the lifespan and inter (and potentially trans) generations;
• Investigation of modifiable factors (diet, the combined effect of diet and phyiscal activity, microbiota, etc.) that could be involved in epigenetic regulation at critical stages of life;
• The effect of diet and nutritional status on the intra-uterine environment and its subsequent effect on the fetal epigenome and later health of the child.

In addition, the follow conditions apply:

• Proposals must be multidisciplinary, uniting epigenetic researchers, nutrition scientists and scientist from other relevant disciplines.
• Proposals should cover multiple approaches, such as:
  • Mechanistic / experimental research, focusing on the interplay between dietary factors and epigenetic changes and their functional / physiological consequences and influence on health outcomes;
  • Translational research to establish causalities and proof of concept, in order to support the development of effective health-improvement strategies.

Proposals should focus on human studies; however, animal and in vitro studies can be incorporated in case of assessments that cannot be performed in humans.

Consortium composition

Joint research proposals may be submitted by applicants belonging to one of the following categories, if eligible according to relevant national/regional funding organisations’ regulations for research funding:

A. Academia (research teams working in universities, other higher education institutions) or research institutes;
B. Clinical/public health sector (research teams working in hospitals/public health and/or other health care settings and health organisations).
C. (Industry) Private partners, e.g. SMEs (small and medium-size enterprises).

Only transnational projects will be funded. Each consortium submitting a proposal must involve at least three partners eligible for funding coming from three different countries whose funders participate in the call. All three legal entities must be independent of each other. The maximum number of partners per project is six though not more than 2 eligible partners from the same country participating in the call will be accepted in one consortium (including researchers that participate as collaborators; please see below the condition for collaborators).   

Researchers or international organisations can participate in projects as collaborators in this call. The following conditions apply to collaborators:

• Clear added value for the research project should be demonstrated in the application.
• Clear evidence of a secure funding for participation already in place.

An applicant (i.e. researcher) can not be involved in more than 3 proposals submitted under the Action Plan 2018 of ANR (all calls included). An applicant can be involved in 3 proposals as partner or in one proposal as coordinator and in two other proposals as partner. This call is part of the 2018 Action Plan.

Funding will be awarded for a maximum of three years. ANR will exclusively fund French partners of the selected projects.