Prevention of infectious animal diseases (ICRAD)

The French National Research Agency, in partnership with funding organisations from 19 countries (Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and United Kingdom) is launching a co-funded call for proposals through the ERA-Net ICRAD. The initiative aims to promote international research on animal health. The global funding will be of 17 millions of euros, with additional support from the European Commission.

The aim of the present call is to improve the prevention of infectious animal diseases. The call will particularly focus on:

• The understanding of epidemic and emerging infectious diseases (epidemiology, immune-response of the host, host/vector/pathogen interactions)
• The development of generic technology platforms for producing novel vaccine or improved vaccines
• The development of high-throughput, rapid, accurate and easy to use  detection methods

The call covers almost all infectious diseases touching animals (including fishes and bees), and infections caused by viral, bacterial, parasitic and fungal pathogens, prions, with particular emphasis on African swine fever (ASF) and animal influenza. Research leading to vaccine development for ASF, Food-borne zoonose, and research on development of new antimicrobials are excluded from this call.

The consortium should involve 3 to 6 partners from at least three eligible countries. No more than two partners from the same country will be accepted within the same consortium. Subject to the rules of the various funders, public research partners, as well as private research organisations, private companies and associations may join the call. ANR will only fund the French partners of the selected projects. Selected projects will be funded for a period of up to three years. A detailed description of the eligibility requirements can be found on the ICRAD Website.