While the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread across the world, scientists are joining forces to find ways to combat the virus and the following COVID-19 disease. To help this research, the European Commission previously published two urgent funding calls, both of which are now closed. The Dutch Research Council (NWO) is now following suit, as well as the Partnership For Advanced Computing in Europe (PRACE), and many others.
NWO
NWO joined forces with the The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw) and recently extended their new program “Corona: fast-track data” that will distribute 42M euros for research into the most urgent corona-related questions.
It consists of three schemes:
- The first wave (6.5M euros) started immediately after the coronavirus was first detected in the Netherlands and has already closed. It focused on medical and behavioural research into combatting the spread of the coronavirus, and treating the COVID-19 disease. There was also some budget for creative solutions for practical (hospital) care.
- The call for the second wave (20-25M euros) will start soon and will focus on similar types of research as in the first, but with additional focus on broader societal consequences of the crisis and proposed solutions.
- Fast-track data (1.5M euros) focused on the gathering of (real-time) information that can only be collected now, at the peak of the pandemic. The data should be of importance for controlling the crisis or to increase societal learning capacity.
Important to note is that NWO and ZonMW strive for fast review of submitted proposals so the projects can start quickly.
PRACE
PRACE published a call focusing on projects that require High-Performance Computing (HPC) resources to contribute to mitigation of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, they are asking for biomolecular, bioinformatic, bio-simulation, and epidemiologic research, but any analysis method to better understand and mitigate the impact of the pandemic is eligible.
Projects are expected to be relatively short (3-6 months) and results and data need to be shared openly. PRACE will also strive for fast review (one week) of the submitted proposals.
Eureka
Eureka recently published a call for solutions for COVID-19 “Echo Period” (Life without a vaccine).
The call aims to fund research and innovation proposals that focus on short to medium-term responses to COVID-19 specific needs.
This call is a collaboration between Austria, Canada, Denmark, France, The Netherlands, South Africa, Spain, and Turkey, meaning you will have to pair up with at least one organization in at least one of these countries.
Project length may not exceed 12 months and the deadline is May 15th.