Networking Support Call (NSC) 2025

Rationale for organising Networking Support Calls

EP PerMed’s rationale for organising Networking Support Calls (NSC) is to encourage networking in the field of personalised medicine (PM) and thereby stimulating the translation and implementation of research outcomes into clinical practice.

The vision of EP PerMed, as described in the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for Personalised Medicine, SRIA for PM (2023), is to improve health outcomes within sustainable healthcare systems through research, development, innovation and implementation of PM approaches for the benefit of patients, citizens and society. However, significant efforts are needed to translate research findings into PM-approaches that can be implemented into healthcare. It requires the involvement of all key stakeholders along the Circle of Knowledge.

For the translation and implementation of future research outcomes into clinical practice, as well as for shaping future research priorities, it is thus essential to bring together a diverse set of stakeholders, involved in PM development and implementation as well as the end users, including health professionals, patients, and citizens.

Timeline of NSC2025

Date	Event
May 2025	Launch of the call
May 2025	Opening of the submission system
1 July 2025	Information day
29 September 2025, 14:00 (CEST)	Deadline for submission of applications
January 2026	Expected funding decision notification
January 2026 – January 2027	Awarded projects: to conduct the networking event within this time frame

Electronic submission tool

A consortium that intends to submit an application for a networking event should first register at PT-Outline by clicking on “sign up” and following the provided instructions.

Call contact information

The administrative management of the Networking Support Call 2025 is handled by The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw), The Netherlands.

Email: NSCEPPERMED@zonmw.nl

Phone: +31 70 349 5252

Online webinar – Information day

A webinar (‘Information Day’) for interested applicants of the NSC2025 was organised on 1 July 2025. Recordings and slides of the event are available on the event page.

Networking Support Call 2025 – Overview

In the Networking Support Call 2025 (NSC2025), applicants from previously funded ERA PerMed and EP PerMed projects, researchers from (inter)national projects related to health research towards PM approaches, and translational stakeholders from countries participating in EP PerMed (see Annex 1 of the call text for eligible countries) are invited to apply for funding for a networking event. Applicants can apply for funding of up to €30,000 per networking event to organise a single transnational European/international event focused on translational aspects of personalised medicine.

Applicants can choose between a face-to-face meeting or a hybrid format. An application template must be completed in an electronic submission system in order to participate in this competitive call. The call is open from May 2025 until 29 September 2025. Eligible applications are competitively evaluated by an independent Networking Evaluation Committee based on predefined criteria, in accordance with the rules of the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme.

To connect to researchers from previously funded ERA PerMed and EP PerMed projects, these projects are presented in the EP PerMed project database.

Aims of the call

With this call, EP PerMed will provide financial support to organise a networking event.

The aims of the NSC2025 are:

• To bring together diverse stakeholders to tackle translational challenges in PM, thereby facilitating the acceleration of integration of research findings into everyday clinical practice.
• To maximise the impact of prior investments in the framework of ERA/EP PerMed by building on the results of previously funded consortia, fostering deeper collaboration and inter-consortium synergy.         

These aims must be met by:

• Connecting researchers who represent a previously funded ERA and/or EP PerMed project to form a new consortium for enhanced networking and collaboration.
• Engaging with key translational stakeholders who bring expertise on advancing PM towards clinical implementation. These stakeholders may include clinicians, research nurses, healthcare providers, implementation specialists, Health Technology Assessment (HTA) experts, patient and citizens advocacy organisations (PAOs), regulators, policymakers, and others.

The awarded consortia have one year to organise a single networking event using the awarded budget. The event can be organised as a workshop or conference. The focus of the event should be the translation of PM research into healthcare, clinical applications and/or prevention as described in the aims above. Networking events supported by EP PerMed need to be collaborative, interdisciplinary and involve cross border participation.

Expected outcomes and impacts

The outcome of networks funded in the framework of the NSC should be enhanced collaboration in PM enabling the implementation of PM research into healthcare, clinical applications and prevention.

The output of networks funded in the NSC must be a report about the event, where the results of the findings and discussions of the event, expected outcomes and impact of the enhanced collaboration are described. In this report anticipated future output can be mentioned, e.g. publications, roadmaps, analyses, new clinical guidelines or medical recommendations.

Application

The NSC uses a one-step submission and evaluation procedure. Each application must include two parts:

1. Application template: A Word document template where applicants describe the networking event (to be uploaded as PDF).
2. Electronic submission system: An online platform for entering individual partner information and financial plans. The application must be written in English and must adhere to the template’s guideline, including the specified page and character limits for each section.

The networking event should be organised within 12 months of the date the application is awarded. If the event is held more than 12 months after this date without justification, the NSC networking budget will be revoked.

The maximum budget is €30,000 for a single networking event, inclusive of any applicable VAT and regardless of the chosen format. Funding can be used to cover activities such as the organisation of a face-to-face and/or hybrid meeting or workshop/conference, as well as covering travel and accommodation costs for participants.

Please note that experimental research activities (e.g. costs for research equipment or consumables), salaries for scientific or other staff or student stipends are not eligible for funding.

Eligibility criteria

For an application to proceed to evaluation, it must meet all the eligibility criteria mentioned in the call text.

The criteria for eligibility are:

• A consortium submitting an application must be transnational, involving a minimum of three applicants employed at different organisations from at least three different countries participating in EP PerMed (see Annex 1) at the time of the application.
• One of the minimum three applicants must act as principal applicant and the other as co-applicants.
• The networking event must take place in one of the countries that are listed in Annex 1 of the call text.
• The maximum budget that can be requested per NSC application is €30,000.
• Requirements for the principal applicant (1 person):
  • The organisation of the principal applicant has to be a legal entity and established in a country listed in Annex 1.
  • The principal applicant must be a researcher that is or was acting as a coordinator or partner in a project funded by ERA PerMed or EP PerMed.
  • The principal applicant must have an employment relationship with an organisation that meets the definition of a research organisation as referred to in EU state aid legislation (Framework for state aid for research and development and innovation (2014/C 198/01). Usually, this means that the principal applicant is employed at a university.
  • The principal applicant cannot participate in more than one application as principal applicant in the NSC2025 call.

• Requirements for the co-applicants (2 – 7 persons):
  • At least one of the co-applicants (1 person) must be a researcher who is either a coordinator or a partner in a project previously funded by ERA PerMed or EP PerMed. This project must be different from the project of the principal applicant.
    • A maximum of 2 co-applicants can represent the same previously funded project.
    • The other co-applicant(s) can be:
      • A researcher from a country listed in Annex 1 who is involved in a (inter)national project related to health research towards PM approaches.
      • A translational stakeholder. The expertise of the translational stakeholder should facilitate the transition from research results into implementation in daily clinical practice. In this call, the translational expert can be a clinician or research nurse, healthcare provider, implementation specialist, Health Technology Assessment expert, citizen/patient advocacy organisation (PAO), regulator or policy maker. The role and added value of the translational stakeholder in the networking event must be described in the stakeholder analysis in the application form.

Funding

Applicants can apply for funding of up to €30,000 per networking event to organise a single transnational European/international event focused on translational aspects of personalised medicine.

The funding is awarded in the form of a guarantee budget up to the maximum amount of the granted project as indicated in the decision letter. The principal applicant is accountable for the expenses of the networking event. The principle applicant will receive up to 80% of the granted project budget by the NSC secretariat before the networking event takes place. Within 2 months after the event has taken place the principle applicant has to send a final report describing the outcomes of the networking event as well as the financial report containing relevant supporting documents (electronic invoices, tickets, etc.) to the NSC secretariat. The final financial settlement by the NSC secretariat follows afterwards.

Please note that the principal applicant of a proposal selected for funding will have to use different electronic systems during the funding process. One system for submitting the application (PT-Outline) as well as a system for granting and financial reporting (provided by ZonMw).