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Sustainable Food Security 

H2020-SFS-2015-2 Sub call of: H2020-SFS-2014-2015

Opening Date 25-07-2014
Publication date 11-12-2013 Deadline Date 03-02-2015 17:00:00 (Brussels local time)
Stage 2 11-06-2015 17:00:00 (Brussels local time)
Total Call Budget €104,000,000 Main Pillar Societal Challenges
Status Open OJ reference OJ C361 of 11 December 2013

 

Topic: Tackling malnutrition in the elderly                            SFS-16-2015

Specific challenge:
Population ageing in Europe poses major demographic and socioeconomic challenges which are expected to increase over the coming decades. The ageing process itself usually does not usually cause malnutrition in healthy and active elderly people with appropriate lifestyles. However, changes in body composition and organ function, the ability to eat or access food, inadequate dietary intake and the partial loss of taste and smell are associated with ageing and may contribute to malnutrition. Malnutrition and weight loss, which tend to develop more readily in the elderly, may significantly affect the quality of life, may impact on physical and psychological functioning and can have multiple effects such as immobility, skeletal disorders, insulin resistance, hypertension, atherosclerosis and metabolic disorders. The elderly are also among the groups most vulnerable to malnutrition in crisis and disaster situations. Providing an adequate diet with all essential nutrients, and promoting physical activity are essential for healthy ageing.

Scope:
Based on a better understanding of the mechanisms of the ageing process, dietary strategies, dietary recommendations and new food products to prevent and treat malnutrition in the elderly (living at home, in nursing homes, hospitals, and/or emergencies) should be developed with the aim of preventing functional decline and improving appetite, health and quality of life of the elderly. A holistic strategy to prevent malnutrition should be developed, and could include research on the role of, amongst other, nutrients in the human organism (their bioavailability and interactions), the gut microbiome, food preparation at home, the physical and social environment (such as social networks). Proposals should address responsible research and innovation aspects by taking account of specific nutritional requirements, dietary behaviours and preferences, sensory aspects, the gender dimension, ethical factors, socio-economic factors and/or cultural aspects. Proposals could include the development of smarter and more intelligent devices for the monitoring of food intake. In line with the objectives of the EU strategy for international cooperation in research and innovation and in particular with the implementation of the International KBBE Forum priorities, proposals are encouraged to include third country participants, especially those established in Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and/or the United States[1]. Relevant stakeholders, including industry and SMEs, should be involved.
The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU in the range of EUR 7 million would allow this specific challenge to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.

Expected impact:
· Design and development of evidence-based dietary strategies, dietary recommendations and new food products that support active and    healthy ageing and help prevent malnutrition in the elderly.

· Complementary support to the research and innovation activities carried out in the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing and to the development of the European Research Area through the Joint Programming Initiative ‘A Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life’.

· A strengthening of the EU´s key global market position in innovative products and services for the elderly.

· A better understanding of the interaction between nutrition and the ageing process through international collaboration and exchange of knowledge/best practice.

Type of action:
Research and innovation actions
[1] This is without prejudice to the general rules on the funding of legal entities from third-countries, as set in part A of the annex to the work programme.

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Joint Transnational Call for Research Proposals – Preannouncement

The EU Joint Programme – Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND) will shortly begin a major new cohesive action with the European Commission – the first concrete synergy between JPND and Horizon 2020 designed to address the global threat of neurodegenerative diseases.
As part of this new initiative, JPND will launch a joint transnational call for proposals in January 2015 aimed at supporting transnational research collaborations in three JPND priority areas:

·         Longitudinal Cohorts
·         Advanced Experimental Models
·         Risk and Protective Factors

The aim of the call is to support a limited number of ambitious, high level, innovative, multi-national and multi-disciplinary collaborative research projects that will add value to the respective research areas.
The call will see more than 30 million euro being made available by JPND member countries, including a significant additional European Commission “topping up” component of up to 30%.
This will be a 2-step call, anticipated to launch in early January 2015, with a likely first stage (pre-proposal submission) deadline of March 2015.
Further detail will be provided at the time of the call launch date in January 2015. However, the indicative titles of each call topic are provided below:

Topic 1:
Genetic, epigenetic and environmental risk and protective factors of neurodegenerative diseases:
Due to the phenomenal number of high quality proposals received but unsupported under the 2012 JPND joint transnational call, JPND is re-launching a call topic in this area. Examples of areas covered under this topic again include identification of novel genetic, epigenetic and environmental risk and protective factors associated with neurodegenerative disorders in animal, cell and human studies.

Topic 2:
Longitudinal cohorts in neurodegenerative disease research:
The key priority under this topic will be to enhance the capabilities of existing longitudinal cohort studies, or linking related studies to address key questions through a synergistic approach. This topic will aim to build upon the report of the JPND Action Group in this area as well as referencing the ongoing work of the JPND Working Groups, supported under the 2014 JPND “rapid action” call.

Topic 3:
Advanced experimental models of neurodegenerative diseases:
This topic will focus on the encouragement of a next generation of reliable and well characterized animal and cell models for neurodegenerative diseases, building upon the report of the JPND Action Group in this area. This may include the development of novel animal models for specific diseases to better reproduce the complexity of the clinical features of the disease in humans, the enhancement of existing animal models (e.g. by fostering a deeper characterization of the phenotypes and pathologies), and the exploitation of novel (or the improvement of existing) neuronal, neuronal-like cells or inducible pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, generated from different sources.

Please Note:
Proposals are not limited to each topic, and may cover two or more topics.
JPND countries may support one, two or three call topics so applicants will need to take this into consideration.
Call applicants are encouraged to take advantage of the JPND online partnering tool to showcase their research group’s expertise, search for appropriate partners and pitch call-related ideas. An improved, multilingual version of the pilot tool is now available here.
ll information regarding future JPND Call topics is indicative and subject to change.
Final call information will be published on the JPND website.

The JPND diseases are:
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other dementias, Parkinson’s disease (PD) and PD‐related disorders, Prion disease, Motor neurone diseases (MND), Huntington’s disease (HD), Spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA), Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).

For more info press here.