Call for Expressions of Interest

“Human Brain Project” EU Flagship Programme,

 “Co-designing the HBP digital infrastructure for advancing the understanding of multilevel brain organisation”

 

Objectives and description

The Human Brain Project of the EU Flagship Programme has published a Call for Expressions of Interest (CEoI) for “Co-designing the HBP digital infrastructure for advancing the understanding of multilevel brain organisation”.

 

The Human Brain Project (HBP) is an ambitious 10 year research initiative, and part of the EU flagship program. The HBP is developing an innovative ICT infrastructure (the HBP Joint Platform), that will help neuroscientists and clinical researchers integrate data and knowledge about the brain across all levels of its spatial and temporal organisation. Using detailed digital representations, reconstructions, and simulations it aims to give tools to thousands of researchers to advance and accelerate our understanding of the functioning of the human brain and its diseases.

 

Under this CEoI, potential new Partners are expected to group up with other prospective Partners of their choice, and together submit a proposal for a challenging project addressing high-level Use Cases to further advance the development of the HBP’s digital research infrastructure.

 

In more detail, proposals should address as many of the following points as possible:

·         Bridging/integration of activities across three or more HBP Subprojects (SP) (involvement of at least one ICT platform Subproject is mandatory).

·         Capacity to interact with (use and/or feed) the HBP ICT platforms (SP5 to SP10), including specification of data and/or tools, which are distributed through the platforms to the scientific community, avoiding any duplication with existing activities in HBP.

·         Potential for real-world applications (e.g. in software, atlas, robotics, neuromorphic computing).

·         Contribution to the understanding of the multi-level organisation of the human brain.

·         Capacity to cross and bridge different scales of brain organisation (temporal, spatial).

·         Contribution to theory, modelling & simulation.

·         Address Modelling of Diseases (SP8, SP1, SP2 & SP3). Any duplication with existing HBP activity must be avoided.

 

The projects will be located within those HBP Subprojects which best fit their aims (applicants may propose the relevant Subprojects). The work will focus on co-designing the HBP digital infrastructure for advancing the understanding of multilevel  brain organisation.

You can find the HBP Subprojects here: https://www.humanbrainproject.eu/en/collaborate/open-calls/subprojects-ceols/

 

Eligible participants - Minimum conditions

Groups of organisations (at least two Partners), either already part of the HBP Consortium or not, are eligible for funding under this CEoI.

 

Laboratories already receiving funding in Specific Grant Agreement 2 are not allowed to apply for the Call budget. They can only act as supporting Partners without asking for additional funding.

 

A laboratory not receiving HBP funding but being part of a university or organisation that is already a Partner in the HBP is eligible to participate in the Call.                                                                                                                                          

 

The European Commission eligibility and financial rules apply. The new Partner Organisations must therefore be established in the EU Member States or Horizon 2020 associated countries.

 

Funding conditions and duration

The overall budget for this topic amounts to 1,839,424.00 EUR split between two proposals.

 

The requested budget must not exceed EUR 769,698 per proposal.

 

Co-funding (in-kind, cash, or a combination) of approximately EUR 770,000 per proposal is requested. Proposals with lower contributions are not a priori excluded but must be justified.

 

The duration of the projects should not exceed 24 months (covering the period from 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2020)

 

HBP Joint Platform vouchers of EUR 150,000 each, are being awarded in addition to the core budget; two proposals will be selected.

 

The Vouchers are expected to fund technical support for integration of project results in the HBP Joint Platform, which will be performed by the HBP High Level Support Team (HLST). For this purpose, the successful applicants will receive an HBP Joint Platform Voucher, that can be passed to the HLST and the relevant HBP Platforms, in order to receive the required support.

Deadline of proposals' submission

The deadline for the submission of application is 30 September 2017 at 17:00 (GMT+1).

 

Proposal submission is done exclusively through the online application platform. You can find more information here: http://opencalls.humanbrainproject.eu/forms/16/overview

 

Pre-proposals submission:

As a special service to potential applicants, pre-proposals can be submitted via the HBP Open Call Platform during the first four weeks after publication of the call. A member of the relevant HBP Subproject will respond to pre-proposers within 10 business days. The response will be limited to clarifying whether the proposal fits into the scope of the call and how the proposal could be improved.

Please note, it is not mandatory to submit a preproposal and it has no influence on the evaluation of the full proposal.

 

Further information

For further assistance related to the call, topics and the content of proposals, please contact: codesigning-hbp@opencalls.humanbrainproject.eu.

 

Please find attached the documents of the call.

 

More information: http://opencalls.humanbrainproject.eu/forms/16/overview .

 

Kind regards,

Flora

 

Flora Stavropoulou
Intern

European Office of Cyprus

Rue du Luxembourg 3, 2nd floor

B-1000, Brussels

Tel/Fax: +32 (0) 2 280 22 85

E-mail: eoc.brussels2@ucy.ac.cy

 

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE GREEK TRANSLATION IS PROVIDED AT REQUEST OF ANY INTERESTED MEMBER (based on the decision of 22.12.2016 of the EOC Administrative Council).