At the moment the entire planet is going through a difficult time. The new coronavirus COVID 19 that appeared in China on December 31, 2019, was reported by local authorities of Wuhan in the province of Hubei. A cluster of pneumonia cases of unknown origin that later on and in particular on January 2, 2020 was identified as the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus known as Covid 19.
As of February 24, 2020, more than 79.360 cases were reported in China alone. It did not take too long for the virus to spread across the world and now Europe is facing an enemy, an invisible enemy that is threatening all that is normal. The European Union could not just sit back and wait for things to unravel.
With funding immediately devoted to combating this new coronavirus COVID 19, the European Union is releasing new calls for proposals that will help establish a strong defence system against the virus and fortify the European borders against threats like this that might occur in the future.
Here are the open calls towards helping the situation and dealing with Covid 19 on a European as well as worldwide level.
Title: Special call on Coronaviruses – Swiss National Science Foundation
Deadline: 15/03/2020
Budget: 284,076 euros
Details: Following the serious SARS and MERS epidemics of the past, another coronavirus has led to the Covid-19 epidemic, a public health emergency of global proportions. Intensification of research efforts is therefore urgently needed. For this reason, the SNSF is supporting projects involving research into coronaviruses - to tackle the current crisis and prepare for likely future epidemics. The SNSF is convinced that Swiss research can make a difference and has therefore launched a special call.
It addresses researchers in all disciplines who can contribute to a better understanding of the virus, its spread, the resulting illness as well as diagnosis and treatment, or who can help the health system and society as a whole deal more effectively with the epidemic. The call takes into account the agenda set by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and is in line with the priorities defined
The call covers the following priority areas:
- Virological, immunological, and immunopathological aspects of SARS-CoV-2 infection that may be relevant for understanding pathogenesis, for the development of vaccines and advancement into clinical testing of therapeutics (including repurposing) and diagnostic tools;
- Animal and environmental research on the origin and evolution of SARS-CoV-2, and research on control measures at the human-animal interface;
- The natural history, clinical characterisation and management of COVID-19 disease;
- Epidemiological studies, for example, studies on key parameters determining transmission, risks of severe adverse outcomes, forecasting spread of the outbreak and estimating the effect of public health measures (clinical and economical benefits);
- Infection prevention and control, including best practice to protect health care workers; and prevent (or if not prevented, at least rapidly recognise and halt) hospital-acquired infections;
- The societal impact at large, including developing strategies to understand and combat misinformation, stigma, and fear;
- Impact of official and social media communications on understanding and behaviour of policymakers, health care workers, patients and populations;
- The social and political history, including for instance public communication, legal aspects, border controls, mobility restrictions by States of COVID-19 disease;
- International relations, global coordination, response systems and crisis management, including measuring/mitigating economical and political effects;
- Ethical considerations for research, including the design of clinical, epidemiological, anthropological, and public health studies.
Title: Development of therapeutics and diagnostics combatting coronavirus infections
Deadline: 31/03/2020
Budget: 45.000.000 euros
Details: Bearing in mind that the SARS-CoV epidemic in 2003 resulted in over 8 000 cases reported (and a 10% fatality ratio), it is crucial to rapidly gain a better understanding of the newly-identified virus and the virus family that it represents, especially concerning potential clinical and public health measures that can be put to immediate use to improve patients’ health and/or contain the spread of COVID-19.
Considering the public health and humanitarian implications, there is a need for all stakeholders across the public and private sectors to collaborate in global efforts to care for those affected, contain the outbreak, and develop the much-needed resources to prepare for the future. A collaboration of private companies, academia, international organisations, public bodies etc. has the potential to accelerate the development of therapeutics and diagnostics to tackle the current and future outbreaks.
The actions resulting from this Call will contribute to the pan-European efforts responding to this Public Health Emergency and address one of the eight immediate research actions agreed at the WHO global research and innovation forum held on 11-12 February 2020].
These two might be the only open calls at the moment but we are certain that the European Union will announce more within the next few days or weeks. COVID 19 truly does appear to be a threat that needs to be monitored and combated as soon as possible.
It is no accident that the European Union is starting to change the deadlines of some of the most important financial frameworks, especially for calls related to the Covid 19 outbreak. In particular, under the Horizon 2020 financial framework calls with original deadlines between now and April 15 have been given an extension.
The new deadlines will be published on the core and topic pages on the Funding and Tenders Portal soon.
Just like Horizon 2020, Erasmus plus has also received an extension on specific calls. In particular, the deadline for submission of applications for the following actions of call 2020 round 1 has been extended to Thursday 23 April 2020 at 12h00 Brussels time:
- KA201 Strategic Partnerships for School Education,
- KA202 Strategic Partnerships for Vocational Education and Training,
- KA203 Strategic Partnerships for Higher Education,
- KA204 Strategic Partnerships for Adult Education,
- KA229 School Exchange Partnerships
In all potential cases, applicants are advised to prepare themselves as necessary. Based on the new measures that are being taken all around the world applicants need to be ready to establish effective communications for remote collaborative work. More restrictions are being dissipated in the coming weeks. Project managers need to be ready to implement the projects and deal with these restrictions during this difficult time.
This is a real challenge for the entire world. The European Union promotes actions towards helping the situation in every way possible. If you believe you can help raise awareness as well as solve the problem declare your interest today and take part in the European Union calls against coronaviruses and COVID19.
