Nutrition and Mental Health
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Funding description – Nutrition and Mental Health (HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-FARM2FORK-12)
What the grant finances
* Research & Innovation Action (RIA) lump-sum projects that generate new knowledge, methods and data on the diet–gut microbiome–mental health axis.
* Development of evidence-based policy recommendations, prevention campaigns and communication tools for national authorities, health professionals and vulnerable groups.
* Mapping and integration of omics, clinical, social-science and environmental data to build standardised, FAIR, interoperable metrics and biomarkers.
* Demonstration of citizen-science and multi-actor approaches that actively engage patients, consumers, industry and civil society across the food system.
Eligible applicants
* Consortia of ≥3 independent legal entities from ≥3 different EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries, each established in a different country, at least one in an EU MS.
* All R&I performers (universities, RTOs, SMEs, large companies, NGOs, public bodies). Third-country participants are welcome but may need own funding if not automatically eligible.
* Each beneficiary must have the operational & financial capacity to implement a lump-sum Grant Agreement (HORIZON-AG-LS).
* A Gender Equality Plan is mandatory for public bodies, HEIs & research organisations from MS/AC.
Financial specifics
* Maximum EU contribution per project: up to €50 000 000 (indicative Work Programme ceiling, not an obligation to exhaust).
* Funding rate: 100 % of eligible direct lump-sum costs + 25 % flat-rate indirect costs (calculated ex-ante and fixed in the Grant Agreement).
* Budget justification: still required (cost description and methodology) even though payments are output-based.
* No own co-funding formally required, but additional resources / leveraged investment strengthen impact.
Timing & process
* Call opens: 06 May 2025
* Single-stage deadline: 16 Sep 2025 – 17:00 (Brussels time)
* Evaluation results: ~5 months after deadline
* Grant signature: ~8 months after deadline
* Typical project duration: 4–5 years
Mandatory content requirements
1. Address all four Scope bullets (specific nutrients, microbiome mapping, communication materials, recommendations on deficiencies/excesses).
2. Apply the Multi-Actor Approach (MAA) and demonstrate roles for practitioners, industry, citizens, SSH experts, gender specialists.
3. Provide a FAIR data management plan, open-science practices and ethics/self-assessment.
4. Allocate resources to cross-project collaboration with other funded actions under the topic.
5. Ensure SSH integration, international cooperation where relevant, and alignment with ERA4Health/JPND initiatives.
📊 At a Glance
🇪🇺 Strategic Advantages
EU-wide advantages and strategic opportunities of the HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-FARM2FORK-12 “Nutrition and Mental Health” call
1. Single Market Access
• Reach 450 + million citizens to test, validate and roll-out nutritional & mental-health interventions across all age groups (children, adults, older adults).
• Pan-EU dietary diversity enables statistically powerful, multicultural clinical and epidemiological cohorts, creating gold-standard evidence recognised by EFSA, EMA and WHO-Europe.
• Exploit EU public procurement (e.g. EU school scheme, EU4Health joint actions) to fast-track adoption of evidence-based nutritional guidelines and fortified products.
2. Cross-Border Collaboration & Knowledge Exchange
• Mandatory multi-actor approach naturally matches with EU instruments such as European Reference Networks on Rare Neurological Diseases, EIT Food hubs and COST Actions on gut–brain axis.
• Access complementary world-class infrastructures (e.g. ELIXIR, BBMRI-ERIC biobanks, EMBRC marine bioresources for novel nutrients).
• Shared protocols, interoperable e-infrastructures and joint IP rules lower transaction costs for partners from different Member & Associated States.
3. Alignment with Flagship EU Policies
• Directly serves Green Deal and Farm-to-Fork objectives on sustainable healthy diets; underpins the 2023 Comprehensive Approach to Mental Health and “Healthier Together” NCD initiative.
• Contributes to the EU Beating Cancer Plan (diet-cognition links in survivorship), EU Child Guarantee (malnutrition & mental wellbeing), and Digital Decade (FAIR, AI-ready health data).
4. Regulatory Harmonisation Advantages
• Single set of EFSA health-claim regulations simplifies commercialisation of microbiome-targeted foods and nutraceuticals.
• GDPR & upcoming European Health Data Space provide unified legal basis for multi-country patient-reported outcome measures and omics datasets.
• EU Nutrition & Health Claims, Novel Food and Food Fortification regulations allow one-stop mutual recognition rather than 27 national applications.
5. Embedded Innovation Ecosystem
• Tap into 3,000+ Horizon Europe-funded projects, 1,000+ living labs and 36 EIT Food partners for rapid prototyping and consumer co-creation.
• Synergies with European Innovation Council Transition & Accelerator schemes to spin off gut-brain diagnostics, AI nutrition apps and personalised supplement services.
6. Complementary Funding Streams
• Combine lump-sum RIA with:
• EU4Health for implementation pilots in health systems.
• Digital Europe & EUROHPC for federated data spaces/AI models.
• ERDF/Just Transition for regional pilot plants producing fortified foods.
• Erasmus+ for capacity-building curricula on nutritional psychiatry.
• Opens door to cascade-funding (FSTPs) for SMEs via KICs or upcoming Sustainable Food Systems Partnership.
7. Scale & Impact Potential
• Harmonised metrics enable EU-wide dashboards to monitor diet-mental health interactions, supporting evidence-based CAP & CSP decisions.
• Results feed directly into CEN/ISO standardisation of microbiome biomarkers, boosting EU leadership.
• Replicability across Member States strengthens EU’s global diplomacy on sustainable diets (UN Food Systems Summit, Codex Alimentarius).
8. Socio-Economic & Gender-Sensitive Value
• Addresses €600 bn/year mental-health cost burden and diet-related productivity losses.
• Comparative analysis of gender-specific dietary patterns benefits EU Gender Equality Strategy and reduces health inequities in vulnerable groups & widening countries.
9. Data & Digital Opportunities
• FAIR-by-design datasets interoperable with EOSC enhance re-use, while EU Digital ID eases cross-border e-consent.
• Leveraging Omics & microbiome data across EU biobanks accelerates personalised nutrition algorithms deployed via CE-marked digital therapeutics.
10. Long-Term Legacy & Market Uptake
• Evidence base supports EU-wide voluntary reformulation agreements and front-of-pack labelling schemes reflecting mental-health benefits.
• Creation of a “Nutrition & Mental Health” knowledge hub under the Joint Research Centre ensuring sustained policy translation.
• Foundations for future Mission-type actions on Brain Health and Sustainable Diets in FP10, maximising return on EU taxpayer investment.
🏷️ Keywords
Ready to Apply?
Get a personalized assessment of your eligibility and application strategy
See in 5 min if you're eligible for Nutrition and Mental Health offering max €50.0M funding