💰 Funding Details

Funding Description

Overview

HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-DISEASE-06 is a single-stage *Research & Innovation Action (RIA)* offering up to €80 million per project for implementation research that strengthens health systems to deliver equitable, high-quality care for non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The call is launched under the *Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD)* umbrella and aligns with the Horizon Europe destination “Tackling diseases and reducing disease burden.”

What the EU Wants

1. Evidence-backed health-system interventions that can be *adapted* and *scaled* in low- and middle-income settings or in disadvantaged populations of high-income settings.

2. Concrete implementation research (not basic efficacy trials) using validated frameworks (e.g. CFIR, RE-AIM, PRISM, Hybrid I–III designs).

3. Explicit focus on equity & Universal Health Coverage (UHC)—sex/gender analysis is mandatory; intersectionality strongly encouraged.

4. Stakeholder co-creation with policymakers, communities, patients and carers from *ideation* to *knowledge translation*.

5. Multidisciplinary, shared-leadership consortia that demonstrate fair HIC–LMIC governance and capacity-building for early-career researchers.

Financial Highlights

| Item | Detail |

| --- | --- |

| Max EU contribution | €80 000 000 per grant |

| Funding rate | 100 % of eligible direct costs + 25 % indirect costs |

| Project length | 3–6 years typical for GACD RIAs |

| Opening | 22 May 2025 |

| Deadline | 16 Sep 2025, 17:00 Brussels time |

Geographic Eligibility

• Legal entities from EU Member States, Horizon-Europe Associated Countries, and specifically LMIC partners are *eligible for funding*.
• Entities from the USA can be funded in reciprocity.
• Always verify national co-funding via your NCP in your country.

Why Apply from your country?

* Leverage your country's established primary-care network and digital-health startups.

* Showcase your country research institutions’ expertise in implementation science and health equity.

* Position your country as a key player in global NCD policy dialogues.

📊 Evaluation Criteria

Evaluation Criteria Explained

Excellence (Threshold 4/5)

* Soundness of concept: Clear link between health-system gap and chosen intervention.

* Robust methodology: Use of validated implementation frameworks and appropriate trial design.

* Interdisciplinarity: Integration of SSH, data science, epidemiology, gender studies.

Impact (Threshold 4/5)

* Credible pathways to policy: Tangible plan for scaling within LMICs/disadvantaged HIC settings.

* Contribution to equity & UHC: Demonstrated reduction of disparities.

* Dissemination, exploitation, communication: Stakeholder-centred and GACD-aligned.

Quality & Efficiency of Implementation (Threshold 4/5)

* Consortium capacity: Complementary expertise, fair governance, resource allocation.

* Work plan & risk management: Feasible timeline, mitigation strategies, data-management plan.

* Budget justification: Proportional, with clear allocation for stakeholder engagement and capacity-building.

📝 Application Strategy

Application Strategy

1. Craft a Needs-Driven Concept

* Map the NCD burden and care gaps in your target LMIC or disadvantaged HIC population.

* Select ONE well-evidenced intervention (e.g. task-shifting for hypertension, integrated NCD/HIV clinics, equity-focused digital self-management platform) and justify with cost-effectiveness data.

2. Build a Balanced Consortium

1. HIC–LMIC parity: Co-coordinators, mirrored work-package leads, shared IP rights.

2. SSH integration: Anthropologists, economists, ethicists and gender experts.

3. Early-career roles: At least one *co-investigator*; funded secondments.

4. Stakeholder board: Ministries of Health, patient groups, community health workers, private payers.

3. Methodological Excellence

* Adopt a Hybrid Type II design (simultaneous effectiveness & implementation outcomes) or equivalent.

* Pre-specify implementation metrics (acceptability, fidelity, reach, cost) and patient-centred outcomes (quality of life, DALYs averted).

* Embed an equity impact assessment with intersectional disaggregation.

4. Sustainability & Scale-Up

* Outline a transition-to-scale plan: policy uptake, financing models, local manufacturing or procurement pathways.

* Include a budget line for GACD networking and participation at Annual Scientific Meetings.

5. Proposal Writing Tips

* Mirror the HEU evaluation headings (Excellence, Impact, Implementation) and respect 45-page limit.

* Use graphics: theory-of-change, governance matrix, Gantt chart.

* Provide a letter of intent from your country’s Ministry of Health or equivalent to prove policy alignment.

💡 Success Factors

Co-created Theory of Change

Start with workshops involving patients, clinicians and policymakers to map causal pathways, ensuring **contextual relevance and stakeholder buy-in**.

Hybrid Study Design

Combining effectiveness and implementation outcomes (e.g. *Hybrid Type II*) accelerates policy translation and satisfies reviewers seeking maximum value.

Equity-centred Metrics Dashboard

Real-time dashboards disaggregated by sex, income, ethnicity let teams **course-correct during implementation**, proving commitment to equity.

Capacity-Building Packages

Structured fellowships, PhD placements and south-to-south exchanges demonstrate *long-term impact* beyond the project lifetime.

Policy Uptake MoUs

Memoranda of Understanding with Ministries of Health or insurance funds show a **clear route to sustainability and scale**.

Budgeted GACD Synergies

Allocating ~€100 k for joint workshops, data harmonisation and meta-analyses positions the consortium as a **GACD thought leader**.

❌ Common Mistakes to Avoid

Treating the project as a clinical efficacy trial

The call **explicitly excludes** new efficacy studies for drugs or behavioural interventions. Reviewers down-score proposals that lack a genuine *implementation* focus.

Superficial equity narrative

Listing vulnerable groups without a **concrete analytical plan** (sex/gender disaggregation, intersectionality, equity indicators) signals tokenism and weakens Impact scores.

Imbalanced HIC-LMIC partnership

A coordinator and most WP leads from one HIC institution violates the GACD principle of **shared leadership** and will raise red flags on capacity-building.

Ignoring social sciences and humanities

SSH expertise is **mandatory**. Proposals that relegate SSH to a minor advisory role fail to meet Excellence expectations.

Under-budgeting stakeholder engagement

Travel for community meetings, translation, honouraria, and GACD networking are often forgotten, leading to an *unconvincing sustainability plan*.

Weak data-management & GDPR compliance

Health data across borders trigger **stringent ethical and legal checks**. Missing anonymisation protocols or unclear data ownership can delay grant signature.

Implementation research addressing strategies to strengthen health systems for equitable high-quality care and health outcomes in the context of non-communicable diseases (GACD)

Quick Facts for Spain Applicants

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