PMTargets – EP PerMed 2024 Call

The (EP PerMed), cofunded by the European Union under Horizon Europe, is a platform for joint programming of national and European research and innovation supporting activities putting into action “The Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda (SRIA) for Personalised Medicine (2023)”, SRIA for PM (2023), through dedicated research, development and innovation funding.

The EP PerMed joint transnational call 2024 (JTC2024), co-funded by the EU, aims to fund multinational innovative research projects in Personalised Medicine, which should bring together academic, clinical/public health and private research teams, thus enhancing the competitiveness in Europe in this field. It aims to fund research that fosters the identification or validation of targets for Personalised Medicine approaches. Applicants submitting a proposal to this call must combine the research on new and advanced targets with companion biomarker research (companion diagnostics). Consortia are required to be transnational, interdisciplinary and trans-sectoral as well as to clearly outline the Personalised Medicine perspective in the research proposed.

Research projects in all disease areas are encouraged.

The following are individual or co-promotion beneficiaries:

a) Non-entrepreneurial entities of the R&I system, namely:

1. Higher education institutions, their institutes and R&D units;
2. State Laboratories, Associated or international Laboratories with head office in Portugal;
3. Non-profit private institutions whose main object is R&D activity, including Collaborative Laboratories (CoLab) and Technology and Innovation Centers (CTI);
4. Other non-profit public and private institutions developing or participating in scientific research activities.

b) Companies of any type and under any legal form.

The information contained in this section does not exempt you from consulting Article 3 of the "Regulation of projects financed exclusively by national funds".

The PMTargets 2024 Call of ERA4Haealth is a two-stage call for proposals: the pre-proposal submission stage (stage 1) and the full proposal submission stage (stage 2). Only the pre-proposals submitted in stage 1 and selected by the Call Steering Committee (consisting of the national/regional funding agencies of the call) based on the ranking lists prepared by the evaluators will be invited to proceed to the stage 2 and submit full proposal.

The PMTargets Call will fund projects submitted by transnational consortia. Applicants may only apply for funding to their respective national/regional funding agencies of the call (consult the document “Call Text”, in the “Call Documents” area, to know the funding agencies of the call). Each funding agency will only fund projects submitted by team(s) from their countries/regions that are part of transnational consortia.

Please access the “Call Text” and the “Guidelines for Applicants” to consult the general eligibility criteria, the rules applicable to the size and composition of consortia and the rules of eligibility to consult the specific eligibility conditions of each funding agency.

1. Consult the “Call Documents” area.
2. Consult the national and/or regional rules of the countries participating in the consortium (including the Portuguese) in the documents "Call Text” and “Guidelines for Applicants”.
3. The consortium coordinator must submit the pre-proposal template in the submission system (see “Important links”).
4. Complete and submit, within 10 working days after the deadline for submitting the pre-proposal, a Statement of Commitment duly signed by the Researcher in Charge (partner and/or coordinators) and by the legal representant of the Portuguese Proposing Institution. The Statement of Commitment must be sent to EPPerMed@fct.pt.

NOTES:

• Only Portuguese Proposing Institution that are part of a transnational consortium and applying for FCT funding should complete and submit a Statement of Commitment (in pre-proposal stage only).
• The stamp or seal of the Portuguese Proposing Institution and, if applicable, of the R&D unit, will not be required in a digitally signed Statement of Commitment, provided that it is signed, in the Autenticação.gov application, with professional attributes that identify the functions performed by the signatory.

The information contained in this page constitutes only a summary of the joint call information and does not exempt the candidates from carefully reading all the joint call documents available on this page and on the call website (see “Important links”). Likewise, the information contained in this page refers only to the participation of FCT in this call, unless if/when expressly indicated.

Eligibility

The eligibility check of proposals is carried out at both stages of the call (pre-proposal submission stage and full proposal submission stage):

• National/Regional Funding Agencies check national eligibility of pre-proposals and full proposals, ensuring compliance with the formal requirements in the applicable national/regional regulations (see “FCT’s regulation” and “Financial Execution Rules” in the “Call Documents” area).
• Transnational eligibility check of pre-proposals and full proposals will be performed by the Call Secretariat, according to the transnational eligibility criteria presented in the “Call Text” in the “Call Documents” area.
• For a proposal to be declared eligible it must fulfil both the national and transnational criteria.

Evaluation

The call includes two evaluation phases: a pre-proposal evaluation stage and a full proposal evaluation stage.

Proposals will be evaluated according to the evaluation criteria described in the "Call Text" in the "Call Documents" area.

The Call Steering Committee (CSC) will decide which 1) pre-proposals to invite to submit a full proposal and 2) proposals to recommend for funding, depending on the stage of the call. For this purpose, the CSC will follow the order of the ranking list established by the Expert Panel according to the available budget.

The final formal funding decision will be taken by each Funding Agency afterward, following its national/regional procedure.

• FCT financial commitment for the call: 300.000,00 €
• Maximum requested funding for a consortium with Portuguese coordination: 150.000,00 €
• Maximum requested funding for a consortium with Portuguese participation: 100.000,00 €

NOTES:

• Portuguese institutions funding must follow FCT's “Regulation on projects funded solely by national funds”, Regulation no. 5/2024, of 3 January, which amends and republishes Regulation no. 999/2016, of 31 October (see “FCT’s regulations” in the "Call Documents" area), and other applicable national and community legislation, as well as “Financial Execution Rules” (available in the "Call Documents" area).
• If more than one Portuguese applicant participating in the same consortium applies for funding by FCT, the combined funding demanded by all the Portuguese applicants may not exceed the maximum financial threshold for projects with Portuguese coordination (150.000,00 €) or Portuguese participation (100.000,00 €). Portuguese institutions in the same consortium will have to share the funding that will be granted by FCT.
• If two or three Portuguese Proposing Institutions (PI) from the same international consortium apply for funding from the Portuguese agencies FCT and CCDRC, the total budget to be requested to these two agencies cannot exceed the cumulative sum per consortium of 100.000,00 € (Portuguese participation) or 150.000,00 € (Portuguese coordination) per consortium. This rule does not apply to institutions from Região Autónoma dos Açores applying for funding to VP-GRA and participating in a consortium with institutions applying for funding to FCT and/or CCDRC.
• The dedication (FTE) in transnational projects is not considered for the 100% (FTE) dedication to national projects.
• Under the terms of number 2 of Article 7 of the Regulation on projects funded solely by national funds, payments made directly or indirectly to companies through the Proposing Institution cannot exceed 50% of the total cost of the company’s participation.
• The Portuguese funding agencies in this call reserve the right to evaluate the possibility of transferring application(s) to the other national funding agency when necessary, for example in the following conditions:

1. if an application is considered non-eligible by the funding agency selected by the candidate institution, but is eligible by the other Portuguese funding agency;

2. if it is necessary to maximize the number of funded national projects.

PMTargets 2024 Call Webpage

Application submission platform

EP PerMed Partnering Tool

Infoday presentations (vídeo and slides)

EP PerMed Website

EP PerMed Webpage (on the FCT Website)

Rita Cavaleiro and Pedro Ferreira

EPPerMed@fct.pt