Today we published the COVID-19 research programme (“second wave”).
The programme has three focus areas:
For each focus area, an expert panel will prioritise the research subjects in a very short space of time. The composition of these expert panels will be published next week on the programme page of ZonMw. Once the expert panels have determined the research subjects, the focus areas in the calls for proposals will be elaborated. The programme has three funding possibilities: urgent research questions track, bottom-up funding track and policy and professional practice boosts track. Within the urgent research questions track, the projects must be assessed and started very quickly. That requires a strongly abridged procedure. For this track, ZonMw will invite research groups to submit a proposal. The bottom-up funding track will be open for a short time (two weeks) for the submission of project ideas within the themes prioritised by the expert panel. This track will also use an accelerated procedure. For the policy and professional practice boosts, the programme has a budget for small projects and studies up to a maximum of €25,000. How this track will be given form has yet to be determined.
Further information about focus areas and the funding instruments can be found in the programme text.
The current timetable is given below. For the most recent timetable, please see the programme page.
(all the information will be available in English before 1 May)