The Off Road programme focuses on curiosity-driven, fundamental research at the start of the knowledge chain and the ability to quickly explore a promising idea into a proof of concept within the biomedical and health sciences field.
Who can apply
ZonMw Off Road challenges creative and adventurous researchers, between 2-6 years after their PhD, to explore their promising, innovative and risky ideas.
The aim of this is to realise new insights and unexpected breakthroughs in medical and/or health research. Additional conditions for applicants can be found in paragraph 3.1.1 of the Call for proposals. Information regarding the extension scheme can be found in the appendix Extension Scheme Off Road (see section 'To prepare').
What for
By focusing on high-risk, high-reward research, ZonMw is responding to the global need for out-of-the-box ideas to promote new insights and unexpected breakthroughs in all scientific disciplines.
Off Road focuses on groundbreaking research in the biomedical and/or healthcare field, with a high-risk character that is not on the beaten path of research. The emphasis of the applications is mainly on developing a promising but risky out-of-the-box idea into a proof of concept. This means that, although the developed idea can have a long-term character, the project is mainly aimed at testing the hypothesis behind the concept/idea. The outcome may be negative, but what counts is that every result, whether or not there is an effect, helps science move forward.
What to request
The total available grant budget in this grant round (Off Road 2025) is €2,000,000.-. Additionally, the ZonMw programme More Knowledge with Fewer Animals makes an amount of €600,000,- available for the New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) investment module. This amount includes a contribution of €250,000,- by Stichting Proefdiervrij (The Dutch Society for the Replacement of Animal Testing). Together with the Off Road grant budget of €2,000,000.-, the total grant budget for this round is €2,600,000.-.
Per application, a maximum of €100,000.- can be applied for by Zonmw, with a duration of 12 to 18 months. Additionally, it is possible to apply for the optional NAMs investment module for an amount of up to €30,000.-. This amount is in addition to the requested grant amount upon possible approval. The maximum subsidy amount available for applications that include an investment module is €130,000 (for more information, see the paragraph ‘Financial conditions’).
When
| What | When |
|---|---|
| Deadline for submitting a grant application | Thursday 30 January, 2025, 14:00h CEST |
| Receipt of the preliminary decision | 24 April, 2025 |
| Deadline submission motivated response | 1 May, 2025 |
| Interviews* | 11 and 12 June, 2025 - Book all dates in your calendar |
| Decision | End of July, 2025 |
| Latest start date | January 2026 |
These dates are subject to change. You will be informed about the exact deadlines and terms.
*An interview is part of the assessment procedure for your grant application. An audio recording will be made of the interview. After the assessment procedure, the audio recording will be destroyed.
Download all information
Do you want to submit? All necessary files can be downloaded under the heading 'To prepare'. You can find specific information about this round in the full call for proposals.
The complete Call for proposals can be downloaded as a PDF. It contains all specific information about this call. All documents you need for your application can be found below.
You can submit your grant application via the My ZonMw digital portal until 30 January 2025, 14:00 CEST.
Downloads voor uw aanvraag
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Checklist for applying for your grant:
- The applicant can submit the grant application until Thursday 30 January 2025, 14:00h CEST.
- Aa completed application form is submitted via My ZonMw. The applicant should comply with the questions, procedure and conditions as stated in the form.
- Submitting a Statement of Agreement (via My ZonMw) and an Embedding guarantee (via offroad@zonmw.nl) is mandatory.
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Features
- Opening date: 10 December 2024
- Budget subsidy round: € 2.000.000,-
- Budget per application: € 100.000,- (excl. optionele NAMs investeringsmodule)
- Part of programme: