ERA-HDHL Call for Research Proposals

*This is an external opportunity. For more information, see the BBSRC site.*

Application deadline: 12 April 2018, 16:00 CEST

This call is administered by the Joint Call Secretariat

Summary

BBSRC and MRC are pleased to announce support for UK participation in the JPI HDHL Joint Action on Nutrition and the Epigenome and encourage their research communities to apply for funding as part of transnational consortia.

The aim of this call is to support transnational, collaborative research projects that gain a better understanding of the diet-epigenome relationships and their effect on human health. This will allow the development and substantiation of intervention strategies for treating nutrition-related diseases and sustaining good health throughout the life course.

BBSRC and MRC will jointly fund the UK partner of successful consortia. Up to €1 million will be available to UK researchers for this call, from which we anticipate funding 3-4 proposals.

For further information, please view the call documents on the HDHL JPI website (see external links)

Scope

Previous research has studied epigenetic changes in early life. However, the effects of diet on epigenetic regulation, gene expression in different tissues, and subsequent metabolic health and disease are still unclear. Experts need to better understand the mechanistic pathways that link dietary interventions to those epigenetic changes that have functional/physiological consequences to the tissue and ultimately the organism.

Proposals should focus on diet and epigenome, and cover one of the following areas:

Establishing cause-and-effect relationships between diet, the epigenome and metabolic health

Identifying risk factors and early stage epigenetic changes

Epigenetic effects across the lifespan and inter (and potentially trans) generational epigenetic effects

Investigation of modifiable factors that could be involved in epigenetic regulation

The effect of diet and nutritional status on the intra-uterine environment

The full call text is available on the HDHL JPI website (see external links).

Specific requirements for UK partners

Information on specific requirements for researchers applying for UK funding is set out below. Following these requiments, in addition to those set out in the main call text, is mandatory.

Eligibility

It is expected that applications submitted to this call will be multidisciplinary transnational research consortia as defined in the main call text.

Standard BBSRC and MRC eligibility criteria will be applied to the UK components of applications. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), Research Council Institutes (RCIs) and Independent Research Organisations (IROs) that are normally eligible to received BBSRC or MRC funding can apply.

Full details of eligibility conditions can be found in the BBSRC Grants Guide (see related links) BBSRC Grants Guide) and the MRC Guidance for Applicants (see external links). MRC Guidance for Applicants.

Please note that studies primarily motivated by elucidating disease processes or states are not within BBSRC remit. Potential applicants are strongly advised to contact the BBSRC/MRC (see contacts below) in advance of making an application to resolve any eligibility and remit queries.