Cohorts united against COVID-19 variants of concern (RIA)

As first emergency funding under Horizon Europe the European Commission is mobilising €123 million from Horizon Europe for urgent research into coronavirus variants. With this funding the Commission fuels four new emergency actions. On this page we provide information about the ‘Cohorts united against COVID-19 variants of concern (RIA)’ action. For further information download the Infosheet below.

Call Information

Cohorts united against COVID-19 variants of concern (RIA) aims at supporting activities that are enabling or contributing to the development of large scale, COVID-19 cohorts and networks worldwide, including beyond Europe’s borders, forging links with European initiatives as a global response to the pandemic.

Subsidy: €7-10M

Funding rate: 100%

Deadline: 6 May 2021

Duration: No limit; up to 4 years is recommended.

Total budget: €30M

Consortium: At least three legal entities established in different Member States or Associated Countries. Strong collaboration with regional public health and regulatory authorities is strongly encouraged.

Scope: Proposals submitted under this expression of interest are expected to build on existing large-scale, multi-centre, regional or international cohorts worldwide and/or establish new ones linked to those. These cohorts should aim to rapidly advance the knowledge on SARS-CoV-2 and its emerging variants of concern, with the aim of developing evidence-based strategic and robust recommendations for the effective control and prevention of COVID-19 infection. The regional or international cohort(s) should allow to rapidly and consistently provide estimations on the occurrence and spread of emerging variants of concern in different parts of the world. They should contribute to a better understanding of their transmissibility, virulence and pathogenicity.

(For complete information on the scope of this call, view the infosheet below)

Expected Outcomes:

• In the short-term, contribution to a better understanding of the global circulation of the current and emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern and their characteristics, delivering recommendations on the best strategies to control viral spread, as well as on optimized clinical management and treatment of COVID-19 patients.
• In the short-term, contribution to the evaluation of the impact of the variants of concern on the different vaccines and vaccination strategies and information on best vaccine and treatment options.
• In the short/medium/long-term, monitoring the emergence of new variants of concern, elucidating the impact of different variants on transmissibility and severity of COVID-19 disease, including long-term post-infection sequelae (long COVID).
• In the long term, establishment of regional and internationally linked strategic cohorts that can be pivoted rapidly to research on emerging infectious diseases.
• In the long-term, contribution to regional and international pandemic preparedness networks to rapidly address pandemics in the future on a global scale.

For complete information on this call, download our Infosheet: HORIZON-HLTH-2021-CORONA-01-02 Cohorts united against COVID-19

Check out all EC Horizon COVID-19 Emergency Grant Calls

Visit the EC Call webpage