Behavioural interventions as primary prevention for Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) among young people is sponsored by European Commission — Horizon Europe. Behavioural Interventions as Primary Prevention for Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) Among Young People is a grant from the European Commission through the Horizon Europe program that funds research and innovation projects developing effective behavioral strategies to prevent ch…

EU Funding & Tenders Portal EU Funding & Tenders Portal * Results & Innovation support * SME Self-assessment tool Home Funding Calls for proposals Behavioural interventions as primary prevention for Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) among young people Behavioural interventions as primary prevention for Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) among young people HORIZON-HLTH-2026-01-STAYHLTH-02 * Conditions and documents * Partner search announcements Cluster 1 - Health (Single stage - 2026) (HORIZON-HLTH-2026-01) HORIZON-RIA HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based [HORIZON-AG] 16 April 2026 17:00:00 Brussels time This topic aims at supporting activities that are enabling or contributing to one or several expected impacts of destination “Staying healthy in a rapidly changing society”.

To that end, proposals under this topic should aim to deliver results that are directed at, tailored towards and contributing to most of the following expected outcomes: * Healthcare professionals have access to behavioural interventions that can be used to establish and reinforce healthy habits and sustain behavioural changes.

* Health professionals and educators have access to evidence-based strategies to mitigate risks of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) for youth, with clear metrics that can be used to assess health outcomes.

* Youth have increased individual responsibility through targeted education, digital services, including easily accessible tools for self-monitoring, and community-based support, stemming from increased collaboration between healthcare professionals, educators and families.

* Researchers have access to Real-World Data (RWD)[1], existing health data infrastructure and digital tools, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), which can contribute to the sustained success of behavioural health interventions. * Policymakers at local, regional, national and EU levels have new knowledge on behavioural interventions on NCDs among youth, which they can use to improve interventions in diverse European contexts.

The topic is focused on behavioural interventions for youth, defined as 12 to 25 years old, for the primary prevention of the top NCDs later in life, where “top NCDs” refers to the most prevalent NCDs[2]. For the purpose of this call, NCDs explicitly exclude cancer. Implementation research should be conducted to implement existing behavioural interventions.

These interventions should be evidence-based and have an emphasis on empowerment and self-management (e.g. health literacy, health education, health promotion).

As self-monitoring is an essential element of self-management, proposals should include user-friendly hardware and software for efficient self-monitoring (i.e. wearables and point-of-care devices for measuring various physiological parameters and other predictors and other biomarkers and the corresponding apps for easy readout and tracking, possibly also including gamification elements).

Hardware and software should be interoperable in line with internationally accepted standards in order to avoid lock-in effects and assure scalability.

Proposals should also include most of the following aspects: * Ensure that gender-sensitive and intersectional approaches are integrated, addressing potential gender-specific barriers for groups at risk of discrimination, as well as cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds, and should also outline how digital tools, including AI and RWD and biomarkers (e.g. genomic data, wearables, etc.) or existing relevant administrative dataset, will be integrated to enhance the scalability, personalisation, and effectiveness of interventions in the long-term.

* Present a clear, evidence-based strategy showing how the interventions will be tailored, deployed, and assessed at individual, family, community, and societal levels, while considering social inequalities and lifestyle factors (i.e. nutrition, sleep rhythm) and ensuring a robust methodological framework for evaluating the effectiveness of interventions (e.g. randomised controlled trails, quasi-experimental designs, etc.), with clearly defined indicators of success of the intervention (e.g. biometric markers, psychosocial wellbeing metrics, physical activity change, etc.).

Applicants should evaluate unintended consequences for all interventions. * Include formats that will increase collaboration between healthcare professionals, educators, families, and policymakers in promoting preventive health and should include plans for longer-term follow-up to estimate health impact and cost savings over time.

Related to this, applicants should outline how policy changes related to the intervention (e.g. school meal programmes, safe urban infrastructure for exercise, digital literacy campaigns, circadian alignment, stress reduction strategies) can reinforce and scale up successful behavioural interventions, whilst taking into account how they can be replicated or adapted to different cultural, geographic and socio-economic contexts.

As such, active involvement of key stakeholders throughout the study is strongly encouraged. This topic requires the effective contribution of social sciences and humanities (SSH) disciplines and the involvement of SSH experts, organisations as well as the inclusion of relevant SSH expertise, in order to produce meaningful and significant effects enhancing the societal impact of the related research activities.

The proposals should adhere to the FAIR[3] data principles, adopt data quality standards, data integration operating procedures and GDPR[4] compliant data sharing/access good practices developed by the European research infrastructures, where relevant. Applicants should provide details of their clinical studies[5] in the dedicated annex using the template provided in the submission system.

As proposals under this topic are expected to include clinical studies, the use of the template is strongly encouraged. [1] EMA definition: “Real-World Data are routinely collected data relating to patient health status or the delivery of healthcare from a variety of sources other than traditional clinical trials (e.g. claims databases, hospital data, electronic health records, registries, mhealth data, etc.)”.

[2] The prevalence of a disease is the number of cases in a defined population at a specified point in time. See https://iris. who.

int/bitstream/handle/10665/36838/9241544465. pdf [3] See definition of FAIR data in the introduction to this Work Programme part. [4] General Data Protection Regulation: https://commission.

europa. eu/law/law-topic/data-protection_en, https://gdpr-info. eu [5] Please note that the definition of clinical studies (see introduction to this Work Programme part) is broad and it is recommended that you review it thoroughly before submitting your application.

The submission session is now available for: HORIZON-HLTH-2026-01-STAYHLTH-03, HORIZON-HLTH-2026-01-TOOL-05, HORIZON-HLTH-2026-01-DISEASE-04, HORIZON-HLTH-2026-01-TOOL-06, HORIZON-HLTH-2026-01-IND-03, HORIZON-HLTH-2026-01-TOOL-03, HORIZON-HLTH-2026-01-ENVHLTH-01, HORIZON-HLTH-2026-01-DISEASE-03, HORIZON-HLTH-2026-01-CARE-01, HORIZON-HLTH-2026-01-DISEASE-15, HORIZON-HLTH-2026-01-DISEASE-02, HORIZON-HLTH-2026-01-ENVHLTH-05, HORIZON-HLTH-2026-01-TOOL-07, HORIZON-HLTH-2026-01-STAYHLTH-02, HORIZON-HLTH-2026-01-DISEASE-09, HORIZON-HLTH-2026-01-DISEASE-11, HORIZON-HLTH-2026-01-CARE-03, HORIZON-HLTH-2026-01-ENVHLTH-04 Please note that the call opening is delayed, as we are experiencing technical issues.

Staying healthy in a rapidly changing society (2026-27) People´s healthcare needs are different depending on their age, gender, stage of life, health status and socioeconomic background. In 2021, nearly 860,000 premature deaths across the EU[2] could have been prevented with effective primary prevention and other public health measures.

In addition, an estimated 135 million people in Europe live with a disability[3], highlighting the critical need for healthcare systems that are both accessible and adaptable. This number is expected to rise due to population ageing and the increasing prevalence of chronic conditions resulting from noncommunicable diseases and injuries.

It is also important to consider disabilities arising from other causes, such as war-related injuries and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which add to the complexity and diversity of healthcare needs.

Aligning with the Commission's Political Guidelines for 2024-2029[4], which call for stepping up work on preventive health, this destination aims to strengthen disease prevention and early detection, placing support and empowerment of individuals regarding their own health, well-being and living and working conditions at the core of future public health programmes.

Research and Innovation under this destination should help enhance the dialogue and coordination among stakeholders and policymakers, ensuring integration across different care settings for holistic health promotion and disease prevention.

Funded activities should seek to leverage the wealth of data sources, including real-world health data and establish a European interconnected health data ecosystem to develop integrated and personalised health promotion and disease prevention strategies.

These activities will benefit from and actively support and enrich emerging data resources such as the European Health Data Space (EHDS)[5] and European Open Science Cloud (EOSC)[6], and contribute to the European care strategy[7] and the digital transformation of health and care in the EU[8].

Since Horizon Europe’s launch in 2021, this destination has addressed important issues such as obesity prevention, understanding health-to-disease transitions, life course approaches to physical and mental health, healthy ageing, digital health literacy, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) for chronic disease risk prediction.

In this Work Programme part, destination “_Staying healthy in a rapidly changing society_” will focus on: i) addressing disabilities through the life course to support independent living and inclusion, with an emphasis on empowering persons with disabilities and their families.

This priority aligns with the EU Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030; and ii) developing behavioural interventions as primary prevention for Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), with an emphasis on promoting healthy habits and sustained behavioural change among youth. This priority aligns with the ‘Healthier together’ EU non-communicable diseases initiative.

To increase the impact of EU investments under Horizon Europe, the Commission encourages collaboration between EU-funded projects to foster synergies through networking, joint workshops, knowledge exchange, best practices, and joint communication activities. Synergies can be explored between projects funded under the same or different topics, Clusters or Pillars of Horizon Europe.

This includes collaborations between projects funded under the Health Cluster and the 'Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society' Cluster for complementary actions, such as promoting social inclusion, health equity (including gender equality and support for groups at risk of discrimination), and mental health initiatives in education, work, and daily life (including through culture, the arts and sports).

Proposals for topics under this destination should set out a credible pathway to contributing to staying healthy in a rapidly changing society, and more specifically to one or several of the following impacts: * Citizens, including persons with disabilities and other groups in a vulnerable situation, adopt and maintain healthier lifestyles and behaviours, make healthier choices, and achieve, where applicable, longer healthy, independent, and active lives with a reduced burden of preventable disease throughout the life course.

* Citizens are empowered to effectively manage their physical and mental health and well-being, monitor their health status, and interact with healthcare providers to optimise their well-being throughout life through improved health literacy, increased engagement in and adherence to health promotion strategies.

* Children and young people are aware and empowered to better monitor and manage their physical, social and mental health with a view to lifelong healthy lifestyles.

* Society benefits from reduced economic and health burdens due to preventable illness and premature mortality, with efficiency increased by targeting scarce resources in appropriate, cost-effective ways to areas of high social return, thereby driving improvements in health and well-being for all citizens, and specifically reducing health inequalities.

Health policies and actions for health promotion and disease prevention are knowledge-based, people-centred, personalised and thus targeted and tailored to citizens’ needs, and designed to reduce health inequalities. Legal entities established in China are not eligible to participate in both Research and Innovation Actions (RIAs) and Innovation Actions (IAs) falling under this destination.

For additional information please see “Restrictions on the participation of legal entities established in China” found in the Annex B of the General Annexes of this Work Programme. The protection of European communication networks has been identified as an important security interest of the Union and its Member States.

Entities that are assessed as high-risk suppliers[9] of mobile network communication equipment (and any entities they own or control) are not eligible to participate as beneficiaries, affiliated entities and associated partners to topics identified as “subject to restrictions for the protection of European communication networks”. Please refer to the Annex B of the General Annexes of this Work Programme for further details.

[1] https://research-and-innovation. ec. europa.

eu/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-programmes-and-open-calls/horizon-europe/strategic-plan_en [2] “Health at a Glance: Europe 2024”, available from https://health. ec. europa.

eu/state-health-eu/health-glance-europe_en [3] https://www. who. int/europe/news-room/fact-sheets/item/disability The WHO European Region comprises 53 countries, covering a vast geographical region from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans.

[4] https://commission. europa. eu/about/commission-2024-2029_en [5] https://health.

ec. europa. eu/ehealth-digital-health-and-care/european-health-data-space-regulation-ehds_en [6] https://research-and-innovation.

ec. europa. eu/strategy/strategy-2020-2024/our-digital-future/open-science/european-open-science-cloud-eosc_en [7] Communication from the European Commission on the European care strategy, COM(2022) 440, 7.

9. 2022 [8] Communication from the European Commission on enabling the digital transformation of health and care in the Digital Single Market; empowering citizens and building a healthier society, COM(2018) 233, 25. 4.

2018 [9] Entities assessed as “high-risk suppliers”, are currently set out in the second report on Member States’ progress in implementing the EU toolbox on 5G cybersecurity of 2023 (NIS Cooperation Group, Second report on Member States’ progress in implementing the EU Toolbox on 5G Cybersecurity, June 2023) and the related Communication on the implementation of the 5G cybersecurity toolbox of 2023 (Communication from the Commission: Implementation of the 5G cybersecurity Toolbox, Brussels, 15.

6. 2023 C(2023) 4049 final). Topic conditions and documents #### 1.

Admissibility Conditions, proposal page limit and layout Admissibility conditions are described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes. Proposal page limits and layout are described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System. #### 2.

Eligible Countries Eligible countries are described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes. A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.

#### 3. Other Eligibility Conditions In recognition of the opening of the US National Institutes of Health’s programmes to European researchers, any legal entity established in the United States of America is eligible to receive Union funding.

If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation and/or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must make use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS (other data and services may additionally be used). Subject to restrictions for the protection of European communication networks. Other eligibility conditions are described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.

#### 4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion Financial and operational capacity and exclusion are described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes. #### 5a.

Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds Award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes. #### 5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes The thresholds for each criterion will be 4 (Excellence), 4 (Impact) and 4 (Implementation).

The cumulative threshold will be 12. Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual. #### 5c.

Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes. #### 6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants The granting authority may, up to 4 years after the end of the action, object to a transfer of ownership or to the exclusive licensing of results, as set out in the specific provision of Annex 5.

Legal and financial set-up of the grants are described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes. Specific conditions are described in the specific topic of the Work Programme.

#### Application and evaluation forms and additional documents: **Application and evaluation form templates** Standard application form (HE RIA, IA) - the application form specific to this call is available in the Submission System Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA) - will be used with the necessary adaptations **Model Grant Agreement (MGA)** **Call-specific instructions** Information on clinical studies (HE) #### Additional documents HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 1.

General Introduction HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 4. Health HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 15.

General Annexes HE Framework Programme 2021/695 HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764 EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509 Decision authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement Partner search announcements **Searches of partners to collaborate on this topic** LEARs, Account Administrators or self-registrants can publish partner requests for open and forthcoming topics after logging into this Portal, as well as any user having an active public Person profile.

To access the Electronic Submission Service, please click on the submission-button next to the **type of action** and the **type of model grant agreement** that corresponds to your proposal. You will then be asked to confirm your choice, as it cannot be changed in the submission system. Upon confirmation, you will be linked to the correct entry point.

To access existing draft proposals for this topic, please login to the Funding & Tenders Portal and select the My Proposals page of the My Area section.

**Please select the type of your submission:** HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions [HORIZON-RIA], HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based [HORIZON-AG] Topic Q&As**8** item(s) found In the context of topic HORIZON-HLTH-2026-01-STAYHLTH-02, the footnote 60 refers to WHO "Basic epidemiology" but does not include examples of link between NCDs & behaviors. What is it meant for?

This reference is meant to define what is meant with "top" in the idea of "top NCDs", not to give evidence of the link between NCDs and behaviours. There is a lot of research on this... Does the topic HORIZON-HLTH-2026-01-STAYHLTH-02 aim to develop further existing digital tools, or a new digital tool?

The topic is for a health prevention-driven RIA and any potential digital tool that is developed, should be used in the implementation of the behavioural interventions for the youth. When might the right to “object to a transfer of ownership or to the exclusive licensing of results” be executed? How is this condition expected to affect applicants?

The Health Cluster Work Programme part for 2026-2027 includes a “right to object” condition for nearly all topics, giving the granting authority the right to object to a transfer of ... In the context of topic HORIZON-HLTH-2026-01-STAYHLTH-02, the text mentions that the action should implement existing interventions. What is meant by interventions ?

The topic refers to the implementation of already existing evidence-based behavioural interventions. As the topic specifies under the “Scope”, adjusting, deploying, assessing and mea... In the topic HORIZON-HLTH-2026-01-STAYHLTH-02, can we include wider age brackets (e.g. 12–18 and 19–25), covering the whole range mentioned in the call, and explain that the exact study population will be defined after looking at preliminary data?

Provided this is scientifically justified, it could be possible to include wider age brackets. However, the topic does not foresee supporting a piloting phase for establishing the be... In the context of topic HORIZON-HLTH-2026-01-STAYHLTH-02, does the proposal have to cover the full 12–25 age range, or would focusing on a justified subset still be acceptable?

Research work can focus on a subset of the youth population aged 12-25. Naturally, a rationale is always needed to substantiate why the choice has been made. Where can I find more information about the eligibility condition for the protection of European communication networks?

The protection of European communication networks has been identified as an important security interest of the Union and its Member States. For further details, you are advised to re... Is this topic a Lump Sum (LS) topic?

No, this topic is not using the Lump Sum funding model. Please read carefully all provisions below before the preparation of your application. Online Manual is your guide on the procedures from proposal submission to managing your grant.

Horizon Europe Programme Guide contains the detailed guidance to the structure, budget and political priorities of Horizon Europe. Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ – find the answers to most frequently asked questions on submission of proposals, evaluation and grant management. Research Enquiry Service – ask questions about any aspect of European research in general and the EU Research Framework Programmes in particular.

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