Cooperative Leadership Sponsorships

Standards for Quantum Technologies is sponsored by European Commission — Horizon Europe. Expected Outcome: This action will support and accelerate the development and adoption of European and international standards for quantum technologies, enhancing interoperability quality/reliability assurance, and trust in quantum systems. It will strengthen Europe's leadership in the global quantum standardisation landscape and ensure that European industrial and research priorities are well represented and integrated into emerging standards. Expected outcomes include: Delivery of concrete, EU-relevant pre-normative standards and technical specifications across quantum computing, communication, and sensing. Substantial contribution of European stakeholders, notably SMEs and start-ups in international standardisation bodies (e.g., ISO/IEC, ITU-T, ETSI), with alignment to EU industrial strategies. Promotion of cross-sectoral interoperability through standardised interfaces, control protocols, reliability in operating conditions and benchmarking methodologies, reducing market fragmentation and technical barriers. Creation of practical support tools such as user guidelines, training modules, and best practices to accelerate the uptake and implementation of quantum standards. Scope: The CSA will coordinate and support standardisation activities for quantum technologies in areas such as quantum computing, communication, sensing, and control. Proposals should include: Build on the roadmaps of European standardisation organisations to (i) standardise results from quantum projects funded under Horizon Europe, the Digital Europe Programme, and EuroHPC JU in line with stakeholder priorities, and (ii) foster an active industrial standardisation community to promote engagement and uptake within the European quantum industry. Enabling broad stakeholder participation in international standardisation activities (e.g. ISO/IEC, ITU-T, ETSI), promoting EU priorities. Support interoperability and integration of quantum systems through standardisation of interfaces, protocols, and benchmarking methodologies. Develop explanatory documentation and training material to facilitate adoption and implementation of the developed standards. Drafting and developing concrete standards or technical specifications, in cooperation with relevant standardisation bodies, in areas such as: Hardware-software interfaces in quantum computing, Quantum sensing protocols and metrology methods, Control electronics and device modularity for quantum systems, Performance and benchmarking methodologies. Supporting the participation of quantum stakeholders in European and international standardisation organisations (e.g. CEN-CENELEC, ETSI, ISO/IEC, ITU-T) Coordination with existing European and international standardisation organisations to ensure alignment and avoid duplication. Development of support materials such as user guides, training modules, and best practices for the standards developed. Organisation of workshops and consultations with quantum stakeholders (including SMEs, start-ups, and large industry) to ensure inclusivity and consensus building. The proposal must present a clear plan for stakeholder engagement, deliverables, and budget justification, including person-days per task and daily rates. A single proposal is expected. European standardisation organisations (ESOs) are encouraged to lead or be key partners in the consortium. Programme areas: Horizon Europe (HORIZON), Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness, Digital, Industry and Space Keywords: Quantum Technologies (e.g. computing and communication), EuroHPC, Quantum Technologies, Standardisation in Quantum Technologies

This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) invites applications for a Research Coordinating Center (RCC) to participate in a consortium of clinical centers that will test anti-obesity medication (AOM) treatment strategies for youth with obesity that maximize benefits and minimize risks of AOM use. Such intervention strategies should support the promotion of healthy growth and development; adequate nutritional status/intake, healthy eating and physical activity behaviors; mental health and well-being (e.g., body image, self-esteem, mood, etc.), and quality of life and be feasible to implement in clinical care settings. Priority areas include testing strategies to determine optimal developmental stage for AOM initiation, rate and amount of weight loss, AOM class, dose, frequency, and duration, and content and intensity of adjunct lifestyle therapies that may be imperative to ensure normal psychological and physical development and to potentially avoid lifelong dependence on AOMs. Investigators should also evaluate potential predictors of response/ nonresponse to various treatment strategies under evaluation. The clinical centers may conduct independent or multicenter trials but will collaborate on the development of protocols, use of common measures and data elements, use of a central laboratory and standardized procedures to collect data and biospecimens, and data analyses and manuscriptsThe RCC will lead, manage, and harmonize efforts for the Consortium including 1) providing management and administrative support; 2) providing leadership and expertise on statistical design and analysis, 3) providing research coordination with a central laboratory, 4) harmonizing data collection methods and use of common data elements, 5) developing the database; 6) conducting data management and data analyses for Consortium studies; and 7) fostering research collaborations. This NOFO uses a cooperative agreement mechanism (U24) and runs in parallel with a companion NOFO (RFA-DK-27-121). Funding Opportunity Number: RFA-DK-27-136. Assistance Listing: 93.847. Funding Instrument: CA. Category: HL. Award Amount: $1M total program funding.

EPSRC has opened the explainable AI strand of its Next Generation Artificial Intelligence programme, a 12,050,000 pound call for speculative, high-risk fundamental research that makes AI systems explainable rather than merely accurate. The call names five research directions: output reasoning, where the system articulates why it produced a given output; mechanistic interpretability, which seeks to understand the internal computations of a model; process examination, which audits how a decision was reached; imposed explainability, which builds explanation into architecture by construction rather than recovering it after the fact; and uncertainty quantification, which characterises what a model does not know. The framing is unusually explicit that incremental improvement is not fundable: applications must demonstrate potential for transformative outcomes, and EPSRC uses the phrase speculative and high-risk fundamental research with the potential to deliver high reward. Awards run up to 24 months with a fixed project start of 1 February 2027, and the maximum request is 602,500 pounds at full economic cost with UKRI funding 80 percent. Early and mid-career researchers are particularly welcomed, and joint leadership is permitted with a designated administrative lead. The deadline is 20 October 2026 at 4:00pm UK time, with an information webinar having been held on 8 September 2026.