NWO KIC: Together for a better life with inherited heart disease; Innovations for early detection, risk prediction and therapy

NWO KIC: Together for a better life with inherited heart disease; Innovations for early detection, risk prediction and therapy is sponsored by The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). This call aims to fund research improving early detection, risk prediction, and new treatments for hereditary heart diseases. It focuses on three interconnected sub-themes: early detection, risk prediction, and therapy.

KIC Together for a better life with inherited heart disease: Innovations for early detection, risk prediction and therapy | NWO The aim of this call for proposals is to fund research that provides insights and results that relevant parties will use to improve early detection, risk prediction and new treatments. Within this call are three inextricably linked sub-themes: early detection, risk prediction and therapy.

Early detection: Hereditary heart diseases can cause severe symptoms or death suddenly and at a young age. Obduction and DNA testing of young deceased people are not always performed in the Netherlands, which requires improvement. Family members should also be better detected and invited for genetic counselling, with an emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration.

Risk prediction: current knowledge is insufficient to properly predict who will develop symptoms of hereditary heart disease and when. This makes treatment decisions complex and may lead to overtreatment or undertreatment. Better risk prediction can improve quality of life and optimise care.

Greater understanding of genetic and non-genetic causes is needed, as well as better data infrastructure at national level. Therapy: Current treatments include lifestyle advice, medication and/or ICDs, but have drawbacks and are not always effective. Improving quality of life and developing new treatments, including gene therapies, is necessary.

Innovative research can lead to improved survival rates and prospects for a cure for a broader group of patients. Pre-proposals and full applications are submitted by a main applicant and one or more co-applicants. An application is set up by a consortium, in which other participants are involved in addition to the applicants.

In this consortium the main applicant and co-applicants together represent at least two of the three research fields (humanities, natural sciences and social sciences), in which the natural sciences are always included. In addition, collaboration partners and potential co-funders should be included.

For the full application, a consortium should consist of at least a main applicant, co-applicants, cooperation partners and at least two co-funders. In addition, at least two experts by experience, with relevant experience in the subject of the application, should always be part of the consortium. The available budget for this call totals €7,816,000.

The grant amounts to a maximum of 90% of the total project size. The minimum co-financing requirement is 10% of the total project budget (in kind/in cash) from a private party. The deadline for submitting sub proposals is 24 September 2024, at 14:00:00 CEST.

The deadline for submitting the full application is 27 May 2025, at 14:00:00 CEST.

The applications submitted within this Call for proposals will be substantially assessed on the basis of the following criteria: Problem posed and problem analysis, contribution to solution Expected impact and route to impact Quality of the consortium Criteria 1 and 2 each carry a 25% weighting in the overall assessment, criterion 3, a weighting of 30% and criterion 4, a weighting of 20%. The call consists of 2 phases.

Sub-proposals are submitted in phase 1. After assessment by an external committee, the consortia of several sub-proposals are selected and invited to jointly develop one full proposal (phase 2). Development of the full proposal is supported by workshops.

Details about the procedure are described in chapter 4 of the call text Responsible research data management is an essential component of good research practice. Prepare a data management plan after the grant is awarded and before the project starts. A pplications must be submitted through the ISAAC application and reporting system.

If you do not have an ISAAC account yet, then please create one at least one workday in advance. More information about writing a proposal and which forms you need to use can be found in ISAAC. Please download and use the forms in ISAAC.

Below you will find examples of the required forms. In phase 1, sub-proposals are submitted. This is a concise application that outlines which sub-themes the applicant, co-applicants and collaboration partners want to address and how these contribute to the objectives and impact described in the call.

In addition, the sub-application describes opportunities for collaboration with sub-proposals working on other sub-themes. For the phase 1 sub-proposal, only the application form that has been made available must be completed. No attachments to the application can be submitted at this stage.

The forms and templates for phase 2 full proposal will be shared with the applicants of the selected sub-proposals at the start of phase 2. Downloads for your application KIC Together for a better life with inherited heart disease | applicationform sub-proposal Online manual grant application system ISAAC ISAAC offers applicants for research funding the possibility to track their application in the assessment process.

The funding process explained NWO has a fixed procedure for handling all applications. Learn more about how the application procedure is set up – from the moment you apply until a decision is reached. Do you already have an account in Isaac?

Have you filled out the application form? You can read all the details about the application for funding in the Call for Proposals. If you have any questions, please contact the contact person.

Life sciences and medicine