GSS EU Science Funding Gateway

This should be done through a partnership that promotes:

• improved coordination and cooperation to adjust research and innovation agendas on national and European levels (and contributing globally), as essential part of the pandemic preparedness planning and implementation activities;
• coordination and prioritisation of a comprehensive research response to a health emergency, from basic research for better understanding of pathogens with pandemic potential to the development or adaptation of medical countermeasures, as well as effective non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI) and/or public health and social measures (PHSM), and using an integrated One Health approach;
• the consolidation and further development of ever-warm EU-wide networks and infrastructures for clinical research, controlled trials and observational studies for public health interventions, such as EU-wide vaccine and treatment trials, PHSM/NPI trials or cohorts;
• the provision of robust and timely scientific evidence to inform sound public health decision-making in response to a public health emergency;
• the use of agreed data standards to safely collect, store, link and manage FAIR data and to exploit the full potential of the generated data for modelling and in-silicomethods for epidemic surveillance, clinical trials and observational studies, among others.

The partnership should strengthen the European Research Area by supporting excellence in innovative research, capacity building, programmes for development of talent, widening the engagement of countries and sectors not yet involved.The partnership should endorse a pandemic preparedness Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) based on the work of the CSA BE READY and prepare for the management of the research response during a crisis, by strengthening the collaboration between relevant partners and the alignment of related investments. The partnership will consider the impact of environmental, climatic issues and patterns in relation with the emergence and spread of health threats to better understand how these increase the risk for emerging infectious diseases, and how this should be integrated into the research done using a One Health approach.

The scope of the partnership should encompass:

• basic research to accelerate the acquisition of knowledge on the biology of pathogens with epidemic or pandemic potential, their transmission and interaction with humans, animals and plants, in particular in view of emerging threats to human health. The initial focus should be on pathogens with high epidemic or pandemic potential for the EU, such as those included in the list of priority diseases of the World Health Organization (WHO), with particular attention to those meeting the criteria identified by HERA;
• preclinical research aimed at better understanding of human diseases caused by pathogens with epidemic or pandemic potential and testing of related medical countermeasures;
• clinical research to support the generation of novel solutions, in particular the development (phase I to phase III) of medical countermeasures, e.g. vaccines, diagnostics, therapeutics and digital solutions, to prevent or mitigate outbreaks from pathogens with epidemic or pandemic potential, in line with the mission of HERA and the ACT EU initiative;
• a key feature should be the consolidation and further development of an ever-warm network of clinical trial sites applying the same quality standards and ensuring a baseline of continuous clinical trial activity across a wide and diverse range of clinical trial sites, to allow for a rapid clinical trial response in case of an epidemic or pandemic. This includes the development of criteria for a clinical trial site to be considered as ever-warm;
• the development, testing and validation of new methods and tools, including those based on artificial intelligence and computer modelling, to improve surveillance and diagnosis and control of the spread of pathogens with epidemic or pandemic potential;
• the conduct of public health and social sciences and humanities (SSH) research for the development and robust evaluation of appropriate non-pharmaceutical interventions/public health and social measures and effective communication strategies at all phases of a public health emergency;
• the consolidation and/or development of infrastructures, platforms and networks necessary for fast and timely start of the response research, capitalising on previous investments and existing infrastructures supporting collaboration, trans-boundary access and provision of services, such as provided by ISIDORe or ECRIN.
• capacity building through networking and training of researchers, to share knowledge and good practices also with EU and national entities, policymakers and funders.