Health Research Call

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS CLOSED

Call publication and opening of the online system for proposal submission
18 September 2025, at 2 pm CET

Informative session (online - registration is mandatory)
8 October 2025, at 11 am CET
Watch video of the online informative session

Deadline for applications (automatic closure)
19 November 2025, at 2 pm CET

Eligibility process
From November to December 2025

Remote preselection
From January to April 2026

Face-to-face assessment by selection committees
14 and 15 May 2026 in Barcelona

Announcement of selected projects
June 2026

Execution of the selected projects
From September 2026 to December 2029

The ”la Caixa” Foundation launches the ninth edition of the Call for biomedical and health research projects. The aim of this call is to identify and support promising initiatives of scientific excellence with potential value and social impact, whether in basic, clinical or translational research.

Proposals may be submitted in the following thematic areas:

• Neuroscience

• Oncology

• Cardiovascular and associated metabolic disease

• Infectious diseases

• Enabling technologies focused on the four previous thematic areas

Proposals will have a duration of up to 3 years and may be submitted as:

• Individual projects: submitted by a single research organization (Host Organization, HO), requesting up to €500,000.

• Research consortium projects: submitted by at least 2 and no more than 5 research organizations and coordinated by the HO. Research consortium projects may request up to €1,000,000.

Both Individual and Research Consortium projects may also include non-profit civil society organizations (CSO), such as patients’ associations. Established companies may not form part of the cooperating organizations that carry out activities of the project.

Grants may be awarded up to €21,500,000* to support the selected projects. The intention is to distribute this amount approximately equitably among the different thematic areas, but the final distribution will always depend on the quality and specific characteristics of the submitted proposals.

* This amount is subject to final approval by ”la Caixa” Foundation.

The Francisco Luzón Foundation may co-fund one project on Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)**.

Breakthrough T1D (Formerly JDRF) may co-fund one project related to Type 1 Diabetes (T1D)**.

”la Caixa” Foundation and the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) collaborate by means of the Iniciativa Ibérica de Investigação e Inovação Biomédica (i4B) within the framework of the Call. Under this initiative, the FCT may fund additional projects among the best ranked proposals, coordinated by a Portuguese organization**.

** For more details, see the rules for participation.

The fact that proposals are submitted as an individual or a research consortium project, or are basic, clinical or translational research projects will not be a selection criterion during the evaluation process. The only selection criteria for assessing the proposals are those described in the rules for participation.

Correct allocation of the budget and its suitability for the activities to be carried out will be a strictly evaluated criterion during the selection process.

Host Organizations (HO). Projects submitted may be led by researchers from non-profit research organizations based in Spain or Portugal.

Project Leader (PL). The principal investigator at the host organization must also be the project leader who submits the proposal and coordinates overall execution of the project.

Research Performing Organizations (RPO). Any non-profit research organization, localized in any country around world, which carries out activities of the project. In individual projects the RPO is the host organization. In research consortia there must be a minimum of two and a maximum of five RPOs (including the host organization). Research organizations with the same NIF or VAT number will be considered one sole organization.

Principal Investigators (PI). Each research performing organization must have a principal investigator responsible for performing the activities in the project carried out at their institution.

Civil Society Organizations (CSO). Both individual projects and research consortia may also include up to three non-profit civil society organizations that are not engaged in research as part of their usual activity (e.g. patients' associations).

Companies. Established companies cannot be members of the project team, but may receive funds for subcontracted services.

The sum of the budgets of all the organizations not located in Spain or Portugal may constitute no more than 30 % of the total project budget.

Team members. All team members should form part of the host organization (HO), the civil society organizations (CSO) or the research consortia.

Details of the eligibility criteria and required documentation to complete the application can be found in the rules for participation.

Ongoing projects: PLs of projects selected in the last three editions of the Health Research Call cannot apply as PL to this edition of the call.

Score from the previous Health Research call: in order to promote the quality of proposals, PLs and PIs of proposals that scored less than 5.50 (out of a maximum score of 8) in the peer reviewed assessment of the previous edition (2025) will not be able to submit proposals as PLs to this edition (2026).

Similarly, the PL and PIs of projects that score less than 5.50 (out of a maximum score of 8) in the peer review assessment of this edition, cannot submit proposals as a PL of the next edition. Likewise, the PL and PI of proposals rejected in the content eligibility process for the current edition will not be able to submit proposals as PLs to the following edition.

Projects developing studies whose results are subject to rights, of any nature, held by for-profit organizations before the submission of the proposal are not eligible. The ”la Caixa” Foundation reserves the right to reject proposals with a clear benefit to for-profit organizations.

Proposals are selected on the basis of a rigorous process that will be carried out in accordance with the standards of quality, impartiality, objectivity and transparency.

The process consists of an initial eligibility process (format and content), a remote phase of proposal pre-selection followed by a face-to-face interview conducted by selection committees in each of the thematic areas.

Check the list of the most frequently asked questions.

Questions and answers

E-mail: [email protected]