COVID-19 Programme call for proposals “Societal dynamics” now open
The COVID-19 Programme
The action and research programme COVID-19 focuses on research aimed at the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and the measures taken against it. There are three focus areas:
1. Predictive diagnostics and treatment
2. Care and prevention
3. Societal dynamics
This call for proposals concerns only focus area 3 “Societal dynamics”, and the total budget available for grants is €6.5 million. The call for proposals for focus areas 1 and 2 was published on 1 May 2020 and has a deadline of 14 May 2020 at 14.00 hours. Further information about this call can be read here (will soon be available in English).
Focus area societal dynamics
The focus area “Societal dynamics” concerns broad, societal issues in which several scientific disciplines are involved. For example, it concerns answers to questions such as: What are the societal consequences of the coronavirus crisis? Which social and economic problems have been exposed or have arisen as a result of this? But also: which positive effects does the crisis have? Which restart scenarios exist after a shorter or longer period of economic and widespread societal disruption? What can we learn from the crisis for the future?
Invitation to submit research ideas
With this call for proposals, consortia, research groups and individual researchers are invited to submit ideas for research projects to generate knowledge about the Dutch and worldwide impact of the coronavirus crisis and the measures taken against this. The research focuses not just on the challenges during this pandemic but also on the situation after the coronavirus crisis. Furthermore, the research relates to the priority themes described below.
Priority themes
A multidisciplinary expert panel chaired by Jet Bussemaker (former Minister for Education, Culture and Science) has put forward the following priority themes for which proposals on the associated subjects can be submitted:
1 Research into the effectiveness and impact of measures/strategies in response to the coronavirus crisis
Subjects: reliability and legitimacy of the government and science during a crisis, the conditions for technologies, linked to the “opening” of society, the effects of the 1.5 m measure, differences between European countries.
2 Research into the resilience of society
Subjects: vulnerable groups, social inequalities as a result of the measures taken, home education, psychological effects and emotional well-being, citizen initiatives.
3 Research into the economic resilience
Subjects: the economic effects of the lockdown for different sectors, reopening sectors of the economy, working from home.
These things need to be investigated with the highest urgency. Project ideas must relate to one or more of these themes. The themes and subjects are explained in greater detail in the call text.
Planning funding round
The following timetable applies to this funding round:
| Deadline submission project idea | 25 May 2020, 14.00 hours (CEST) |
| Receipt advice from the committee | Around 18 June 2020 |
| Deadline submission full proposal | 29 June, 14.00 hours (CEST) |
| Receipt comments from referees | 6 July 2020 |
| Deadline submission rebuttal | 8 July 2020, 12.00 hours (CEST) |
| Decision | Around 23 July 2020 |
| Latest starting date | 3 August 2020 |
The English version of the call for proposals will be published on the ZonMw website shortly.
More information
- See the call for proposals “Societal dynamics”
- Please keep an eye on the regularly updated page about research on corona and COVID-19
- Read more information about the COVID-19 Programme
- Go to the Grant calendar (only available in Dutch)