The fundamental aim of this Call is to foster groundbreaking and relevant research projects that lead to the advancement of knowledge and offer solutions related to some of the most significant health problems of our century.

Main characteristics

• Individual Projects are carried out by a sole Research Performing Organization (RPO) i.e. the Host Institution.
• Research Consortium Projects are carried out by a Research Consortium (composed by a minimum of two and a maximum of five RPOs, including the Host Organization).
• When preparing the budget, the following criteria and requirements must be taken into account:
  • Projects that request a grant of more than €500,000 must include in their budget the cost of an external audit to be carried out by the Host Organization at the end of the Project, as stated in section 12.1 of these Rules for Participation.
  • Both Research Performing Organizations and Civil Society Organizations must carry out activities of the Project to be part of the Consortium. All Research Performing Organizations must have an allocated budget. Having an allocated budget is not mandatory for Civil Society Organizations, however their participation in the Proposal must be justified.
  • For-profit entities (including companies) cannot be partners of consortiums. This type of entities can only receive Project funds if they are subcontracted by a Research Performing Organization.
  • The sum of the budgets of all the Research Performing Organizations and the Civil Society Organizations not located in Spain or Portugal cannot exceed 30% of the total Project budget.

Proposals must be submitted in one of the following five Thematic Areas:

• Neuroscience.
• Infectious diseases.
• Oncology.
• Cardiovascular and associated metabolic diseases: proposals in cardiovascular diseases and metabolic diseases associated with cardiovascular risks or alterations.
• Enabling technologies: proposals focused on the creation and development of health-facilitating technologies coming from the next fields:
  • · micro- and nano-electronics,
  • · computational science, big data and Artificial intelligence
  • · photonics
  • · nanotechnology and biotechnology
  • · advanced materials or advanced manufacturing.

The Call aims to support basic, clinical and translational research Projects:

• Basic research provides knowledge to understand nature and its laws.
• Clinical research is research conducted with human subjects (or on material of human origin such as tissues, specimens and cognitive phenomena) for which the research team (or colleagues) directly interacts with human subjects.
• Translational research fosters the bidirectional integration of basic research and clinical research, with the long-term aim of improving the health of the public.

• Both Individual and Research Consortium Proposals must include a Project Leader (PL). In the case of Research Consortium Projects, the Application must also include one Principal Investigator (PI) for each of the Research Performing Organizations (RPO) of the Research Consortium. Only one PI per RPO is allowed.
• The PL must have a minimum of seven years of experience in postdoctoral research. Therefore, they must have finished their doctoral degree (PhD) at least seven years before the closing date of the Call (taking as a reference the date which appears on the doctoral degree).
• Within the same Call, each PL can only submit a single Proposal as a PL; however, they can collaborate on other Proposals as PI of a RPO of the Research Consortium or as a Team Member.
• The PLs of Projects awarded a grant from the CaixaResearch Health Call will not be allowed to submit a new Proposal as PL in the three subsequent editions of the Call.
• The PL and PIs of a Proposal that obtained a score of less than 5.50 in the remote evaluation phase of the previous edition of the Call (CaixaResearch Health Call 2025) are not allowed to submit Proposals as PLs to this edition of the Call (2026).
• The PL must be linked, either by statute, work contract or other type of collaboration, within the framework of this Project, to the Host Organization when applying for the grant.
• The Proposal must be related to the objectives and Thematic Areas of the grant.
  The whole process of submission and selection of Applications, including the interview, will be carried out in English. All information must be submitted in English.

The proposal must include all the information requested in the online system, including but not limited to the following aspects:

General data and proposal information: classification of the host organization, classification of the application, acronym, title, scientific abstract and general summary.

Scientific excellence and impact: state of the art; preliminary data; project goals and objectives; expected results; methodology and scientific approach; work plan; Gantt chart; budget; study limitations and contingency plan; scientific and social relevance; ethical, social, legal and environmental implications of the project; dissemination, social engagement and knowledge transfer. Additional graphics and figures to support the proposal description may be uploaded as a PDF file of up to three pages in this section.

Team:

Project Leader: relevance and research experience in relation to the proposal
Research Consortium (if applicable): description of each member's contribution to the consortium
Principal Investigators (in case of consortiums): relevance and research experience in relation to the proposal
Research Team: brief description of the relevance, experience and contributions of the members from the host organization and each research organization (where applicable)
Civil Society Organizations: brief description of the role and relevance of the CSOs involved in the project, if any
Publications: at the end of the Team section, include a minimum and maximum of five publications from the Project Leader and each Principal Investigator, clearly related to the information provided in the Team section. Proposals with incomplete or incorrectly cited publications may be considered ineligible.

Budget: detailed and justified project budget. For research consortiums, include budget distribution among partners (also applies to individual projects involving CSOs with assigned budget)

If interested, contact the Research Promotion and Management Department before November 12, 2025.

Information session: October 8, 2025, at 11:00 AM