The 8th Joint Transnational Call (JTC8), launched by the ERA4Health Partnership, has been announced under the title ‘Preventing and Understanding Overweight and Obesity (PREVENT-OO).’ This call aims to support projects that conduct an in-depth investigation to prevent and understand overweight and obesity. ERA4Health, via this call, encourages the development of preventive and therapeutic strategies—covering areas such as public health and policy development— by supporting international and multidisciplinary collaborations that investigate the causes of obesity and overweight and their complications. International research teams are also expected to develop new treatment approaches and solutions by gaining a better understanding of these interactions.
The aim of this call is to support research that:
1. Improves the understanding of the causes for obesity, overweight and its complications by using a mechanistic approach.
And more specifically:
- 1a. Investigates biological mechanisms, including chronobiological, genetic and/or epigenetic mechanisms, underlying the onset and progression of overweight and obesity, and related diseases. Secondary factors with potential influence on the biological mechanisms such as the living environment, lifestyle or psychological status should also be considered where relevant.
- 1b. Investigates how overweight and obesity contribute to the development of related clinical complications and/or affect the mechanism of action of therapeutics against other diseases/disorders.
2.Focuses on prevention and public health strategies for critical transitional periods of life.
Both subtopics 2a. and 2b. should be addressed for critical transitional periods of life only. The choice of the critical transitional periods of life to be studied must be clearly justified in the proposal. It should be due to biological changes (e.g. postpartum, menopause, andropause), or socio-environmental changes (e.g. period in between pregnancies, diagnosis of a chronic disease, recovering from disease, retirement etc.).
And more specifically:
- 2a. Understands and addresses neglected determinants, including their interdependency, in the onset and the progression of overweight and obesity in transitional periods of life.
- 2b. Develops novel tools or preventive strategies that can be implemented against the onset and the progression of overweight and obesity in transitional periods of life taking into consideration physiological, pathophysiological, psychological behavioral influences and/or socioeconomic status of the citizens/patients. Importantly, the proposal should present the assessment of the economic impact of the proposed tools or strategies on the healthcare system and issue orientations that will help policymakers to define new regulations and guidelines to prevent overweight and obesity.
For more information about the call and to access the webinar you can visit the call webpage via this link.
For carrying out your national applications you can visit: https://uidb-pbs.tubitak.gov.tr/
Call Calendar:
13 November 2025: Publication of call
18 November 2025, 10:00 CET: Webinar Info day (You can access the video recording from the link above)
21 November 2025, 13:00 CET: Matchmaking event (for call topic 2)
21 January 2026, 12:00 CET: Deadline for pre-proposal submission
13 April 2026: Communication of the results (invitation for full proposal)
14 April 2026: Webinar for applicants invited to submit a full proposal
11 June 2026, 12:00 CET: Deadline for full proposal submission
October 2026: Communication of the funding decisions to the applicants
December 2026 - May 2027: Expected project start (subject to national procedures)
Application Requirements:
International Applications must be submitted through the ERA4Health Electronic Submission System.
National Applications must be submitted through the TÜBİTAK Project Application System.
For more information, you can write to sukran.alpdemir@tubitak.gov.tr.