NEURON

Coordination Action

The current Coordination Action (CA) is funded under the ERA-Net scheme in FP6 2007-2010 by the European Commission.
The aim of the Network of European Funding for Neuroscience Research (NEURON) project is to link 15 European national research funding programmes and funding activities in the field of disease-related neurosciences. The project is based on the activities of the pilot Specific Support Action (SSA) NEURON.

In NEURON as well as in other ERA-Nets, funding organisations exchange information about their work, their review procedures and funding philosophies. This already is an achievement and will eventually lead to improvement of standards throughout partner countries. The ultimate goal of the ERA-Net scheme, however, is to initiate joint funding from national research budgets. These budgets are more or less strictly limited to national borders, and funding across borders is usually not possible. Concepts regarding how to overcome legal and administrative barriers need to be developed. Eventually, it will depend on the political will in each country whether the ambitious aims of NEURON and other ERA-Nets will materialize. There is no doubt that this would be beneficial to both the scientific community and the patients suffering from brain diseases.

A publication by the European Commission Directorate-General for Research: Coordination of Research Activities (Series V of ERA-NET - Networking the European Research Area). The full brochure can be found at: http://www.cordis.lu/coordination/era-net.htm