Funding
Alliance Equipment Call
Equipping Alliance laboratories for outstanding research
The Alliance Equipment Call funds equipment and service contracts for equipment essential to interinstitutional research projects and high-end technology use within the Alliance. The equipment — or equipment covered by the maintenance contract — must be accessible to the entire Alliance. Funding serves as auxiliary support for outstanding collaborative initiatives across Alliance partner institutions that span the Alliance's main research areas: basic and translational research in cancer, cardiovascular disease, neuropsychiatric disorders, genomics, synthetic immunology, molecular engineering, medical technologies, and AI applications in health and life sciences. Support for further development of open platform technologies available to all Alliance members is also available.
Application
Successful applicants receive 50.000 - 200.000 € for equipment and/or maintenance/service contracts. Funds must be used immediately (orders placed, invoices paid, and items fully spent and booked by December 31, 2026).
Call is now open; apply by August 17, 2026.
FAQs
All Alliance Principal Investigators (PIs) who are authorized to manage a third-party funding account at their home institution are eligible to apply.
No, the funding will be awarded to a single institution, which will handle the procurement, installation, and hosting of the equipment.
The Alliance Equipment Call is intended to support outstanding interinstitutional research projects. Applications should therefore demonstrate clear involvement and benefit for researchers from more than one Alliance member institution. Each participating partner should have a well-defined role and make a meaningful contribution to the proposed project. In addition, applications should address the following aspects: accessibility (credible plan for making equipment accessible to all Alliance researchers), sustainabiliy (maintenance of equipment over lifetime), added value in case similar equipment is already available on campus and benefit for broader Alliance community. Please also note that all awarded funds must be spent by December 31, 2026. No extensions or exceptions are possible.
Yes. Funding may be requested for equipment that already exists within the Alliance if there is a strong justification for acquiring an additional unit. For example, this may be appropriate if the existing equipment is heavily oversubscribed and operating at full capacity, or if a newer model provides capabilities that enable novel research applications.
The equipment is owned by the institution where it is hosted. However, it is registered as Alliance equipment and must be clearly labeled as such. As Alliance equipment, it must be made accessible to researchers from all Alliance member institutions. In justified cases, a re-location to Alliance premises may be requested by the Alliance.
No. The Equipment Call is intended to support the purchase of research equipment and, where applicable, its maintenance. Personnel costs and consumables for experiments are not eligible for funding.