Twelfth GACD research funding call: NCDs in children and young people

Call focus

The 12th GACD research funding call focuses on implementation research of interventions targeting children and young people to tackle the increasing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in low-and middle-income countries (LMIC: as defined by the world bank) and children and young people populations experiencing inequity in high-income countries (HIC).

The remit of this call covers implementation strategies around prevention, screening and management of NCDs, centered on the critical life stages, from early childhood to young adulthood (age 1-24).

Challenge

Up to 70% of preventable adult deaths from NCDs are linked to risk factors originating in childhood and adolescence. Childhood and adolescence are critical periods, when behaviours associated with NCD risk are adopted including tobacco use, alcohol use, substance abuse, unhealthy diets and the consumption of ultra-processed foods, adoption of sedentary lifestyles, and children and young people often being targeted by commercial marketing of unhealthy products.

Applying for the joint funding call

This twelfth GACD joint funding call offers two routes to submission and review depending on the funding agencies involved. The joint submission and review process will have two stages. Applicants will first submit to provisional Stage 1, and the eligible applications will undergo expert peer review. The applicants will receive feedback from this initial review. Successful applicants will then be invited to full Stage 2 submissions, which will be re-assessed by the GACD Joint Peer Review Panel.

Those funding agencies running parallel calls under the GACD umbrella have their own submission and review processes. These will differ from, and run separately to, the GACD joint peer review process. The European Commission for example is running a single stage funding call as a parallel process.

Eligibility

Applicants must apply to the specific GACD funding agency/ies participating in this call according to their conditions. GACD funding agency members do not pool their funds together. Applicants must therefore ensure that they are eligible to receive funds and that their proposed projects meet all requirements of at least one of the funders participating in this call.

Key documents and resources

• Common Call Text

• General Application Guidance

Parallel process

• European Commission / Horizon Europe runs a GACD-related Children and Young people call (HORIZON-HLTH-2027-01-DISEASE-10), with a single-stage application process and a lump-sum award. The call submission opened on 29 October 2026 and will close on 17 February 2027.

  If you have questions regarding EC/HE eligibility and other requirements you may wish to contact your country’s National Contact Point and check Horizon Europe Work programme 2026-2027 – General Annexes.

• The US National Institutes of Health: the call is under development.

Joint Process

Find a Collaborator Tool

Teams should be diverse and multidisciplinary. Teams are encouraged to ensure gender and geographical balance in leadership. The GACD expects that project teams will exhibit fair and equitable collaboration, especially between HIC – LMIC and non-Indigenous – Indigenous partners.

A match-making tool has been created for applicants, to facilitate collaboration and team building:

The tool can be used for both:

Partners looking for projects: As individual researcher, policymaker, community representative or other relevant stakeholder, searching for a project to join.
Projects looking for partners: If you want to build a consortium around an existing project and want to find partners for your project or require specific expertise on the team.

The find a collaborator tool is available here.

Questions and Queries

Frequently asked questions

You can contact funding@gacd.org with any questions about this funding call.

You can subscribe to our mailing list to receive updates about this and other GACD funding calls, including updates when new funders join this call and when we have finalised the date for the application guidance webinar.