Themes & Topics of Interest
This year’s call for proposals will cover a wide span of technological aspects and new interventions relating to neuro-wellness. Proposals that will be considered for the 2020 grant will include early stage technologies, advanced research, or applied approaches that will eventually provide novel solutions for at least one of the following objectives – all focusing on healthy people:
- Novel non-invasive technologies aimed at intervention for emotion regulation or mood improvement
- New methods for emotion sensing and characterizations
- Sensory neuromodulation for improving emotion regulation or neuroenhancement to alter affective states in healthy individuals by non-pharmacological and non-invasive means
- Technological means for alleviating stress or uplifting mood
- Characterizing and understanding the neuroscience of habit formation and habitual behavior in humans
- Technologies affecting mind-body interactions
- Multiparametric big data approaches for understanding, monitoring and predicting moods and emotional states
- Human-machine interactions (such as brain-computer interfaces) for improved emotional wellbeing in healthy individuals
- Basic science of emotion regulation, resilience, homeostasis, allostasis
2020 Timeline
01 March
Call for Proposals
30 June
Letter of Intent Submission Deadline
31 July
Announcements
01 August
Pre-Full Proposal Face to Face Guidance Meetings
30 September
Full Proposal Submission Deadline
15 December
Joy Scientific Committee Meeting
30 December
Announcements
01 January
Initiation & Funding
Procedure and schedules
The 2020 cycle will have a single deadline. Letters of Intent (LOI) must be submitted by May 31, 2020. LOI submitted on or after June 1, 2020 will be considered for the 2021 cycle.
Announcements regarding LOI submissions will be provided up to two months post LOI submissions and no later than July 31, 2020.
Invitations to submit a Full Proposals will be preceded by face to face meetings which will be conducted until the end of August 2020.
The deadline for submitting Full Proposals will be September 30, 2020
The Joy Scientific Committee meeting will be held during December; Notifications to applicants regarding decisions will follow by the end of December 2020.
Formal Research Initiation & Funding: 01 January 2021.
Tracks and Selection Criteria
Applications for the 2020 grant call must be assigned to one of three tracks:
Novel Technology Track
This track covers novel technologies that are being developed or can be utilized towards one of the grant topics of interest.
This track is also open to novel technologies that were developed with other applications in mind but could be repurposed to fit the Joy grant themes.
Selection criteria for the “Novel Technology Track”:
- (20%) Novelty
- (20%) Likelihood of implementation and applicability
- (20%) Expected impact in the field
- (20%) High research quality
- (10%) Facility / Feasibility
- (10%) Collaboration among various disciplines and/ or industry or a “high risk, high gain” study
Novel Intervention Track
Studies that are relevant for this track are those that aim to suggest or test a novel intervention relevant to one of the listed objectives. Such interventions must:
1. Make use of technology
2. Show a specific objective effect on emotional wellbeing
3. Address future application of the research
Selection criteria for the “Novel Intervention Track”:
- (20%) Novelty
- (30%) Expected impact in the field
- (20%) High research quality
- (10%) Completion feasibility within the 2y timeframe
- (20%) Collaboration among various disciplines and/ or industry or a “high risk, high gain” study
Small Study and Pilot Track
This track is for single year studies, intended mainly for technologies that are developed and should be piloted on healthy populations; small proof-of-concept studies or other small scale studies that are relevant to the grant aims.
The maximum budget for this track shall not exceed $20K.
Selection criteria for the “Small Study and Pilot Track”:
- (20%) Novelty
- (20%) Likelihood of implementation and applicability
- (30%) Expected impact in the field
- (20%) High research quality
- (10%) Completion feasibility within the 1y timeframe
Eligibility
We welcome basic research proposals as long as the future application of the research is clearly stated, and results may benefit healthy population.
We support studies on human subjects that ultimately target healthy populations as opposed to pathological. If your research focus on animals or clinical populations, please talk to us first.
Applied approach is encouraged
Joint interdisciplinary teams from any discipline are invited (neuroscience, psychology, life sciences, medicine, engineering, computer science, physics, humanities and others). Inter-disciplinary teams of researchers from exact/life sciences, together with researchers from social sciences and humanities are favored and strongly encouraged.
For additional information & inquiries please contact Cilla Zack: cilla@joyventures.com
Who Can Apply
- Lab heads and principal investigators
- Post-doctoral fellows
- PhD candidates (with supervisor approval)
- Joint interdisciplinary teams from any discipline

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