Call for Contributions to the EBRAINS 10-Year Roadmap 2026–2036

Proposal submission details and procedure 

Viktor Jirsa, Katrin Amunts, Philippe Vernier 

on behalf of the EBRAINS Management Board 

EBRAINS is pleased to announce a call for contributions to the EBRAINS 10-Year Roadmap 2026–2036. This call represents the first major step in a community-driven process to identify and articulate the scientific, clinical, and technological priorities that will guide the evolution of EBRAINS as Europe’s digital research infrastructure for neuroscience. 

Contributions may put forward individual projects or research programmes, highlight unmet needs in tools or data, propose new technologies or platforms, or describe other strategic activities aligned with the EBRAINS mission. Submitted contributions will be discussed at a two-day community symposium in the first half of 2026 and subsequently synthesised into a living strategic document—the EBRAINS 10-Year Roadmap 2026–2036. This Roadmap will be formally adopted by EBRAINS governance and will guide the long-term development of EBRAINS services, capabilities, and partnerships. It will undergo an initial review after three years and will thereafter be updated on a regular five-year cycle. 

While this call does not provide direct funding, contributions selected for inclusion in the Roadmap will be recognised as strategic priorities for EBRAINS. As such, they are intended to inform future implementation activities, co-development of EBRAINS services, and alignment with upcoming European, national, and institutional funding opportunities relevant to neuroscience research and innovation.

Purpose and Vision 

EBRAINS invites the neuroscience, clinical, and technology communities to co-create the EBRAINS 10-year Roadmap 2026–2036 — a shared vision and implementation plan for the next decade of digital neuroscience in Europe. 

This roadmap aims to identify the scientific, clinical, and technological priorities that will guide EBRAINS as a European research infrastructure. 

We seek visionary yet concrete proposals that define science that cannot be done elsewhere — projects, capabilities, or collaborations uniquely enabled by EBRAINS’ data, models, compute, and federated ecosystem.  

Proposed activities should make full use of the EBRAINS suite of digital tools and services. 

The call presentation by Prof. Viktor Jirsa, EBRAINS Chief Science Officer, took place at the EBRAINS Summit 2025 - Transforming Brain Research and Medicine, on December 10th. You can watch the recording of his presentation below. His presentation slides are available for download in the 'Useful Information' section at the bottom of this page.

EBRAINS suite of digital tools and services 

• Brain Atlases – Offer detailed 3D maps and analytical tools for human, macaque, and rodent brains, enabling exploration of brain structure, function, and connectivity across multiple scales.
• Medical Analytics – Provides privacy-compliant platforms for the secure analysis and sharing of clinical and neuroimaging data, supporting research in diagnosis and personalised treatment.
• Modelling and Simulation – Enables computational modelling from single neurons to whole-brains, using simulation tools such as The Virtual Brain (TVB) and NEST, to explore mechanisms and test hypotheses.
• Data and Knowledge – including FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) Data, Models and Software - ensure transparency and reproducibility of research assets through the EBRAINS Knowledge Graph and Curation Service.
• Collaborative Platform – A cloud-based digital workspace that integrates co-design tools such as the EBRAINS Collaboratory and Software Distribution, supporting workflow sharing and education.
• Computing Infrastructure – Provides access to Europe’s leading supercomputing and neuromorphic systems (e.g., JUPITER, BrainScaleS, SpiNNaker) for large-scale simulations, AI development, and data-intensive neuroscience. 

Purpose of EBRAINS 10-Year Roadmap 

• Scientific democracy: letting the community shape the EBRAINS priorities through open proposals to ensure community input, inclusiveness and credibility.
• Strategic coordination: using EBRAINS to curate, synthesise, and align with European and national funding landscapes; this will enable a structured synthesis and positions EBRAINS as Europe’s neuroscience roadmap authority.
• Iterative continuity: establishing a 3-year review/update cycle ensures that the roadmap remains a living document to consider changes in research, keeping the community engaged, e.g., through high-impact communication events, strengthening debate of shaping EBRAINS.
• EBRAINS’ leadership: strengthening EBRAINS’ role as the voice of European digital neuroscience and providing a tangible instrument for dialogue with the EC and national funders.  

Why Participate? 

• Shape Europe’s neuroscience agenda — contribute directly to defining EBRAINS’ scientific and technological priorities and influence future European funding directions.
• Amplify your vision — gain visibility through open-access publication in the EBRAINS 10-Year Roadmap Proceedings and discussion of your proposed topic at the EBRAINS Strategy Symposium to a pan-European audience.
• Stimulate discussions and build collaborations — connect with researchers, infrastructures, and national nodes to form new partnerships and future project consortia.
• Guide infrastructure evolution — ensure that your scientific and clinical needs inform the next generation of EBRAINS tools, atlases, data services, and modelling pipelines.
• Strengthen collective intelligence — help shape a shared European ecosystem for digital neuroscience, grounded in open science and FAIR data principles.
• Stay engaged long-term — join a continuous community process, with roadmap updates every three to five years and sustained consultation opportunities.
• Earn recognition and legacy — secure authorship in the citable proceedings volume. 

We are looking forward to your proposals. Contributing to the EBRAINS 10-Year Roadmap 2026–2036 means taking part in defining the next decade of neuroscience - not as an observer, but as an architect. 

Who can contribute? 

EBRAINS welcomes contributions from individuals or consortia across all neuroscience research fields - including clinical and translational researchers, AI and digital twin experts, industrial and innovation partners, representatives of national nodes and infrastructures, societal, ethical, and policy researchers.  

Format of Contributions 

EBRAINS provides a structured template comprising several guiding sections (e.g. “Why EBRAINS? — explaining why EBRAINS capabilities are essential” and “Proposed Approach and Activities — outlining key methods and deliverables”). The template is intended to help contributors describe concrete scientific, technological, or application-driven contributions that, taken together with others, will inform the definition of priorities and future directions for the EBRAINS Research Infrastructure over the next ten years. Contributions should aim to enable new scientific insights, technological advances, or novel applications, including those relevant to clinical research and practice.

Length: 2–10 pages (PDF) 

We welcome shorter proposals of 2-3 pages, as well as more elaborate documents up to 10 pages. 

Language: English 

Proposal Structure 

1. Title and Abstract (≤250 words) 

2. Scientific or Technological Rationale – What grand challenge does your proposal address? 

3. Why EBRAINS? – Explain why EBRAINS’ capabilities are essential 

4. Proposed Approach and Activities – Key methods and deliverables. 

5. Expected Impact – Scientific, clinical, or societal benefits. 

6. Synergies and Integration – Links to other initiatives and projects 

7. Implementation Outlook – Milestones, timeframe, estimated technical resources 

The EBRAINS 10-Year Roadmap 2026-2036 Proposal Template is available here.

Key actions and timeline:  

• Official launch of the roadmap process the EBRAINS Summit 2025: December 10, 2025
• Submission deadline for proposals: March 1, 2026
• EBRAINS Strategy Symposium: Q2 2026
• Publication of Roadmap Contributions: April 15, 2026
• Synthesis into the EBRAINS 10-Year Roadmap (approximately 10 pages): Q4 2026
• Adoption of the Roadmap by EBRAINS governance as EBRAINS’ official strategic framework: Q1 2027

Review and Integration process 

• Expert Review: by the EBRAINS Roadmap review group (to be determined and communicated here as soon as established).
• Community Discussion at EBRAINS Strategy Symposium: debate during the EBRAINS Strategy Symposium (Late Spring 2026). Agenda will be based on thematic clustering of accepted contributions by the EBRAINS Roadmap review group. The Symposium will be open to the entire neuroscience community.
• Publication: all accepted proposals will appear electronically in EBRAINS 10-Year Roadmap Proceedings (open access, in the simplest case website download only, but we will also seek publication in a journal).
• Roadmap Synthesis: key insights will be integrated into the EBRAINS 10-Year Roadmap 2026–2036 (condensed to approx 10 pages), adopted by EBRAINS governance and updated initially after three years, then regularly every five years. 

Review criteria 

The review is deliberately light-touch: it acts as a quality and relevance filter to prevent clearly inadequate submissions, while keeping the bar low enough to encourage diverse, creative and unconventional contributions. 

• Scientific & Technological Excellence – originality, ambition, and potential to advance understanding or innovation in neuroscience.
• Relevance to EBRAINS - clear justification of why the work requires EBRAINS data, models, or infrastructure.
• Impact Potential – expected scientific, clinical, technological, or societal value and European leadership potential.
• Integration & Synergies – cross-disciplinary reach, collaboration across national nodes, and complementarity with other infrastructures.
• Feasibility & Clarity – coherence of approach and credible implementation plan.
• Ethical & Open Science Values – alignment with EBRAINS principles of openness, responsibility, and sustainability. 

Useful Information 

• Download the EBRAINS 10-Year Roadmap 2026-2036 Proposal Template
• Link to Submission Portal
• See an Example of an EBRAINS 10-Year Roadmap Proposal (First page)
• Download the presentation slides from Prof. Viktor Jirsa's presentation at the EBRAINS Summit 2025
• Contact: communications@ebrains.eu