On Thursday 19th of March 2026, the first public event for the European Partnership for Brain Health (EP BrainHealth) took place in Brussels as part of Brain Awareness Week. Held annually in March, Brain Awareness Week is a global campaign dedicated to raising public awareness of the critical importance of brain science.
The aim of the event was to introduce the partnership – which officially launched in January 2026 – through its mission and take a deeper dive into concrete plans for research, engagement, and impact over the next decade. Importantly, sessions highlighted how interdisciplinary collaboration will be crucial in shaping the future of brain health research and innovation across Europe and beyond.
Attendees heard from experts directly involved in the partnership about upcoming funding opportunities and the ambition to strengthen dialogue between science and society, ensuring that research responds to the real needs of patients, caregivers and communities. The event provided a unique opportunity for researchers, healthcare professionals, patient advocates, policymakers and other stakeholders to gain insights into the evolving European brain health landscape and engage with the wider community.
About the European Partnership for Brain Health (EP BrainHealth)
Launched in January 2026, EP BrainHealth is a major initiative involving more than 60 participants from 36 countries, co-funded by the European Commission. It brings together national and regional funding organisations, non-funding partners, associated partners, and ad hoc funders, making it one of the largest collaborative efforts in brain research worldwide.
The event was guided by Master of Ceremony and Moderator Chris Burns, whose natural rapport with both panellists and participants helped create an engaging and cohesive atmosphere throughout the entire event. The event opened with a word cloud, asking participants what brain conditions are present among their families and friends – an icebreaker that immediately brought the full audience together and created a shared sense of belonging from the outset.
Why research must listen to patients
This interactive opening was followed by a keynote by Helen Rochford-Brennan (Alzheimer Society Ireland) who shared her personal journey living with Alzheimer’s. Like many, her diagnosis came unexpectedly and had a profound impact on both her life and that of her loved ones. Faced with uncertainty, loss of independence and limited treatment options, she highlighted how narratives around brain health must shift. Rather than focusing solely on disease, greater emphasis should be placed on resilience, support and strengthening the brain. “A diagnosis with Alzheimer’s disease is not the end of a life,” she noted, stressing that it should be seen as a story of adaptation, resilience and hope. Her reflections underscored the importance of patient involvement in shaping research and policy: “Nothing for us without us”. This perspective pointed to a broader reality: despite decades of research, many unmet needs remain, particularly in supporting patients and caregivers in their daily lives.
With neurological and mental health conditions affecting billions globally and representing leading causes of disability and death, addressing these challenges requires coordinated action across sectors.
Why brain health matters across the whole of life
Monica Di Luca (Professor of Pharmacology and Vice-Rector for Research and Technology Transfer at the University of Milan) reflected on the implications of neuroplasticity for our understanding of the brain. Long believed to be relatively fixed after adolescence, the brain is now understood to remain highly adaptive throughout life, continuously reshaping itself in response to experience. Framing this as a source of opportunity, she emphasized: “I believe that neuroplasticity, which is our capacity to change, is really the biological foundation that allows potential to emerge”. In this sense, brain health extends far beyond the absence of disease – it is closely linked to our ability to learn, adapt, recover, and respond to challenges, and therefore underpins creativity, productivity, and social cohesion. As such, it represents not only a matter of individual well-being but also a strategic asset for Europe’s societal and economic development.
Building a brain health ecosystem
EP BrainHealth aims to harness this potential by building a comprehensive brain health ecosystem. With a budget of approximately €500 million over its lifetime (2026–2035), the partnership seeks to translate research into tangible benefits for patients and society.
Katja Hüttner (Coordination Office EP BrainHealth, DLR) outlined how the initiative will strengthen transnational collaboration, align research efforts, and promote the translation of results into solutions for prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and care.
To achieve this, three core objectives have been defined:
- Improving scientific knowledge across different levels of prevention
- Developing solutions for diagnosis, treatment and care
- Establishing the partnership as a sustainable innovation collaborative
Roadmap for brain health in Europe
Beyond funding, the partnership will implement a broad portfolio of activities, including roundtables, matchmaking events, mentoring programmes and patient engagement initiatives.
Nadja Cobal (Ministry of Health Slovenia) shared how a national dementia strategy helped the country with an aging population to gain clear direction in alleviating the impacts of dementia on its patients and caregivers. She also highlighted the importance of prevention in brain health. A recurring message throughout the event was the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration. As Simone de Ioanna (European Psychiatric Association) highlighted: “The results we can achieve by sticking to our own disciplines are very limited”.
It is fantastic to see that Europe is really pushing this forward with this European Partnership for Brain Health. I hope that with this partnership, research becomes more meaningful for patients. By linking society with science, we cannot just improve research but also help break down barriers that people living with these conditions face.
Orla Galvin (European Federation of Neurological Associations)
New funding instruments to support research and innovation
The partnership will launch multiple funding instruments, including transnational calls, high-risk high-reward funding, industry-linked initiatives, working group calls, and ELSA (ethical, legal, and social aspects) calls, reflecting the need for both scientific excellence and societal relevance.
The following panel discussion around translating research findings into innovation solutions emphasised a central challenge: while Europe excels in scientific research, it still struggles to consistently translate discoveries into real-world impact. Bridging this “translational gap” requires stronger alignment between research, policy, industry and health systems, as well as more forward-looking governance and effective implementation structures, says Loredana Babeau-Simulescu (Biomed Alliance Europe).
Bridging the gap from discovery to real-world use
Also Antonia Mochan (EU Policy Lab within the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission) pointed to persistent bottlenecks between discovery and application, including insufficient targeted funding, limited training in regulatory and implementation pathways and fragmented collaboration across sectors. EP BrainHealth aims to tackle this gap through ‘Joint Actions with Industry’ calls, which will fund transnational research dedicated to translation and uptake of research results into innovative applications and technologies for brain health, ultimately bridging the gap from bench to market. Furthermore, Matteo Scarabelli (European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations) mentioned how governance frameworks were identified as both barriers and enablers. Current systems are often reactive and slow, delaying patient access to innovation. There was a clear call for more anticipatory approaches, such as foresight tools, regulatory sandboxes and more flexible policymaking, to better prepare for emerging technologies. At the same time, implementation needs to be considered from the outset, rather than as a final step.
Europe’s fragmented health landscape adds another layer of complexity, as Michele Calabró (European Regional and Local Health Authorities) pointed out. While coordination at EU level is strong, implementation often depends on regional and local actors, making it harder to scale solutions and ensure equitable access. Strengthening the involvement of these actors, alongside improving knowledge-sharing across countries and regions, was identified as key to overcoming these challenges. The importance of multidisciplinary collaboration, open science, and data sharing was also repeatedly emphasised, particularly in improving diagnosis and patient outcomes, while ensuring that ethical, societal, and data governance considerations, especially in emerging areas such as neurotechnology, are addressed proactively. EP BrainHealth recognised this strength and need and created calls such as the ‘Working Group Calls’. These calls will focus on structuring the ecosystem, identify research gaps and jointly overcome an identified common issue, to harmonise concepts and generate best practices.
Strengthening Europe’s role in global brain health
At the same time, a roundtable with Frédéric Destrebecq (European Brain Council), Jan Marco Müller (European Commission, DG Research and Innovation) and Laura Kreiling (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), highlighted the growing importance of global collaboration and science diplomacy in an increasingly complex geopolitical landscape. Europe’s competitiveness depends not only on scientific excellence but also on its ability to align science, policy and diplomacy, while safeguarding its values and academic freedom. International organisations were recognised as key actors in harmonising approaches, building shared evidence bases, and facilitating cross-country learning. However, there was a clear need to move beyond high-level frameworks towards more practical tools that support implementation. Multi-level and cross-border partnerships, such as EP BrainHealth, were seen as essential for connecting stakeholders across sectors and regions, while linking European efforts to global agendas can further enhance coherence and impact. A recurring message was that trust remains a fundamental enabler of collaboration, ensuring that knowledge can be shared, applied, and scaled effectively. Looking ahead, speakers called for stronger alignment between science, policy, and society, a more proactive role for Europe in shaping global standards, and sustained efforts to ensure that innovation reaches patients faster and more equitably, ultimately delivering meaningful societal benefit.
A shared commitment to better brain health
The first public event of EP BrainHealth marked a truly successful milestone for the partnership – one that brought together a remarkable breadth of perspectives across research, policy, clinical practice, patient advocacy, and industry under one roof. Across all sessions, participants acknowledged both the immense strengths Europe brings to brain health research and the very real gaps and challenges that remain. Crucially, there was broad consensus that EP BrainHealth is precisely the kind of initiative Europe needs to address these challenges: a large-scale, cross-border, multi-stakeholder platform with the ambition, structure, and resources to drive meaningful and lasting change. Panellists and participants alike left with a clear sense that the conversation started here will only grow – and that the decade ahead, guided by the partnership’s vision, holds genuine promise for patients, caregivers, and communities across Europe and beyond.
