The Call aims to support activities that are enabling or contributing to the development of large scale, COVID-19 cohorts and networks worldwide, including beyond Europe’s borders, forging links with European initiatives as a global response to the pandemic. Proposals under this topic should aim to deliver results that are tailored towards and contributing to all of the following expected outcomes:

• In the short-term, contribution to a better understanding of the global circulation of the current and emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern and their characteristics, delivering recommendations on the best strategies to control viral spread, as well as on optimized clinical management and treatment of COVID-19 patients.

•  In the short-term, contribution to the evaluation of the impact of the variants of concern on the different vaccines and vaccination strategies and information on best vaccine and treatment options.

• In the short/medium/long-term, monitoring the emergence of new variants of concern, elucidating the impact of different variants on transmissibility and severity of COVID-19 disease, including long-term post-infection sequelae (long COVID).

• In the long term, establishment of regional and internationally linked strategic cohorts that can be pivoted rapidly to research on emerging infectious diseases.

• In the long-term, contribution to regional and international pandemic preparedness networks to rapidly address pandemics in the future on a global scale.

Applicants are expected to describe their plans for the following: high-quality data collection, standardisation of clinical protocols facilitated data sharing and coordination across existing cohorts, a strong collaboration with EU-funded projects, as well as the EU COVID-19 data portal. Additionally, applicants consortia are expected to collaborate with other relevant initiatives already existing or under development at national, regional, and international level, in order to maximise synergy and complementarity avoiding duplication of the research efforts.