2025 JADS Research Call: Particle Pollution and Human Health Challenge

Together with our flagship partner Imperial College London, TUM is proud to announce the call for the 2025 cohort of the prestigious Joint Academy of Doctoral Studies (JADS). This year, we are focusing on "Particle Pollution and Human Health Challenge", inviting joint project proposals from PIs at Imperial and TUM.

This program is one of a broad set of instruments that have been designed with the goal of bringing together two of the world’s best universities to respond to societies’ greatest challenges. The particle pollution and human health challenge of the Imperial-TUM Centre for Health Resilience in a Changing Planet is an immensely important step in this direction. The theme goes beyond scientific discovery; it's an opportunity to rethink the entire engineering design process. By integrating cutting-edge health research, emerging technologies, circular economy principles, and sustainable materials science, we can create solutions that are both economically viable and environmentally regenerative.

More than ever Europe needs all its universities to be beacons of innovation, not just in the way we discover, but also in the way we protect and develop IP, accelerate the process of scientific translation, and stimulate and deliver value to industry and society. The TUM – Imperial alliance is perfectly placed to lead this charge. The specific goal of the JADS programme is to foster cross-disciplinary collaboration between TUM and Imperial in Engineering, Science, Medicine and Business.

The 2025 JADS call represents an excellent opportunity for PIs to engage in high-impact research while contributing to the cultivation of the next generation of researchers. Doctoral candidates participating in JADS will experience a rich academic environment, characterized by joint supervision, interdisciplinary coursework, and the opportunity to be part of an international research community. Successful projects will receive comprehensive support, including scholarships, mobility allowances, and funding for consumables, to facilitate high-quality doctoral research.

Eligibility and Application: Principal Investigators (PIs) at TUM and Imperial are invited to jointly put forward a research project to be underpinned by 1 doctoral candidate at TUM and 1 doctoral candidate at Imperial, starting in January 2026 (with doctoral candidates to be recruited in the first half of 2026), which includes joint supervision plans and a built-in mobility programme. Up to five collaborative research projects will be supported. Projects must be interdisciplinary, collaborative, and align with the topic of health resilience. We encourage applications from researchers across all disciplines, who are interested in contributing to this vital field of study. Proposals should emphasize how the combined strengths of our institutions could be used to develop new insights and approaches to health resilience. We appreciate projects that help develop, e.g.:

• sensing technologies for micro/nanoparticles through different methodologies, ideally providing molecular information on their composition;
• an understanding of the mechanisms relevant for the development of inflammation and disease in response to challenge with micro/nanoparticles;
• modelling of micro/nanoparticle pollution and their impact on multicellular organisms;
• strategies to mitigate both the generation of microparticles in engineering systems as well as their collection;
• informed policy making in public health and micro/nanoparticle pollution.
   

For more details on the application process, funding arrangements, and program benefits, please visit the guidance document and application form for the call here. TUM PIs are invited to apply together with their Imperial counterparts for up to 2 awards. The deadline for proposals is October 15th 2025. In order to submit your application, please use this online application form.