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Our funding program

  • Awards announcement

    Call for Applications for the 2026 Sleep Europe Foundation Career Development Award

    The Sleep Europe Foundation (SEF) aims to foster networking among European laboratories and support the careers of early-stage applicants in sleep research and sleep medicine.

    To serve these goals, the SEF launched the SEF Career Development Award that will be awarded to post-graduate and post-doctoral scientists aiming to conduct a collaborative project including partners from at least two countries.

    The project call refers to new or ongoing projects, covering basic, translational, or clinical aspects of sleep research and sleep medicine.

    In 2026, the funding amount is 20,000 EUR.

    The SEF Career Development Award is sponsored by the Sleep Europe Foundation and awarded in cooperation with the European Sleep Research Society (ESRS).

    The application deadline is July 31, 2026, 23:59 h CEST. 

    All applications will be evaluated by an expert panel representing the SEF and the ESRS. The SEF Board will confirm the awardees proposed by the jury.

    Please read the detailed application terms and conditions.

  • Education and Training

    Supporting public health

    Healthy sleep is essential for physical and mental health, and social wellbeing.

    In Europe, there is a large discrepancy between well-developed and less-developed countries considering sleep health in public health agendas. National Mental health plans including sleep 

    SEF will prioritize public health by supporting projects and training that promote healthy sleep and highlight sleep as a pillar of health. 

    SEF aims to act as a link between organizers and possible sponsors. 

    You are invited to submit proposals by mailing to Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein..

     

     

     

     

  • Who we are

    The Sleep Europe Foundation (SEF) is a legal, non-profit foundation under German civil law based in Regensburg, Germany.

    The foundation pursues exclusively and directly charitable purposes. The foundation works selflessly; it does not primarily pursue its own economic purposes.

    At their general assembly in September 2022 in Athens, Greece, the members of the European Sleep Research Society decided to found the Sleep Europe Foundation and to provide it with a foundation capital of a total of EUR 370,000, of which EUR 250,000 were donated as basic assets and EUR 120,000 as so-called consumption assets. 

    A clear majority of 83.33% of voting members supported the establishment of the Sleep Europe Foundation.

    The legal establishment took place through recognition by the responsible foundation authority in October 2023.

     

  • What we stand for

    The purpose of the foundation is to promote science and research as well as public health care in the field of sleep medicine. The foundation's purpose is achieved in particular by awarding research prizes and organizing and/or promoting events and courses that serve to provide training and further education in the field of sleep medicine.

    Every donation helps

    To be able to fulfill our purposes, we rely on your donations and support. Please support the Sleep Europe Foundation with your donation or sponsorship and become part of our activities and projects. Above all, you will help to ensure that healthy sleep becomes a familiar topic in public health education for all generations.

     

     

     

  • Sleep - friend or foe

    Friend or foe, sleep accompanies us all along our life from birth to death. Sleep fulfills essential functions to keep brain and body able to answer the challenges of our life. 

    Good sleep is important for enabling mental and physical recovery. Good sleep promotes health, quality of life and performance.

    Lack of sleep and sleep disruptions lead rapidly to harmful changes in physical and psychological well-being.

    Sleep is one of the most sensitive markers of health problems. Indeed, most sleep diseases  can have a negative impact on mood, cognition and, in the long term, many bodily functions and life expectancy.  These disorders also contribute to cardiovascular disease, strokes, diabetes and depression.

Financing our funding program

  • Corporate Sponsoring

    As a corporate partner you are vital in helping us to share and promote our foundation purposes in the field of sleep medicine.

    Corporate sponsorship means to support a special event, which could not take place without your support. We're open to new and creative ideas too, so get in touch with us.

    Companies of all sizes can get involved. Corporate sponsorship is open to organizations, companies and corporations from a range of backgrounds, such as banking, insurance, the food chain, health care, fitness, IT and media.

    Corporate sponsorships are  a tool used to form brand identity and brand image via increased visibility . While supporting such a popular and socially conscious cause may be mutually beneficial to both parties, a corporate sponsorship is not only a donation; it is a business deal.

    The foundation is entitled to issue receipts for your sponsorship, so that you can take advantage of the tax relief.

  • Private Donations

    On the occasion of a personal event, more and more people want to ask their guests for donations for our meaningful and worthy purpose - science, research and public health in the field of good sleep and sleep disorders instead of gifts.

    Maybe you too are thinking about this option and don't want to donate “just anywhere”.

    Whether it's an anniversary, birthday, wedding, birth or baptism: ask relatives, friends, acquaintances, guests or business partners to donate part of the money intended for gifts to the Sleep Europe Foundation, which then benefits research and training of young sleep professionals on the widespread disease of sleep disorders

    We are happy to support you and your guests. This way you can inform them about the planned donation in advance in your invitation.

    You collect the donations and transfer them in a total amount with the keyword: “Occasion and names”. Once your donation has been received, you will receive a thank you letter informing you of the funding project your donation will be used for, as well as a tax-deductible donation receipt*.

    You transfer the total amount as stated above and send us a list with the names, addresses and amounts of the donors who would like a deductible donation receipt from us. In this case, all of your guests will receive a thank you letter and information about which projects the donations will support. If required individual donors also receive tax-deductible donation receipts directly from us.

    * For the amount which is not covered by the individual tax-deductible donation receipts.

  • Corporate Donations

 

awardpicture

1. Objective - towards the future

The Sleep Europe Foundation (SEF) aims at fostering networking among European laboratories and supporting the careers of early-stage applicants in sleep research and sleep medicine.

The SEF Career Development Award will be awarded to post-graduate and post-doctoral scientists aiming to conduct a collaborative project with partners from at least two European countries. Each (co-)applicant must meet the early-career-stage (up to 5 years after MSc or PhD) requirement.      

The project call includes projects with basic, translational, and clinical aspects of sleep research and sleep medicine.

Applications should be submitted by one lead applicant.

The project should be completed within three years.

  • An interim report will be required one year after the commencement
  • A final report on the conclusion of the project is mandatory

The SEF Career Development Award is sponsored by the Sleep Europe Foundation Günzstr. 4, 93059 Regensburg, GERMANY and awarded in cooperation with the European Sleep Research Society (ESRS).

Applicants who wish to apply for the SEF Career Development Award must submit their application by email to Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein.. By submitting their application, applicants agree to these conditions.

2. Deadlines

2.1 The application deadline is June 15, 2026, 23:59 h CEST. 

2.2 Awardees will be notified by September 01, 2026.

2.3 The award will be presented to the recipient at the opening ceremony of the next congress of the European Sleep Research Society.

3. Eligibility requirements

3.1 Applicants who are going to set up a new project or have submitted their project to a university, research group, or Sleep Medicine Centre within the last six months, and work on a topic relevant to sleep medicine (see 1. Objective) are eligible to apply.

3.2 It is not permitted to resubmit an already rejected project for the SEF Career Development Award.

3.3 All applications will be stored by SEF, even if they are rejected. The SEF uses this data to plan future SEF events, for example, to recruit applicants for presentations or to determine whether applicants have already applied for the SEF Career Development Award at an earlier date. If you do not wish this to happen, you can request the deletion of the applications you have submitted by sending an email to Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein.. This does not influence the transfer of rights of use regarding applications that have already been awarded prizes, which is irrevocable (see section 12 of these conditions of participation).

3. 4 Any incomplete application will be rejected.

4. Content requirements 

Documents

  • Cover letter
  • Summary
  • Thesis
  • Team
  • Background (statement of need, objectives and goals, predicted outcome, theoretical basis and literature, long-term benefit)
  • Methods and strategies
  • Timeline
  • Budget
  • Support letter from the affiliated institutions
  • All applicants must send a short presentation (max. 5 minutes) as a video by email or link to Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein. with their application. The video should illustrate the results of the project understandably and engagingly. The videos will serve as the basis for the expert jury to select the award winner.

Please use our a pre-formatted application form only. All the above-mentioned items will be covered by the form.

Download the application form here.

5. Formal requirements for submissions

The complete award application must be submitted in English and PDF format.

6. Determination of the recipients

6.1 Based on the application documents, an expert jury (see section 7) will select three finalists. The projects will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

  • Practical relevance/benefit for users
  • Methodology
  • Structure, organization, and presentation of the thesis: 
  • Originality/innovation: 
  • Quality of the scientific/technical content

 6.2 Representations violating relevant legal or regulatory provisions or morality, including content that is harmful to minors, pornographic, racist, glorifying violence, inciting hatred, or offensive, are not allowed. Contributions that do not correspond to the given theme or may harm the image of SEF may also be rejected. In such cases, SEF reserves the right to exclude the entry from the current competition. Notification of exclusion will be provided separately.

7. Expert Jury

7.1 The entries will be evaluated by an expert jury consisting of representatives of the SEF and the cooperation partner European Sleep Research Society (ESRS).

7.2 The independent and final decisions of the expert jury are not subject to appeal. Legal recourse is excluded.

8. Awards

8.1 Applicants will not receive any remuneration or reimbursement of expenses for participating in the competition. Award recipients will be provided with a ticket for the ESRS Sleep Europe 2026 congress. 

8.2 The award recipients will be selected from the finalists and will receive a funding amount of 20,000 EUR. 

8.3 The initial rate of the awarded amount (80%) will be transferred to the affiliated institution within 8 weeks after the official award ceremony. For this purpose, the recipient’s institution will provide the bank details. After receiving the final report, the remaining rate of 20% will be disbursed. The award money is earmarked for the funded project's purposes.

9. Travel Cost Reimbursement

9.1 SEF will reimburse the award recipient of the SEF Career Development Award for travel expenses (including one night's stay) for participation in the award ceremony up to an amount of € 400 for the main applicant/leader.

9.2 Travel costs will be reimbursed to the award recipient only if their employer or university does not cover the travel expenses. The following costs will be covered for the mentioned individual:

  • One night's stay with breakfast (excluding extras and personal expenses such as parking fees, minibar, telephone, etc.)
  • Travel expenses (train and flight in the 2nd class/economy or travel allowance of €0.35 per km)

Conditions:

  • The employer or university of the finalist does not cover the costs (please send a declaration for travel cost coverage).
  • The total value of €400.00 per person is not exceeded.

Travellers are responsible for providing correct information, as well as for the completeness of the documents. All parties are obligated to limit the travel costs to the necessary extent. If deviations from the principles of economical and efficient use were necessary, this should be sufficiently justified.

9.3 For reimbursement, an official invoice with receipts must be submitted to SEF, Günzstr. 4, 93059 Regensburg, GERMANY or Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein. after the Sleep Europe 2026. 

 

 

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