Together with its prestigious partners, King’s College London and the University of Bergen, FEI will focus on health digital twins, strengthening international research collaboration and developing institutional capacity to prepare and manage European research projects. Fewer than ten percent of the proposals submitted to the Twinning 2026 call were selected for funding.
Health digital twins represent one of the most promising emerging areas of modern medicine. By combining patient health data, computational models and clinical knowledge, they enable a better understanding of how diseases develop in individual patients. In the future, they could contribute to more accurate diagnosis, disease monitoring and personalised treatment.
The ASPIRE-HDT project will focus primarily on neurological and neuroimmune diseases. However, its main objective goes beyond joint research, placing particular emphasis on knowledge transfer, professional skills development and establishing a sustainable foundation for long-term international collaboration.
The three-year project will begin in January 2027 and will be coordinated by Dominik Vilímek from FEI’s Department of Cybernetics and Biomedical Engineering, whose research focuses on quantitative magnetic resonance imaging, imaging biomarkers and artificial intelligence.
“We see our success in this call as both a commitment and the beginning of a long-term collaboration. I am personally very much looking forward to working with colleagues from Ostrava, London and Bergen and to everything we can learn from one another. Our goal is to establish lasting partnerships and effective practices that other research teams can build upon even after the project has ended,” says Dominik Vilímek.
Success in Fierce European Competition
A total of 1,905 project proposals were submitted to the Twinning 2026 call, more than twice the number received in the previous call in 2023. Only 179 proposals were selected for funding, representing 9.4% of all submissions. Of the 111 proposals coordinated by Czech institutions, 15 were successful.
According to Radek Martinek, Dean of FEI, the project's success demonstrates that the Faculty is capable not only of conducting cutting-edge research but also of leading international research consortia.
“I greatly appreciate the fact that our young researchers are able to succeed in such strong European competition so soon after completing their PhDs. According to an analysis by the Technology Centre Prague, Czech organisations coordinate only around five percent of comparable international Horizon Europe projects in which they participate. We want to create the conditions that will enable our research teams to take the lead in international consortia as well. Supporting young researchers and developing these capabilities are among our long-term strategic priorities for FEI. ASPIRE-HDT will help us strengthen the necessary expertise and institutional support,” said Radek Martinek, Dean of FEI.
Collaboration with Leading European Universities
The project will bring together FEI’s expertise in cybernetics, biomedical engineering and healthcare data analysis with the international partners’ experience in digital health, clinical research and European research project management.
King’s College London will focus on professional training, knowledge exchange and the development of international research networks. The University of Bergen, together with its Neuro-SysMed research centre, will contribute expertise in research management and administration.
The collaboration will include specialised training, research exchanges, practical placements and joint research activities. FEI staff will have the opportunity to gain first-hand experience of how international research teams and project support services operate and apply this knowledge to the Faculty’s further development.
A New Team to Support European Research Projects
One of the key outcomes of ASPIRE-HDT will be the establishment of Horizon Unit, a dedicated support team that will assist FEI researchers in preparing and managing international research projects.
“Horizon Unit aims to provide researchers with professional support throughout the entire project lifecycle, from preparing international proposals to project management. We will draw on the experience of our partners in London and Bergen and translate it into practical procedures that make this work easier. Our goal is to ensure that this support is available to research teams and continues to operate beyond the lifetime of ASPIRE-HDT,” explains Markéta Novotná from FEI’s Project Support Department.
The project will also create opportunities for further joint research activities. The partners plan to prepare and submit at least two new proposals under the Horizon Europe programme. As early as 2027, they intend to collaborate with other Czech institutions on a proposal for a research and innovation project.
Institutions from Japan and Australia have also expressed interest in future collaboration. ASPIRE-HDT could therefore become the first step towards establishing a broader international network focused on health digital twins and their future applications in medicine.
About the ASPIRE-HDT Project
Full title: Advancing Scientific Partnerships and Institutional Readiness for Excellence in Health Digital Twins
Programme: Horizon Europe – Twinning
Coordinator: VSB – Technical University of Ostrava, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Partners: King’s College London, University of Bergen
Project duration: 1 January 2027 – 31 December 2029
EU contribution: €1,499,078
