CFPs: Sustained Collaboration of National and Regional Cancer Funders

Deadline: 16-Sep-25

The European Commission is accepting proposals for the Sustained Collaboration of National and Regional Cancer Funders to support the Cancer Mission through translational research.

Scope

• Common challenges in translational cancer research require effective transnational cooperation on prioritised efforts, leveraging national, regional and charity-based resources and appropriate funding schemes. Important achievements of translational cancer research funding by long-term collaboration of national and philanthropy funding organisations have been obtained by the TRANSCAN network under the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2007-2013)
• The proposal should address all the following:
  • Align, coordinate and support efforts from and between national and regional public and private research funding programmes on translational cancer research to issue at least four joint transnational calls which are integrated with the Cancer Mission and the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan;
  • Pool the necessary financial resources from the participating national and regional research programmes as well as, where appropriate, leverage resources from pertinent foundations, charities and transnational initiatives, to support at least four joint transnational calls for proposals which are integrated with the Cancer Mission and the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, while avoiding overlaps with EU-funded research under Horizon Europe;
  • Demonstrate the potential impact of collaboration between national and regional transnational research and innovation programmes, as well as demonstrate a leverage effect on European and national research and competitiveness using key indicators;
  • Consider novel funding schemes and joint activities such as analyses of research and innovation funding programmes, impact, dissemination, citizen (including cancer patients), engagement, and training;
  • Datasets produced by collaborative grants to academic investigator-led third parties should be made FAIR whenever possible, while tools and models should follow the principles of open science, taking advantage of current European research infrastructures and supporting the future UNCAN.eu research data platform.

Funding Information

• The check will normally be done for the coordinator if the requested grant amount is equal to or greater than EUR 500 000, except for:
  • public bodies (entities established as a public body under national law, including local, regional or national authorities) or international organisations; and
  • cases where the individual requested grant amount is not more than EUR 60 000 (low value grant).

Expected Outcome

• The successful proposal should aim to deliver results that are directed and tailored towards and contribute to all the following expected outcomes:
  • National and regional cancer funders across Europe (i.e. representing Northern, Southern, Central, Eastern and Western Europe), based on a common strategic research and innovation agenda, deliver:
    • At least four transnational calls for proposals addressing translational cancer research, resulting in collaborative grants to academic investigator-led third parties;
    • Streamlined national, regional and foundation-based or charity-based practices in organising peer-reviewed translational cancer research and innovation funding between the partners, with attention to exploring novel funding schemes and initiatives as well as sustainability of a network of funders where appropriate;

Eligible Activities

• The following activities are generally eligible for grants under Horizon Europe:
  • Research and innovation actions (RIA) — Activities that aim primarily to establish new knowledge or to explore the feasibility of a new or improved technology, product, process, service or solution. This may include basic and applied research, technology development and integration, testing, demonstration and validation of a small-scale prototype in a laboratory or simulated environment.
  • Innovation actions (IA) — Activities that aim directly to produce plans and arrangements or designs for new, altered or improved products, processes or services. These activities may include prototyping, testing, demonstrating, piloting, large-scale product validation and market replication.
  • Coordination and support actions (CSA) — Activities that contribute to the objectives of Horizon Europe. This excludes research and innovation (R&I) activities, except those carried out under the ‘Widening participation and spreading excellence’ component of the programme (part of ‘Widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area’). Also eligible are bottom-up coordination actions which promote cooperation between legal entities from Member States and Associated Countries to strengthen the European Research Area, and which receive no EU co-funding for research activities.
  • Programme co-fund actions (CoFund) — A programme of activities established or implemented by legal entities managing or funding R&I programmes, other than EU funding bodies. Such a programme of activities may support: networking and coordination; research; innovation; pilot actions; innovation and market deployment; training and mobility; awareness raising and communication; and dissemination and exploitation. It may also provide any relevant financial support, such as grants, prizes and procurement, as well as Horizon Europe blended finance 30 or a combination thereof.

Eligibility Criteria

• Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, including legal entities from no associated third countries or international organisations (including international European research organisations) is eligible to participate.
• A ‘legal entity’ means any natural or legal person created and recognised as such under national law, EU law or international law, which has legal personality and which may, acting in its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations, or an entity without legal personality.
• Specific cases:
  • Affiliated entities — Affiliated entities (i.e. entities with a legal or capital link to a beneficiary which participate in the action with similar rights and obligations to the beneficiaries, but which do not sign the grant agreement and therefore do not become beneficiaries themselves) are allowed, if they are eligible for participation and funding.
  • Associated partners — Associated partners (i.e. entities which participate in the action without signing the grant agreement, and without the right to charge costs or claim contributions) are allowed, subject to any specific call/topic conditions.
  • Entities without legal personality — Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees to protect the EU’s financial interests equivalent to those offered by legal persons.
  • EU bodies — Legal entities created under EU law including decentralised agencies may be part of the consortium, unless provided for otherwise in their basic act.
• To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:
  • the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions:
    • Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.
  • the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States:
    • Aruba (NL), Bonaire (NL), Curação (NL), French Polynesia (FR), French Southern and Antarctic Territories (FR), Greenland (DK), New Caledonia (FR), Saba (NL), Saint Barthélemy (FR), Sint Eustatius (NL), Sint Maarten (NL), St. Pierre and Miquelon (FR), Wallis and Futuna Islands (FR).
  • countries associated to Horizon Europe
    • Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Tunisia, Türkiye, Ukraine, United Kingdom.

For more information, visit EC.