A preliminary announcement on the European Joint Programme on Rare Diseases (EJP RD) Joint Transnational Call (JTC) 2020 has just been released! The topic for this call is "Pre-clinical research to develop effective therapies for rare diseases"

Research proposals must cover at least one of the following areas:

1. Development of novel therapies in a preclinical setting (including small molecules, repurposing drugs, cell and gene advanced therapies) focusing on condition(s) with unmet medical needs
2. Use of disease models suitable for medicinal product’s development according to EMA guidelines
3. Development of predictive and pharmacodynamics (PD) biomarkers (with appropriate analytical methods e.g. OMICS) in a preclinical setting (e.g. in the validated model or in pre-collected human samples) for monitoring the efficiency of the therapy. The model chosen must mimic the human diseases and be transposable so that the biomarker identified in animals can be valid for humans
4. Proof of principle studies fostering an early (pre-clinical) stage of drug development (excluding interventional clinical trials of phase 1-4).

The maximum duration of the project is three years and the consortium submitting a proposal must involve 4-6 (up to 8, if inclusion of partners from underrepresented countries or Early Career Researchers) eligible principal investigator partners (no more than two from the same country).

There will be a two-stage submission procedure for joint applications: pre-proposals and full proposals.

Pre-proposal submission deadline: 18^th February 2020.

For more information on this call, please click here.

The European Joint Programme on Rare Diseases (EJP RD) Research Training Workshops call aims to identify the most suitable topics for the organization of research training workshops with a cross-ERN added value. Financing covers the organization of a 2 days workshop (e.g. venue, catering & travel and accommodation of speakers and participants).

Target: Researchers/Medical Doctors

Applicant’s profile: Affiliated to an EJP RD beneficiary institution OR to an ERN-Full Member OR ERN-Affiliated Partner institution

Deadline for submissions: March 2nd, 2020

For application forms and all other information on this call, go to the EJP-RD info page here.

The European Joint Programme on Rare Diseases (EJP RD) Research Mobility Fellowship call aims to financially support young investigators to undertake short scientific visits (secondments) fostering specialist research training outside their countries of residence and within one of the ERN host institutions. The research mobility fellowships cover stays of 2 weeks up to 3 months.

Target: PhD students and young Medical Doctors (having finished their first year of specialist training)

Applicants’ profile: PhD students with a minimum of one year of research experience OR Physicians having finished their first year of specialist training AND Affiliated to an ERN institution.

Deadline for submissions: March 16th, 2020

For application forms and all other information on this call, go to the EJP-RD info page here.

The Call for the Research - European Joint Programme on Rare Diseases (EJP RD) Networking Support Scheme (NSS) is now open!

The scheme will provide financial support to applicants for fostering organization of workshops or conferences for new research networks or existing/expanding research networks to strengthen collaborations and to enable exchange of knowledge.

Eligible applicants to apply for the NSS are health care professionals, researchers and patient advocacy organizations from the following countries involved in the EJP RD (in alphabetical order):

Armenia*, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria*, Croatia*, Czech Republic*, Denmark, Estonia*, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia*, Greece, Hungary*, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia*, Lithuania*, Luxembourg, Malta*, Norway, Poland*, Portugal, Romania*, Serbia*, Slovakia*, Slovenia*, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Turkey*, United Kingdom.

The countries that are indicated with an asterisk (*) are usually seen as underrepresented countries.

At least one Principal applicant and two co-applicants from three different countries mentioned above have to apply together for support of a Networking event.

Maximum budget for networking event: € 30,000

The NSS is open on a continuous basis. The applications will be collected on the following dates:

• June 2, 2020 at 14:00 (CEST)
  IMPORTANT. This collection date is cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
• September 1, 2020 at 14:00 (CEST)
  IMPORTANT. Exceptional extension in comparison to Call text: events may be organised between 6 and 18 months after the application date.
• December 1, 2020 at 14:00 (CET)

All information, including the call documents, can be found on the EJP-RD website here.

The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Telecom -2020-2 eHealth call (implemented by The Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA)) was published on June 30th, 2020!

Read the call document here

The actions funded under this call for proposals should contribute to:

• The continued use of the ERN Collaborative Platform (ECP) and of the Clinical
  Patient Management System (CPMS), which facilitate access to highly
  specialised knowledge and care for patients suffering from rare and complex
  diseases.
• The improvement of current functionalities and adding of new functionalities to
  the ERN Clinical Patient Management System, which will enhance the possibility
  to collect and analyse clinical data across borders to support public health and
  research, and also better adapt the CPMS to the ERN specific clinical needs.
• The promotion of the European Reference Networks within the medical
  community by suitable learning and training activities.

Deadline for submission of proposals is Thursday 5 November 2020 (5PM Brussels time).

Evaluation of proposals November 2020 – January 2021 (indicative)

Consultation of the CEF Committee March – April 2021 (indicative)

Adoption of the Selection Decision April 2021 (indicative)

VASCERN will be submitting a proposal in order to ensure the continuation and improvement of the IT services offered to our members (helpdesk, eLearning activities, monitoring system support, and other IT related activities).

A 2020-2 CEF Telecom call virtual Info Day will occur on 16 July 2020.

More information on the call can be found here