Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English en
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

UNCAN-CONNECT: Decentralized Collaborative Network for Advancing Cancer Research and Innovation

Project description

Decentralised collaborative network to improve cancer research

Europe represents a quarter of the world’s cancer cases, with cancer being the second leading cause of death in the region. Without action, cancer deaths in the EU could rise by over 24 % by 2035. The EU-funded UNCAN-Connect project will establish a decentralised collaborative network for cancer research, focusing on paediatric cancers, lymphoid malignancies, pancreatic, ovarian, lung, and prostate cancers. The initiative will create a governance framework and engage various stakeholders, including researchers, SMEs, and citizens, while facilitating data storage, access, and sharing across member states. This effort is part of the EU Cancer Mission’s Understanding Cluster, launched in 2022.

Objective

Europe still sees a quarter of the world's cancer cases each year, making cancer the second leading cause of death and illness in the region after cardiovascular diseases. Unless we take decisive action, lives lost to cancer in the EU are set to increase by more than 24% by 2035, making it the leading cause of death in the EU.
Cross-border collaboration can address this challenge by combining data from various modalities and sources, extracting meaningful insights to deepen our understanding of cancer. However, ethical, legal, and national regulations, along with data access processes, including differing interpretations of the EU GDPR create significant hurdles. Technical interoperability issues across European cancer RIs, and patients' and citizens' rights to control who uses their personal information and for what purposes further complicate data sharing. The project will provide European researchers, SMEs, and innovators with a decentralized collaborative network, “UNCAN-CONNECT,” for cancer research. It consists of both technical components, a governance, compliance, and operational framework based on the UNCAN blueprint, with the goal of operationalizing it. The objective is to facilitate access to cancer data, promote open science, and revolutionize cancer research and treatment by co-creating an open-source federation of federations platform. It will be developed using specific use cases focused on six major cancer types: Paediatric, Lymphoid malignancies, Pancreatic cancer, Ovarian, Lung, and Prostate cancers and active collaboration with a diverse range of stakeholders, including researchers, SMEs, industrial end users, and citizens. It will build on existing European RIs such as BBMRI as well as initiatives like EOSC4CANCER, CanSERV, EUCAIM, to enable seamless storage, access, sharing, and processing of data across Member States and associated countries. This approach will foster interoperability and collaboration, accelerating progress in cancer research. This action is part of the Cancer Mission clusters of projects 'Understanding' established in 2022.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

Keywords

Programme(s)

Topic(s)

Funding Scheme

HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

(opens in new window) HORIZON-MISS-2024-CANCER-01

See all projects funded under this call

Coordinator

TARTU ULIKOOL
Net EU contribution
€ 1 366 250,00
Address
ULIKOOLI 18
51005 Tartu
Estonia
Region
Eesti Eesti Lõuna-Eesti
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost
€ 1 366 250,00

Participants (49)

Partners (3)