Understanding the effects of environmental exposure on the risk of paediatric, adolescent and young adult cancers
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Funding Description
Overview
This single-stage HORIZON Research & Innovation Action (RIA) under the Cancer Mission will finance international consortia that generate new evidence on how environmental exposures interact with genetic, epigenetic and socio-behavioural factors to influence the onset and progression of paediatric, adolescent and young-adult (PAYA) cancers (<40 yrs at diagnosis).
What is Funded
* Design and execution of large, data-intensive epidemiological studies (new prospective cohorts and/or pooling of existing cohorts, registries, EHEN data, PARC, etc.).
* Omics, exposome and biomarker discovery/validation work, including wet-lab analyses, biobanking and digital pathology.
* Development of AI/ML models, causal-inference methods and interoperable digital tools compatible with the future UNCAN.eu platform & European Health Data Space.
* Activities to identify windows of susceptibility, individual risk signatures, and modifiable lifestyle/clinical factors.
* Networking & clustering costs with the Mission “Understanding” projects, including meetings, joint workshops, citizen engagement.
* Open-science compliance: FAIR data curation, metadata creation, code/documentation publication, GDPR-compliant secure access.
* Optional yet eligible: pragmatic clinical studies (with Annex-specific details) to test preventive/monitoring interventions linked to exposure biomarkers.
Budget & Funding Rate
* Indicative EU contribution per project: EUR 8–12 million (up to the topic maximum of EUR 31 million, 100 % funding rate for eligible costs).
* Project duration: typically 4–5 years.
Eligibility Snapshot
* Consortium: ≥3 legal entities from ≥3 different EU Member States/Associated Countries (MS/AC). In practice, successful RIAs usually gather 8–15 partners covering academia, research infrastructures, hospitals, SMEs and patient organisations.
* Geographical eligibility: MS & AC automatically funded. Other countries may participate if they self-fund or have national HEU funding schemes.
* JRC may join as a partner without counting towards the three-partner minimum.
* Ethics & regulatory compliance: GDPR, clinical-study approvals, Nagoya Protocol (if bio-samples cross borders), chemicals regulations when relevant.
Timeline
* Call opens: 06 May 2025
* Submission deadline: 16 Sep 2025, 17:00 Brussels time (single-stage, full proposal only)
* Evaluation results: ~Jan 2026
* Grant signature & project start: Q2 2026
Key Policy Hooks
* Directly feeds Mission on Cancer objective “Understand” and supports the Zero Pollution Action Plan.
* Must align with UNCAN.eu data architecture and European Health Data Space standards.
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📊 At a Glance
🇪🇺 Strategic Advantages
EU-Wide Advantages & Opportunities for “Understanding the effects of environmental exposure on the risk of paediatric, adolescent and young adult cancers” (HORIZON-MISS-2025-02-CANCER-02)
1. Critical Mass of Data, Samples & Exposures
- Rare-event power: Childhood, adolescent and young-adult (CAYA) cancers are individually rare; only an EU-level cohort (≈90 million citizens <40y) can deliver statistically robust signals for low-incidence tumours and uncommon exposure profiles.
- Pan-European environmental gradients: Diverse industrial, agricultural and climatic zones (Nordic, Continental, Mediterranean, Eastern) create natural exposure contrasts, sharpening dose-response curves and enabling study of multiple pollutants banned or phased-out at different speeds across Member States.
- Temporal depth: Existing national birth & cancer registries dating back to the 1960s (e.g. Nordic, Italian, German, French) can be pooled to generate >20 million person-years of retrospective follow-up.
2. Harmonised Regulatory & Data-Governance Environment
- GDPR & Data Governance Act provide a predictable legal basis for cross-border health-data exchange, reducing transaction costs versus bilateral agreements.
- EU In Vitro Diagnostic & Medical Device Regulations support rapid qualification of newly identified biomarkers for clinical use across 30+ countries in one step.
3. Synergistic Use of Pan-European Research Infrastructures
- ELIXIR: secure federated analysis of multi-omics & exposome data.
- BBMRI-ERIC: access to >600 accredited biobanks for prospective sample collection.
- ECRIN & ERICA: facilitation of multinational paediatric trials and real-world evidence studies.
- Euro-BioImaging & INFRAFRONTIER: mechanistic follow-up in imaging & animal models.
4. Cross-Border Cohort & Registry Integration
- Linking national cancer registries with the European Network of Cancer Registries (ENCR) and the new UNCAN.eu data platform creates the first EU-wide CAYA exposome-cancer atlas.
- Harmonised case definitions and common data models accelerate interoperability with the future European Health Data Space (EHDS).
5. Economy of Scale for Cost-Intensive Technologies
- High-resolution exposomics (untargeted HR-MS, wearable sensors) and multi-omic sequencing become affordable when procured jointly; shared EU core facilities reduce per-sample cost by 30-50 %.
- Coordinated use of EuroHPC supercomputers (LUMI, Leonardo) lowers AI/ML compute costs and carbon footprint compared to dispersed national HPC use.
6. Accelerated Translation to Policy & Standards
- Evidence from multiple Member States can be fed directly into EU chemicals legislation (REACH), the Zero Pollution Action Plan, and updates of the Carcinogens & Mutagens Directive.
- The Commission’s JRC offers a fast track for pre-normative validation of exposure biomarkers, shortening time-to-guideline by 2–3 years.
7. Robust Innovation Ecosystem for SMEs & Start-ups
- Access to a single, large discovery dataset de-risks development of AI diagnostic tools, biosensors and exposome analytics, attracting private investment via EIC & InvestEU.
- Harmonised EU procurement & HTA pathways enable rapid scaling of validated solutions to a market of 450 million citizens.
8. Equity & Inclusion Across Regions & Populations
- EU funding requirements ensure participation of widening countries, reducing research & care disparities between West and East/South Europe.
- The project’s design can incorporate vulnerable groups (ROMA, migrant, remote/rural), supporting European Pillar of Social Rights goals.
9. Alignment With Other EU Missions & Programmes
- Mission Cancer → Mission Cities: urban air-quality data and active-mobility policies feed exposure models.
- EU Green Deal / Farm-to-Fork: pesticide and diet-related exposure metrics inform regulatory reviews.
- Synergies with EU4Health, Digital Europe (Genomics Data Infrastructure, Cancer Image Europe) and PARC multiply impact and avoid duplication.
10. Long-Term Sustainability Through EU Platforms
- Data, algorithms and validated biomarkers become mandatory assets of UNCAN.eu; FAIR deposition ensures availability beyond project life.
- Alignment with HealthData@EU pilots guarantees continuity of cross-border data access after 2030.
11. Immediate Opportunity Portfolio for Applicants
- Budget Envelope: Topic budget (indicative) ~€14–16 M; consortia of 15–25 partners can plan for €6–8 M each.
- Complementary Calls 2025–2027: early planning enables cascading of findings into forthcoming Horizon calls on prevention, AI-supported diagnosis, and quality-of-life interventions.
- Networking Funds: Dedicated WP budget line can cover joint workshops with EHEN, PARC and the ‘Understanding’ cluster, strengthening visibility and policy reach.
12. Strategic Take-Aways
1. Only an EU-scale project can achieve the statistical power and environmental heterogeneity needed to elucidate exposure–cancer links in CAYA populations.
2. EU-level infrastructures, legal frameworks and coordinated policy channels create a seamless pipeline from discovery to prevention legislation.
3. The topic offers a unique springboard for building the exposome module of UNCAN.eu, positioning participants at the core of Europe’s future cancer-data ecosystem.
Bottom line: Leveraging EU integration multiplies scientific power, reduces cost, accelerates translation and maximises societal impact—advantages unattainable by any single Member State acting alone.
🏷️ Keywords
Ready to Apply?
Get a personalized assessment of your eligibility and application strategy
See in 5 min if you're eligible for Understanding the effects of environmental exposure on the risk of paediatric, adolescent and young adult cancers offering max €31.0M funding