ERDERA Partnership: announcement of the 2nd transnational call in December 2025!

The European Rare Diseases Research Alliance (ERDERA), a partnership that aims to coordinate and fund transnational research on rare diseases, focus on innovative strategies for effective use of research results, strengthen EU clinical trial readiness and optimise research infrastructures and resources, will launch a second joint transnational call on 10 December 2025 entitled "Resolving unsolved cases in rare genetic and non-genetic diseases through variant validation and new technological approaches".

ERDERA is also inviting researchers to an informative webinar on 16 December 2025 (15:00 - 16:00 CET), presenting detailed information on the call. Don't forget to register via the link HERE.

The aim of this call is to respond to the needs of patients with rare diseases and to enable researchers to form effective, transnational, interdisciplinary research collaborations based on common interests and shared expertise. The expected impact lies in the future transfer and use of results for the benefit of patients. In addition, the aim is to address undiagnosed rare genetic diseases and to tackle complex rare non-genetic diseases by identifying causal variants in patients for whom no molecular diagnosis has been made after previous genetic or genomic testing, thus providing diagnostic certainty for conditions with unknown or mixed pathogenesis.

Proposed project focus areas:  

  • Functional validation to classify Variants of uncertain clinical significance (VUS) and increase the diversity of functional genomics research or validate VUS to improve impact/outcomes in a wider range of patients using in silico, in vitro or animal model systems (e.g. CRISPR modified cells, iPSCs, organoids).
  • Use of multiomics or integrated methods (e.g. transcriptomics, epigenomics) to elucidate ambiguous or complex variants.
  • Development of new tools/methodologies not yet tested in clinical practice, including biostatistical, advanced bioinformatics and mathematical approaches (e.g. tools that predict the impact of genetic changes or platforms using artificial intelligence to describe and evaluate them).
  • Investigating biological processes and creating models to better understand the origins and progression of disease.
  • Linking patient, environmental, lifestyle and sensor data (e.g. health monitors).
  • Developing knowledge graphs or disease maps to help understand how the symptoms of diseases relate to their causes.
  • Use of advanced artificial intelligence tools and modelling approaches (e.g. graph machine learning, probabilistic causal models).

Excluded areas:

  • Pre-clinical studies aimed at developing therapies already covered by the topic of the first ERDERA call.
  • Interventional clinical trials aimed at demonstrating the effectiveness of drugs, therapeutic approaches, surgical or other medical procedures.
  • Projects focused exclusively on rare diseases that fall within the scope of the Brain Health Partnership(https://www.brainhealth-partnership.eu/jtcs-2026/).
  • Rare infectious diseases, rare cancers and rare side effects of drugs used to treat common diseases.

The Ministry of Health / Agency for Health Research ČR will participate in this call!

Currently, national rules and conditions for Czech applicants are being prepared, which will be based on the Programme for the Support of Applied Health Research for 2024-2030: Subprogramme 3: European Partnerships in Health, and will be published on the website of AZV HealthAZV ofČR CzechČR AZV azvcr.cz) by the date of the call announcement.

The MoH will support ČR applicants through the national budget allocation. The total amount for the call will be EUR 500 000.

Only transnational projects will be funded. The call will be a two-round call. 

Provisional timetable of the call:

  • 10/12/2025: Call launch
  • 16/12/2025: Information webinar for potential applicants
  • 12 February 2026 (14:00 CET): Deadline for submission of pre-proposals
  • 4.3.2026: Communication of the results of the preliminary project proposals
  • Early May 2026: Call for full proposals
  • 5/5/2026: Information webinar for applicants invited to submit full proposals
  • 8 July 2026 (14:00 CEST): Deadline for submission of full proposals
  • 23.7.2026: Formal eligibility check of full proposals
  • December 2026: Announcement of funding decision

More information on the objectives of the call, the themes, the countries that have expressed interest in participating in the call; the national contact points as well as other specific conditions are available on the official ERDERA website.