FORCE - 1st joint call for proposals

Research

What?

The FORCE (Fostering Oncology Research by Charities in Europe) consortium is united by the shared ambition to create a structured and focused funding framework to support world-class patient-centred research tackling high and unmet patient needs in oncology. FORCE aims to generate practice-changing evidence directly applicable to real-world cancer care across Europe.

The 1st call, "Quality of life–integrated approaches to improve treatment of rare and/or hard-to-treat cancers through pragmatic clinical trials," has been opened.
This 1st FORCE call for projects aims to support international pragmatic clinical trials designed to optimize diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for patients with rare and/or hard-to-treat cancers, while strengthening the integration of robust, decision-relevant evidence generation across heterogeneous clinical settings. Particular emphasis is placed on the systematic incorporation of quality of life as a central component of trial evaluation.

In Belgium funding will come via Kom op tegen Kanker, which is a contributing partner, with an indicative contribution of 2 million euros.
No maximum budget per trial is defined. The requested budget should be determined by the scientific and medical needs of the proposed trial and must be clearly justified. The FORCE consortium aims to fund around three to four clinical trials through the first FORCE Call.

Applicants need to plan their budget in line with the strategic priorities of the call. As all participating funding organisations are charitable foundations, applicants are expected to propose a cost-conscious budget and ensure that all requested costs are necessary, proportionate, and clearly justified in relation to the patient needs, study design, and scientific objectives of the requested funding.

Who?

The host institution (legal entity) is the official recipient of FORCE funding and will be the contracting party. Project Leaders and National Coordinators must be affiliated with an eligible institution and have the authority and capacity to ensure appropriate conduct of the study.

Funding may be granted to the following types of institutions: 

• Public research institutions
• Non-profit organisations
• Hospitals or other healthcare providers
• Cooperative research groups: As a general principle, cooperative groups may participate in FORCE-funded projects either as beneficiaries or as collaborators.

Eligible institutions should be localized within the funding countries (France, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, Latvia, Ireland and Italy).

Proposals must describe a multicentre, collaborative clinical trial that is internationally conducted, led by a Project Leader in one of the funding countries and involving partners from at least two other funding countries.
  

Application?

Applications must be submitted via the Fondation ARC electronic submission system. The system opens on 7 July 2026.

Deadline Pre-proposals: 21 September 2026, 14:00 CET
Deadline Full proposals: Early 2027
  

More information?

You can find more information on the FORCE website.
The guidelines can be found here.

Please always contact research@uhasselt.be if you want to apply.
  

Deadline

21.09.2026

Contact Hasselt University?

E-mail sarah.szyr@uhasselt.be

Tel. +3211269052