FWO - Call Applied Biomedical Research with a Primary Social finality (TBM) 2026

Research

Funding organisation:

Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek - Vlaanderen

What?

In the long term, the TBM programme aims at contributing to the implementation of (new) therapies, diagnostic techniques and preventive methods, which, without this government funding, would not make it to the patient due to a lack of industrial interest. 

A TBM project meets the following criteria: 

1. It is aimed at advancing a new therapy, diagnosis and/or specific prevention of a particular human disease/medical issue or comparing existing therapies, diagnostics or preventive methods in order to find out their relative efficacy and cost-effectiveness.

2. It is directed at research that is positioned late in the path from discovery to a specific application (i.e. there is a clinically relevant proof of concept) and aims at translating scientific findings into clinical applications rather than creating new knowledge from scratch. On the other hand, it is not positioned too late in the path from discovery to application: it does not consist of implementation activities that no longer require any research.

3. It offers a clear applicability with an added value for the Flemish health situation, including at least a positive medical impact for a particular group of patients or a cost reduction for the Flemish healthcare system.

4. At the time of submitting the application (or in the near future), the industry is not interested in the TBM project for commercial reasons.


New: The application form now includes an additional question regarding the substantive and/or conceptual contribution of the applicant(s) and any others to the research design, data collection, and the analysis or interpretation thereof. This information helps evaluators to better understand how the research proposal was developed and who contributed in which capacity. In this way, appropriate recognition is given to everyone involved in the proposal, regardless of their role. This section is solely for clarification and is not used as an additional assessment criterion.

Features

• Project period: 2- 4 years
• Acceptable costs:

•  staffing, operation, equipment, subcontracting contracts (in accordance with cost model rules)

• min. 215 000 EUR (excl. overhead) - max. 850 000 EUR (excl. overhead) (for large or multicentric trials, exceptionally budgets up to 1 275 000 EUR are allowed)

• Funding percentage: 100%

The results will be announced 26 November 2026. Projects start on 1 January 2027.
  

Who?

Any Flemish research centre can submit a TBM proposal. Based on their mission, this includes e.g., Flemish universities and their university hospitals, Flemish university colleges, and the Flemish strategic research centres. Otherwise, all other organizations that meet the definition of a research centre (see TBM manual) and that are located in the Flemish region may act as applicants of a TBM project. For-profit actors (e.g., companies) cannot act as applicant or co-applicant of a TBM proposal. 
Non-Flemish research centres can also be included in the consortium as co-applicants. A condition is, however, that the total budget for non-Flemish research centres does not exceed 20% of the total budget.

A consortium of applicants (with one main applicant and one or more co-applicants) or a single (main) applicant can submit an application. Given the clinical focus of the programme, however, at least one Flemish hospital (or ITM) must be included in the consortium of applicants for at least 10% of the total budget.

Cross-institutional cooperation is encouraged, among others, to facilitate broad uptake within Flanders and potentially beyond. Note that a partnership between a university and its local university hospital is considered as a single centre in this context.


There is a limitation on the number of TBM projects applied for and ongoing per promoter as follows:

• A supervisor-spokesperson may have maximum two ongoing TBM projects at any time. Applying for a new project is allowed only if one of the two ongoing projects ends before the new project’s start date.
• Per call, a researcher can act as supervisor-spokesperson for maximum one TBM project.
• Per call, a researcher can act as co-supervisor for maximum two TBM projects, irrespective of whether they request a personal budget.
• These restrictions only apply within the TBM programme. This, therefore, has no effect on promotership in other FWO channels.

In a project, the implementation of specific operational subtasks can also be entrusted to subcontractors, including companies. These will always be routine tasks, without any creative input. The cumulated contribution of subcontractors must however remain below 50% of the total budget.

Application?

Pre-submission: All researchers who wish to propose a new project idea are strongly advised to send a presubmission inquiry whether the proposal matches the strict eligibility criteria in the form of a short abstract (see template) via e-mail to tbm@fwo.be. It is possible to request an oral preliminary discussion at FWO. If desired, written feedback can also be given. In addition, some host institutions will organise information sessions and meetings in collaboration with the FWO. For more information, please contact the responsible department of your host institution. The presubmission inquiry must reach the FWO at the latest one week before the submission deadline.

Internal submission deadline: The supervisor of the project submits the proposal via the FWO E-loket to the host institution (= main applicant of the proposal) by 13 April 2026 (5 PM).
Submission deadline: The host institution submits the proposal to FWO via the e-portal by 23 April 2026 (5 PM).

Evaluation procedure: The evaluation is performed by permanent panels consisting of scientific evaluators with diverse expertise in the biomedical sector and extensive experience in clinical trials. In addition, external (written) evaluators with expertise in the specific discipline of the project proposal are called upon.

Rebuttal: The interview has been replaced by a written rebuttal from 10-121 September 2026.

More information?

More information (slides info session, call related documents, handbook and templates for the submission) can be found on the FWO website.

Deadline intern

13.04.2026, 23.04.2026

Contact Hasselt University?

E-mail sarah.szyr@uhasselt.be

Tel. +3211269052