TRANSCAN-4 - 1st joint transnational call 2026

Research

What?

A first joint transnational call for project funding under the new Horizon Europe Transcan-4 network has been launched. This collaboration brings together European and international funders with the common goal of supporting high-impact translational cancer research.

The anticipated outcome of the call is the development of innovative, personalised approaches for cancer diagnosis, patient stratification, and treatment, grounded in a deeper mechanistic understanding of metabolic alterations in cancer.

Proposals must address at least one of the following aims:

• Enabling better cancer diagnostics and monitoring through metabolic biomarkers;
• Intercepting metabolic vulnerabilities to improve precision medicine.

Funding will come via FWO through the fundamental (FO) or Strategic Basic Research (SBO) channel. The type and scope of the proposed research project will determine the choice of funding channel for the research performed within Flanders (more fundamental in nature, or more aimed at economical/societal valorisation). Non-compliance with the specific requirements per funding channel might lead to non-eligibility.

The FWO is able to support 2 projects for a 36 months duration, with an available maximum applicable budget of 350.000 EUR (overhead included) per project/consortium.
  

Application?

Project proposals have to be submitted by European and international consortia through the submission platform, and respect the general and  ‘national/regional’ eligibility criteria, as taken up in the call text (from page 6). 

It's a 2-step submission:
Deadline submission pre-proposal: 21 July 2026, 12:00

The FWO requires pre-registration on a national/regional level as well by filling in an application form on the FWO e-portal before the deadline for submission of the pre-proposals. When you're logged on to the e-portal, you can find it under "Researcher".
It is strongly recommended to contact the FWO administration about your pre-registration at the latest one week before submission in order to verify admissibility.

For the fundamental funding channel the respective regulation applies. For the SBO channel the SBO regulation has to be taken into account: these imply projects with a primarily economic and/or societal finality, of which ‘valorisation’ is a key - and mandatory - aspect.

Given the pre-proposal already has to be OK in terms of budget, OBI has an internal deadline to check your proposal.
Internal deadline: 14 July 2026

In case the consortium includes more than one partner requesting funding from FWO, a single online form should be submitted containing all relevant information from the different Flemish partners.

Deadline submission full proposal: 13 January 2027

  
  

More information?

You can find more information, like the call text, the Guidelines for applicants, the submission platform and the proposal application form on the Transcan Joint call website. 
Concerning the FWO regulations, you can consult the FWO website:
for the fundamental funding channel
for the SBO channel

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

Deadline intern

14.07.2026, 21.07.2026

Contact Hasselt University?

E-mail sarah.szyr@uhasselt.be

Tel. +3211269052