UEFISCDI Transnational & ERA-NET Calls

TRANSCAN-4 — Translational Research on Cancer Metabolism

Offers Romanian cancer-metabolism teams access to European collaboration through TRANSCAN 4 to advance innovation toward care.

TRANSCAN-4 2026 is an ERA-NET Cofund transnational research call focused on translational cancer metabolism research, coordinated across 21 participating countries including Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Taiwan, and Turkey. The coordinating organization is AICIB in Portugal, and the partnership implementation period runs from 2026 to 2030. UEFISCDI serves as the Romanian national funding agency, providing a total national allocation of EUR 1,000,000 to support Romanian participants in successful international consortia. Eligible research themes include metabolic biomarkers for cancer diagnosis and prognosis, tumor metabolic vulnerabilities as therapeutic targets, and precision medicine approaches grounded in cancer metabolism biology.

Romanian applicants — including universities, research institutes, nonprofits, and for-profit entities — must participate as part of an international consortium; they cannot apply for Romanian national co-funding independently. The call operates in two stages: pre-proposals were due July 21, 2026 at 12:00 CET, and invited full proposals are due January 13, 2027 at 12:00 CET. Individual award amounts per Romanian partner are not publicly stated in advance; the EUR 1,000,000 national pool is distributed across all funded Romanian teams following international evaluation.

For Romanian institutions active in oncology, biochemistry, or translational medicine, TRANSCAN-4 offers a direct pathway into a multi-million euro European network funded partly through Horizon Europe mechanisms. The strongest applicants will be those already embedded in European cancer research networks who can rapidly identify a lead consortium partner from another participating country. Prospective Romanian partners should register on the TRANSCAN-4 partner search platform and confirm interest with the consortium coordinator before the pre-proposal submission window closes.