Team Grant: ERDERA Joint Transnational Call 2025

Eligibility

Eligibility

For an application to be eligible, all the requirements stated below must be met:

1. The Nominated Principal Applicant (NPA) leading the Canadian component must be an independent researcher affiliated with a Canadian postsecondary institution and/or its affiliated institutions (including hospitals, research institutes and other non-profit organizations with a mandate for health research and/or knowledge translation).
2. The NPA must have their substantive role in Canada for the duration of the requested grant term.
3. The Institution Paid for the Canadian-led application must be authorized to administer CIHR funds by the application deadline (see List of CIHR Eligible Institutions).
4. If the Canadian team in the consortium includes more than one Canadian researcher, only one of them must be named the NPA on the Pre-Proposal and Full Proposal submitted to CIHR.
5. CIHR will follow the Early Career Researcher definition as outlined in the JTC 2025 call for proposals (Section 4).
6. An individual cannot submit more than one application as an NPA. If the NPA submits more than one application, CIHR will automatically withdraw the last application(s) submitted based on timestamp of submission.

All Canadian applications must additionally meet ERDERA JTC 2025 eligibility.

Summary

CIHR-IG is pleased to be partnering with approximately 34 international funding organizations in the context of this European Rare Diseases Research Alliance (ERDERA) Joint Transnational Call (JTC) 2025. CIHR-IG is committed to expanding and improving the diagnosis and treatment of rare diseases by creating the conditions needed to bring together creative, dynamic, interdisciplinary teams of researchers from across Canada and the European Community (EC) to collaborate for better health outcome for the rare disease patient community.

The topic of the call is pre-clinical therapy studies for rare diseases using small molecules and biologicals – development and validation.

Projects should focus on a group of rare diseases or on a single rare disease if there is no valid rationale/evidence for the benefit of grouping diseases. If focusing on a single rare disease, applicants must clearly specify why working on a group of rare diseases is not appropriate. The classification of rare diseases follows the European definition, i.e. a disease affecting not more than five in 10,000 persons in the European Community, EC associated states, and Canada.

Only a few rare diseases benefit from treatment options, but possible commonalities exist between groups of rare diseases (i.e., common disease biological pathways, clinical symptoms and/or clinical phenotypes and importantly the combination of those common features). Therefore, with the view of offering more options for more patients suffering from different rare diseases, applicants are strongly encouraged to work on groups of rare diseases with commonalities and assemble criteria of meaningful grouping of the rare diseases under study, based on state-of-the-art scientific discoveries and clinical practice.

For more information, please consult ERDERA JTC 2025.

Research Areas

Research studies on therapies using small molecules, small non-coding chemically synthesized nucleic acid-based therapies, repurposed drugs or biologicals (e.g., antibodies or proteins such as enzymes, immune modulators or growth factors etc.).

Proposals must cover at least two of the following areas:

1. Development of novel therapies in a preclinical setting through cell, organoid and animal disease model studies, and/or use of in silico or artificial intelligence models to accelerate the success rate of the pre-clinical stage;
2. Development of predictive and pharmacodynamics biomarkers correlated to the efficiency of the therapy in a preclinical setting that could serve as surrogate endpoints;
3. Replication of pre-clinical studies in an independent lab to increase validity of exploratory findings;
4. Pre-clinical proof of concept studies for evidence of pharmacological activity in vitro and in vivo, pharmaco-kinetics and pharmaco-dynamics of the investigational drug (i.e., small molecule(s) and/or biologic) and first toxicology and safety data as well as studies to support readiness for initiating clinical trial authorization conforming to regulatory requirements.

Rare diseases with a predisposition to cancer are eligible.

Translatability into humans should be the key focus of the project, and applicants should demonstrate access to relevant scientific or regulatory expertise (e.g., through innovation task forces or competent national authorities).

Overhead

N/A

Pre-application deadlines

RSO internal deadline

Pre-application program deadline

Application deadlines

RSO final internal review deadline

Program application deadline

Application deadlines

Pre-Application to ERDERA

Full Application to ERDERA

NOTE: Consult your Faculty Associate Dean (Research) (ADR) regarding Faculty-specific deadlines and submission processes.

Principal Investigators: Complete a Research Management System (RMS) record, including a copy of your complete application, and submit this for approvals in RMS.

Postdocs, students, and trainees: For fellowships and externally-sponsored research training awards or opportunities, you must complete the Research Funding Application Approval (RFAA) Trainee PDF form, and submit it, along with a complete copy of the application, to Research Services at rsotrainee@ucalgary.ca. Trainees should not use RMS at this time.

Approvals: The University of Calgary requires that all funding applications be approved prior to submission. Approval requires signatures via either RMS or the RFAA Trainee form, in the following order:

• Principal Investigator
• Department Head
• Faculty ADR/Dean
• Research Services (on behalf of the Vice-President Research)

Read the Meaning of Grant Signatures policy to understand what your approval means. Please see the agency guidelines for details about which signatures are required on your application, as it may differ from internal requirements.

Late submissions: Late submissions will only be accepted in cases of medical or family emergencies, or other exceptional circumstances. If you submit your RMS record to Research Services after the internal deadline has passed, you must secure additional approvals. Please read: Late Applications Process.

Submission Process

The application process for this funding opportunity is comprised of four (4) steps for Canada-based applicants: 1a) Pre-Proposal to ERDERA; 1b) Pre-Proposal to CIHR; 2a) Full Proposal to ERDERA; and 2b) Full Proposal to CIHR.

Step 1a – Pre-Proposal to ERDERA:

• Pre-Proposals must be submitted in English only to ERDERA. For more information, consult ERDERA JTC 2025.

Step 1b – Pre-Proposal to CIHR:

• In addition to the Pre-Proposal to ERDERA, Canadian consortium members must also complete a CIHR Pre-Proposal (in one of the two official languages of Canada) and submit it using ResearchNet.
• Note that a Pre-Proposal must be submitted to be eligible to submit a Full Proposal.
• All Canadian participants, with the exception of Collaborators, are required to:
  • Have/obtain a CIHR PIN
  • Complete the Tri-Agency Self-identification Questionnaire.

Step 2a – Full Proposal to ERDERA:

• Invitations to submit Full Proposal are expected to be sent end of April 2025 by the Joint Call Secretariat.
• Full Proposals must be submitted in English only to ERDERA. For more information, consult ERDERA JTC 2025.

Step 2b – Full Proposal to CIHR:

One of the goals of this additional application to CIHR is to provide CIHR with an operating budget for the project, with the amounts quoted in Canadian dollars and a complete justification for funds requested.

• In addition to the Full Proposal to ERDERA, Canadian consortium members invited to submit a Full Proposal to ERDERA JTC2025 must also complete a CIHR Full Proposal (in one of the two official languages of Canada) and submit it using ResearchNet.
• To complete the CIHR Full Proposal, follow the ”Specific Instructions” listed in the CIHR Funding Opportunity.
• All Canadian participants, with the exception of Collaborators, are required to:
  • Have/obtain a CIHR PIN
  • Complete the Tri-Agency Self-identification Questionnaire.

Submission to RSO:

The CIHR pre-application, plus approvals in RMS, will be required by RSO by noon on Friday, February 14, 2025. Please be sure to select "Submitted for approvals" (Under Save & Progress) in RMS in enough time to allow for approvals from your Department Head and/or ADR prior to the internal RSO deadline. Consult your department and faculty for more information on their approval processes and timelines.

Do not submit through ResearchNet until RSO's signature has been granted!! 

Once institutional signature has been obtained, a copy of the CIHR signature page will be available via the RMS record, under Documents. Upload the CIHR signature page and routing slip in the Print/Upload Signature Pages task in ResearchNet by 6:00PM Calgary time on Thursday, February 20, 2025.

Webinar Info:

ERDERA will be hosting a webinar to learn more about the call and how to apply.

When: December 17, 2024 The recording of the December webinar is available upon request by completing the JTC 2025 December Webinar form.
When: January 14, 2025 at 6 AM MT. Register here.

Duration: 2 hours.

RESOURCES  
 

Reminder: The sooner the researcher engages with Research Services, the more help we can be! 

 
Contact the following Research Service units for support with: 

Projects Involving Indigenous Research: 

Support with incorporating wise practices in Indigenous research, community engagement, and Indigenous data management is available through the Indigenous Research Support Team (IRST). 

Applicants can reach out by email to IRST at IRST@ucalgary.ca in advance of the RSO internal deadline. For more information about IRST, please visit the IRST webpage. 

Knowledge Mobilization, Research Impact Assessment, DORA:  
Support for knowledge mobilization/engagement/translation, community partnerships, research impact, responsible research assessment (DORA), and open science, is available through the Knowledge to Impact team.  

Applicants can reach out by email to the KI team at knowledge.impact@ucalgary.ca.  
For more information and access to resource archives, please visit the KI team webpage. 

Research Data Management: 

For information on research data management plans, processes, or best practices for your research program, please contact research.data@ucalgary.ca.    

EDI in Research: 

RSO can provide resources and support to research teams on the integration of equitable and inclusive practices in research design and research practice.  

Contact edi.rso@ucalgary.ca for more information. 

Research Security: 

The Research Security Division is available to ensure researchers adhere to research security guidelines and policies, including the National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships (NSGRP) and the policy on Sensitive Technology Research and Affiliations of Concern (STRAC). 

Visit the Research Security website to learn more or contact researchsecurity@ucalgary.ca.  

Pre-Award Submissions: 

RMS: Creating a Pre-Award LOI 

RMS: Creating a Pre-Award Application