NEWS

General Information

The aim of the ERDERA Partnership is to improve the health and well-being of the 30 million people diagnosed with rare diseases by making Europe a world leader in rare disease research and innovation, and to provide essential healthcare services to these patients through better prevention, diagnosis and treatment. In addition, ERDERA aims to create a multi-stakeholder rare disease ecosystem that has the potential to pioneer digital transformation change in rare disease research and innovation, based on health research data, by developing new diagnostic and therapeutic pathways.

The Partnership has outlined several components of activities, including:

  • Joint Transnational calls for interdisciplinary and collaborative research and innovation projects;

  • Setting up of the Clinical research network to accelerate the clinical trials preparedness on rare diseases;

  • Alignment and integration of national and European research plans;

  • Knowledge and data sharing and analyses services;

  • Enhancing international cooperation by supporting the Scientific Secretariat of the International Rare Disease Research Consortium (IRDiRC);

  • Boost public-private research collaboration models;

  • Capacity-building and training, for researchers, but also clinicians and patients. 

Budget

With over 170 partners from 37 countries, a 7-year duration and a total estimated budget of €380 million, ERDERA is the largest co-funded partnership in the field of rare disease research and innovation.

Call Information

Grant Agreement was signed on 20 August 2024. The second Joint Transnational Call of the Partnership was launched on 10 December 2025.

Project proposals to be submitted under the ERDERA 2026 Call may focus on the following areas:

  • Functional validation studies conducted to classify Variants of Uncertain Significance (VUS) and increase the diversity of functional genomics research, or validation of candidate VUS to improve outcomes for a broader range of patients through the use of in silico, in vitro, or animal model systems (e.g. CRISPR-modified cells, iPSCs, organoids, etc.);
  • Use of multi-omics or integrative methods (e.g. transcriptomics, epigenomics, etc.) to resolve ambiguous or complex variants;
  • New tools/methodologies not yet validated in clinical settings, including biostatistics, advanced bioinformatics, and mathematical approaches (e.g. variant effect predictors, Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based annotation platforms, etc.);
  • Systems biology and disease mechanism modelling;
  • Integration of clinical, environmental, lifestyle, and sensor-derived data;
  • Development of knowledge graphs or disease maps to link phenotypic and mechanistic insights;
  • Use of advanced AI and modelling tools (graph-based machine learning, probabilistic causal models). Supportive studies aiming to initiate clinical research authorization.

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Call Schedule: 

  • Deadline for submission of pre-proposals to the Joint Call Secretariat: 12/02/2026 (14:00, CET)

  • Deadline for the TÜBİTAK national application of pre- proposals: 20/02/2026 (23:59, UTC+3)

  • Deadline for the e-signature processes of the TÜBİTAK national application of pre-proposals: 26/02/2026 (23:59, UTC+3)

  • Deadline for submission of full proposals to the Joint Call Secretariat: 08/07/2026 (14:00, CET)

     

You can find detailed information about the International Call announcement and application process from the link below.

It is strongly recommended that you review the ERDERA 2026 National Application Rules document (in Turkish) to learn about national processes. 

For information on the International Application and the ERDERA 2026 Call:

M. Merve POLAT, PhD

Directorate for EU Framework Programmes 

e-mail: erdera@tubitak.gov.tr 

Phone: 0312 298 17 82

For Information on the National Application for TÜBİTAK 1071 Program

Arif DUYAR

International Cooperation Projects Research Support Group (UPAG)

e-mail: erdera@tubitak.gov.tr 

Phone: 0312 298 16 28

Other Informations

You may also contact the Joint Call Secretariat for questions regarding international processes: ERDERAcall@agencerecherche.fr 

You can find more information about the Partnership here and follow current developments on the ERDERA website.

 

Related Cluster

Cluster 1: Health