Cancer mission objectives

The EU Cancer Mission Dashboard

The EU Cancer Mission Dashboard provides a visual overview of the Mission’s progress across its four objectives (Understanding, Prevention & Early Detection, Diagnosis & Treatment, and Quality of Life). It tracks key indicators such as the number of funded projects, budget contributions, scientific and technological outputs, as well as estimated lives improved by 2030. The dashboard integrates data from projects, policy initiatives, and citizen engagement activities, allowing users to explore progress and impacts. The dashboard is designed for transparency and monitoring of all initiatives taken under the Mission, it connects to complementary EU initiatives like Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and shows the progress of major flagships.

Cancer Mission Dashboard

Project clusters

To build mission portfolios, project clusters have been set up, bringing together projects funded under each call topic. The goal is to engage coordinators in building synergies among projects, and conducting joint activities, ultimately contributing to mobilising the cancer research community at large and maximising the investment the EU Cancer Mission makes in research.

Four  clusters have been established  one under each Cancer Mission objective, linked to a specific call for proposals:  The first Cluster is on Understanding Cancer, which includes projects funded under the Cancer Mission call on risk factors & determinants and, projects funded in the area of tumour-host interactions. The second cluster relates to Prevention & early detection, with projects on screening, implementation research, behavioural change, and heritable cancers. The third cluster is on Diagnosis and Treatment which includes projects on refractory cancers and projects on diagnostics. Another cluster has been created under the Quality of Life objective. A series of webinars have been held to bring together stakeholder and citizens perspectives on research and innovation providing an early exposure to the cluster projects launched under the Cancer Mission.

• Factsheet
• 28 May 2025

EU Mission Cancer: Mission project clusters

The project clusters have been set up to build mission portfolios and bring together projects funded under each call topic.

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Understanding Cancer

The first specific objective of the Mission is to improve the understanding of the development of cancer in the context of the environment, work, and lifestyle in the broadest possible sense (e.g. air pollution, occupational risk, diet, socio-economic status, etc.) as well as the role of genetic risk in developing cancer and disease outcome.

The UNCAN.eu flagship

The flagship UNCAN.eu, a European initiative to UNderstand CANcer, is designed to facilitate and enhance data driven cancer research. Its objectives include establishing a sustainable European network of National Cancer Data Nodes (NCDNs) that operate in alignment with the European Health Data Space (EHDS), improving the usability and quality of cancer digital assets, and fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing among cancer research institutions. 

The UNCAN.eu central coordination platform will play a key role in harmonising governance and technical standards across Member States. National Cancer Data Nodes are essential components of this ecosystem. These nodes should be established as national entities that serve as interfaces between cancer data holders and the broader UNCAN.eu network. The flagships UNCAN.eu is the focus of a thematic working group of the European Commission (the eCancer Working group) and it is implemented through several projects (4.UNCAN, UNCAN-CONNECT and CANDLE).

The eCancer Working Group, convened under the Cancer Subgroup of the Public Health Expert Group, is composed by officially nominated experts and has produced technical recommendations and a policy roadmap on the implementation of the UNCAN.eu initiative.

The project 4.Uncan (Decentralized Collaborative Network for Advancing Cancer Research and Innovation) has provided a strategic action plan for the UNCA.eu network.

The project UNCAN-CONNECT (Decentralized Collaborative Network for Advancing Cancer Research and Innovation) will provide a prototype of central platform which will accommodate digital assets generated by internal use cases and by other data driven research projects and will provide guidance to data repositories, digital tools and solutions available in European Research Infrastructures and similar initiatives. 

The project CANDLE (National CAncer data Node DeveLopErs) will facilitate the discussion at national level to create national cancer data nodes, provide a maturation model for assessing their readiness level, propose digital capabilities and propose new cancer data nodes when ready to join the UNCAN.eu network.

Risk factors and determinants projects

• Genial
  Understanding gene–environment interaction in alcohol-related hepatocellular carcinoma
• LUCIA
  Understanding lung cancer-related risk factors and their impact - Watch video
• MELCAYA
  Novel health-care strategies for melanoma in children, adolescents, and young adults
• Elmumy
  Elucidation of risk factors and health determinants associated with progression of monoclonal gammopathies to multiple myeloma - Watch video
• DISCERN
  Discovering the causes of three poorly understood cancers in Europe, renal, pancreatic and colorectal

Cluster brochure: Understanding (risk factors & determinants)

Cluster video: Understanding (risk factors & determinants)

Tumour-host interactions projects

• HIT-GLIO
  Targeting tumour-host interactions in paediatric malignant gliomas to reinvigorate immunity and improve radio- and immunotherapy efficacy
• GLIOMATCH
  The malignant Glioma immuno-oncology matchmaker: towards data-driven precision medicine using spatially resolved radio-multiomics
• THRIVE
  Tumour host interactions in liver cancer of childhood and adults
• MULTIR
  MULti-Tumour based prediction and manipulation of Immune Response - Watch video
• Arturo
  Assessing the role of intratumoral microbiota in therapy responses using patient-derived tumor-on-chip - Watch video
• Spacetime
  Spatial Analysis of Cancer Evolution in the Tumour Immune Microenvironment

Cluster brochure: Understanding (tumour-host interactions)

Cluster video: Understanding (tumour-host Interactions)

Prevention and early detection

The second specific objective of the Mission is to boost cancer prevention for EU citizens by generating knowledge on current and potential cancer risk factors, including interactions between multiple risk factors and by improving the performance of population-based screening programmes as well as, through research, developing screening tools that can be integrated in screening programmes and easily implemented at national level.

Screening projects

• PANCAID
  Pancreatic Cancer Initial Detection via liquid biopsy
• The MammoScreen Project
  Innovative and safe microwave-based imaging technology to make breast cancer screening more accurate and female friendly - Watch video
• Lucia
  Understanding Lung Cancer related risk factors and their Impact
• Dioptra
  Early dynamic screening for colorectal cancer via novel protein biomarkers reflecting biological initiation mechanism - Watch video
• Oncoscreen
  A European “shield” against colorectal cancer based on novel, more precise and affordable risk-based screening methods and viable policy pathways
• Sanguine
  Early detection and screening of hematological malignancies

Cluster brochure: Prevention and Early Detection Cluster

Cluster video: “Prevention and Early Detection (Screening)”

Implementation research projects

• CO-CAPTAIN
  Cancer prevention among individuals with mental ill-health: co-adapting and implementing patient navigation for primary cancer prevention - Watch video
• PREVENT
  Improving and upscaling primary prevention of cancer by addressing childhood obesity through implementation research - the PREVENT approach
• Pieces
  Towards large-scale adaptation and tailored implementation of evidence-based primary cancer prevention programmes in Europe and beyond - Watch video
• 4P-CAN
  Personalized CANcer Primary Prevention research through Citizen Participation and digitally enabled social innovation
• Oncodir
  Evidence-based Participatory Decision Making for Cancer Prevention through implementation research - Watch video
• CPW
  Cancer Prevention at Work (CPW): Occupational health surveillance in the implementation of prevention of infection-related cancer - Watch video

Cluster brochure: Prevention and Early Detection (implementation research)

Cluster video: Prevention and Early Detection (implementation research)

Behavioural change projects

• MELIORA
  Multimodal Engagement and sustainable Lifestyle Interventions Optimizing breast cancer Risk reduction supported by Artificial intelligence - Watch video
• SUNRISE
  SUstaiNable inteRventions and healthy behavIours for adoleScent primary prEvention of cancer with digital tools - Watch video
• iBeCHANGE
  Addressing psychosocial and lifestyle risk factors to promote primary cancer prevention: an integrated platform to promote behavioural change

Cluster brochure: Prevention and Early Detection (behavioural change)

Cluster video: Prevention and Early Detection (behavioural change) 

Heritable cancer projects

• SHIELD
  Comprehensive Surveillance of High-risk Individuals and Health Integration for Early detection of Pancreatic cancer utilising innovative multiplex immunoassays
• PREDI-LYNCH
  Validated non-invasive liquid biopsy tests for cancer PREDIction in LYNCH Syndrome
• DISARM
  Disarming the silent threat of ovarian cancer

Diagnosis and treatment

The third objective of the Mission is to optimise the diagnostics and treatment of cancer based on the principle of equitable access. This applies not only to the results of high-quality cancer research, but also to ensure patients have access to the latest, most personalised, minimally invasive treatments for their conditions, and with minimal secondary effects.

The Mission will support the creation of a Network of Comprehensive Cancer Infrastructures (CCIs) by 2025 and develop a quality assurance scheme valid for EU-27 and Associated Countries, to complement the set-up of a network of CCIs across Member States established through the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, and support future research, training, and awareness raising/communication activities. The CSA CCI4EU is developing a capacity building programme in MS and AC to improve or develop existing or future CCIs, focussing on research innovation and digital-related capacities and integration with cancer care.

The project FORCE (Fostering Oncology Research by Charities in Europe) supports a network of cancer charities with a keen interest to co-fund pragmatic clinical trials on rare and refractory cancers.

Refractory cancer projects

• PRIME-ROSE
  Precision Cancer Medicine Repurposing System Using Pragmatic Clinical Trials
• LEGATO
  Lomustine with or without reirradiation for first progression of glioblastoma: a pragmatic randomized phase III study - Watch video
• SalvOvar
  A European multi-disciplinary clinical project meant to improve the management of patients with poor prognostic ovarian cancer neoadjuvant chemotherapy: restoring hope, salvaging lives
• Strexit2
  A pragmatic clinical study of Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy followed by surgery alone for patients with high-risk retroperitoneal sarcoma - Watch video
• Liveration
  Unravelling the impact of Radiofrequency in liver surgery: the key to decrease local recurrence?
• Impact-AML
  Master Framework and Pragmatic Clinical Trial for Relapse or Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia - Watch video
• De Escalate
  Intermittent androgen deprivation therapy in the era of androgen receptor pathway inhibitors; a phase 3 pragmatic randomised trial
• IntReALL 2020
  International Study for Treatment of Childhood Relapsed ALL 2020
• Important
  IMPlementing geriatric assessment for dose Optimization of CDK 4/6-inhibitors in older bReasT cAncer patieNTs - Watch video
• Sagittarius
  A precision medicine trial leveraging blood-based tumor genomics to optimize treatment in operable stage III and high-risk stage II colon cancer patients – the SAGITTARIUS trial - Watch video
• PragmaTIL
  Pragmatic approach to Adoptive Cell Therapy (ACT) using Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TIL) in selected solid tumors
• Care1
  First line randomized study platform to optimize treatment in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma - Watch video

Cluster video: Diagnosis and treatment (refractory cancers)

Diagnostics projects

• Definitive
  Diagnostic HER2DX-guided treatment for patients with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer
• Endeavour
  Endoscopic brush cytology and single cell clinal dynamics of early easophageal adenocarcinoma for detecting cost effective surveillance strategies and prediction of cancer recurrence - Watch video
• Monalisa
  A SIOPEN pragmatic clinical trial to MOnitor NeuroblastomA relapse with LIquid biopsy Sensitive Analysis - Watch video
• Premio Collab
  Personalised response monitoring in oncology: co-creating clinical trials in advanced breast cancer - Watch video
• Resolve
  Residual disease assessment in hematologic malignancies to improve patient-relevant outcomes across Europe - Watch video