University of Tartu coordinates major project for smarter use of cancer data in Europe

The UNCAN-Connect project (Decentralized Collaborative Network for Advancing Cancer Research and Innovation), led by the Estonian Cancer Network (ESTCAN) at the University of Tartu, aims to establish an international cancer data sharing platform to facilitate cancer prevention, monitoring, research, and treatment. The project is funded by the EU Horizon Europe programme for research and innovation and will run from 1 September 2025 to August 2030, with a total budget of nearly €30 million.

UNCAN-Connect brings together a strong multidisciplinary consortium of 53 organisations from 19 countries across Europe and internationally. The project aims to develop a decentralised collaborative network to advance cancer research and innovation, enabling secure, interoperable, and ethical access to cancer-related health data across the European Union.

The project will operationalise a collaborative framework that addresses both technical and governance components. It will facilitate seamless access to cancer data, promote open science, and revolutionise cancer research and treatment by co-developing an open-source platform, the “UNCAN.eu”. The platform will be tested through specific use cases focused on six major cancer types, including paediatric, lymphoid, pancreatic, ovarian, lung, and prostate cancer.

The UNCAN-Connect Consortium, joined by the European Research Infrastructure BBMRI-ERIC, will also collaborate with initiatives such as EOSC4Cancer, CanSERV, and EUCANImage to ensure efficient data sharing, integration, and reusability across Member States. Ultimately, UNCAN-Connect aims to foster interoperability and accelerate scientific progress by supporting open science and strengthening collaboration among researchers, SMEs, patient representatives, public institutions, and citizens – thereby contributing to the EU Cancer Mission’s goal of improving cancer outcomes for all.

Estonian Cancer Network (ESTCAN)