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Opening of the 8th Generet Award for Rare Diseases call for applications

On the initiative of the Generet Fund, managed by the King Baudouin Foundation, the prestigious Generet Award will be granted in 2025, for the 8th time, to support a 4-year research project in the field of rare diseases in Belgium.

Main Features

Amount: 1.000.000 € over 4 years granted in two instalments of 500.000 € (the second being subject to the positive evaluation of a mid-term report).
 
Rare diseases are considered to be life threatening or chronic conditions which affect no more than 1 person out of 2.000. Rare cancers and rare adverse drug events research projects are not eligible for this call.

Application Procedure

Proposals will undergo a two-step application procedure encompassing a pre-proposal phase (open to all) and a full proposal phase (accessible to shortlisted applicants from the first stage).
 
Applicants applying to the pre-proposal phase must fill in a short pre-proposal form, provide a letter of intent of max. 3 pages focusing on the scientific proof of concept of the research project and attach a relevant core bibliography and short CV information

Eligable candidates

Candidates must be:
  • Internationally established investigators, with outstanding scientific achievements and multiple seminal contributions in the field of rare diseases.
  • Internationnaly established investigators, with outstanding scientific achievements and multiple seminal contributions in common diseases, who can demonstrate that their research will have a substantial added value for rare diseases and can accelerate research in this particular field.
​​Candidates must have a scientific seniority of min. PhD + 10 years (career breaks, such as maternity leave or long-time illness, not included).
Candidates must be affiliated to a Belgian University, a Belgian University Hospital or an eligible Research Instituteuntil December 31st, 2029 and not reach the retirement age limit during the project timeframe.
 
Former laureates cannot reapply to the Generet Award as Principal Investigator but can be partners in other applications (at the earliest 4 years after being laureate).

Eligible research project

The research project must be conducted in Belgium in the field of rare diseases.
The research project should aim at a better understanding of the processes underpinning rare diseases and translating fundamental discoveries into better prevention, diagnosis or treatment for patients. Research can encompass all stages from bench to bedside.

Eligible expenses

Eligible expenses encompass personnel costs, running costs and equipment. A max. of 10% overheads may be applicable (subject to negotiation and included in the Prize money).
 
Up to 30% of the Award's amount can be outsourced for supporting international or intranational expenses (personnel and running costs) including the private sector if they charge at cost price.

Call timeline 

  • Opening of the call: March 20, 2025
  • Pre-proposals deadline: May 12nd, 2025
  • First Panel meeting: End of June 2025
  • Invitation for full proposals: Following the first Panel meeting
  • Full proposals deadline: August 11th, 2025
  • Second Panel meeting: End of November 2025
  • Start of the research: January 1st, 2026

 How to apply ?

Pre-proposals, written in English, must be submitted via the online application system available on www.generetaward.be on May12nd, 2025 at the latest.

The complete regulations of the Generet Award 2025 are available here
The list of the previous laureates is available here.
 
Questions about the Award should be addressed via email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Submit a pre-proposal

Generet2024


Press release from the Rectors’ Council of French-speaking universities in Belgium : The universities of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation support “Stand Up for Science”

See the press release...

StandUpForScience2025


1 million euros for Research into early-onset dementia thanks to Generet Prize

This is an extremely promising avenue of research, and one that we are encouraging on this International Rare Disease Day. “What we are developing is as close as it gets to curing a form of early-onset dementia: we are targeting the genetic cause of the disease”, explains Prof. Dr. Patrik Verstreken who receives the Generet Prize for Rare Diseases 

Prof. Dr. Patrik Verstreken (Professor and researcher at the Center for Brain & Disease Research VIB – KU Leuven) is researching how a specific form of early-onset dementia can be treated with so-called ASOs (antisense oligonucleotides). This year, he receives the Generet Prize for Rare Diseases from the Generet Fund, managed by the King Baudouin Foundation and administered by the FNRS. This prize comes with a research budget of 1 million euros. 

Difficulty processing information and memory, mood swings, behavioural changes... the symptoms of dementia are all too familiar to many. For some, they come very early: several hundred thousand people worldwide carry a genetic mutation that inevitably causes them to develop dementia in their forties or early fifties. In Belgium, 300 to 400 people suffer from this disease. The disease strikes early and progresses rapidly. 

"It concerns familial versions of Alzheimer's," says laureate Prof. Dr. Patrik Verstreken (VIB – KU Leuven). Prof. Verstreken's team is particularly looking at a large Mexican family with the same mutation. In other families, it is a different mutation, but always on the presenilin gene, and always with the certainty that early-onset dementia will occur. 

"We are investigating how we can treat them with antisense oligonucleotides. ASOs are a type of medication that ensures certain parts of the DNA are expressed differently – 'differently' usually means 'less'," explains Prof. Verstreken. 

When asked when the drug will be available to patients, Prof. Verstreken understandably responds somewhat cautiously, "But I dare to hope within a foreseeable time, which in research terms means: within about ten years…Thanks to the funds from the Generet Fund, we can create more ASOs, conduct more preclinical tests, involve more families, learn about more mutations... In short, continue working towards a solution." 

See the press release of the King Baudoin Foundation...

VisRech-AVR


A new WelCHANGE FNRS call will open on April 8th, 2025 !

Funding of projects in human and social sciences with potential societal impacts

WelCHANGE FNRS is a funding program for research projects :

- carried out by a main promoter in human and social sciences,

- with potential societal impacts. 

These projects, which may be single or multi-university, must be led by a principal promoter in Human and Social Sciences, in possible collaboration with co-promoters in Life and Health or Exact and Natural sciences.
In practical terms, the WelCHANGE FNRS program provides financial support over 4 years, including operating, personnel and equipment costs.

The call will open on April 8th, 2025.

All relevant documents are available via the following link.

For questions about the program : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

For technical questions about submitting an application : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Préannonce WELCHANGE EN


Info session Weave - 10.02.2025

Weave – Research funding without borders

Jointly organised by the Fund for Scientific Research-FNRS (F.R.S.-FNRS) and the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO)

The bottom-up, cross-European initiative called Weave was launched in December 2020 by European research funders to support excellent collaborative research projects across borders. By making proposals go through a single review process, Weave aims to simplify the submission and selection procedures of collaborative research proposals that involve researchers from up to three European countries or regions.

Weave is implemented through existing, bottom up, funding channels for fundamental research (with the corresponding timelines and conditions) in the participating funding agencies. Therefore, there are no additional restrictions on the thematic focus or subject.

The information session aims to reply to the following questions:

What is Weave, how does it work in practice? How can Weave facilitate scientific collaboration between researchers from the French-speaking community and Flanders? Which other bi- and trilateral collaborations are possible within Weave? What are the conditions, procedures and timelines to be followed?

We kindly invite you to the virtual info session on the 10th of February 2025 from 2.00 pm (CET) onwards, during which the FWO and the F.R.S.-FNRS will present the collaboration opportunities within the Weave initiative and answer your questions during a Q&A session.

  • Please register here
  • Please note that you will receive the specific link to the Zoom webinar a few days before the info session. 
  • For more information or questions, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
Specific webpages on Weave:

Weave-infosession2024


The Audacious Medical Grant Oncology (AMG-Onco) Call is Open

The Audacious Medical Grant (AMG) is a funding tool financed by private donations and bequests received by the FNRS.

It supports medical or biomedical research projects that are original, audacious, and creative but do not find support in traditional funding channels due to a lack of preliminary data, absence of prior work, or an unconventional methodology.
 
The AMG-ONCO is not a funding instrument dependent on Télévie, but the FNRS uses the expertise of its Scientific Committee to evaluate the submitted projects. Therefore, there is no overlap between the AMG-ONCO 2025 call and the Télévie 2025 call.
 
This call covers all areas of oncology and all approaches (biomedical research, clinical research, epidemiological research, public health…). The submitted project must aim to:
  • Improve the understanding of the mechanisms leading to cancer development, and/or
  • Develop new therapeutic avenues, and/or
  • Improve cancer prevention or detection.
The AMG-ONCO 2025 call is open until February 27, 2025.
 
Mini-guide Audacious Medical Grant – Oncology (AMG-ONCO) 2025 FR / EN
 
AMG-ONCO-2025-EN

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