Collaborate with EFIC

Include EFIC as a partner in your research consortia/grant applications

Effective communication of results and societal/clinical impact are increasingly emphasised by research funding bodies. EFIC can help your research project achieve this and more through doing the following:

• Communicate your research project results and updates via EFIC’s online communication channels – social media, mailing list, website
• Produce and share video interviews about your research
• Host open webinars on your research
• Connect you to the programme organisers for our scientific meetings, where you may be offered the opportunity to showcase your research
• Provide access to our database of 20,000 clinicians and researchers, including for survey participation.
• Recruit subject matter experts through our ‘Pain Scientist Network’
• Patient and public involvement; Involve = patients and other stakeholders in your research through our strong links with patients’ organisations and experience in lay-audience communication
• Boost your network through engaging with our established connections with scientific societies, industry, patients’ organisations and policy makers.

If you are applying for a grant or hoping to form a pain research consortium, please contact sam.kynman@efic.org for more information on how EFIC could contribute.

Choose EFIC as a secondment location for your Marie Curie fellowship

EFIC – as a non-academic organisation – provides a wonderful opportunity for young pain researchers to develop important transferable skills, and be exposed to activities, that are generally not a large part of the traditional academic environment. In particular, you have the opportunity to reach individuals in the non-academic sector, such as policy makers, politicians, clinicians, insurance companies and pain advocacy groups in Europe. In a 3-6 month secondment here, you will have to the opportunity to achieve the following:

• Communicate your research project results via EFIC’s online communication channels
• Play a key role in EFIC’s communications team and guide its science-based communication approach
• Participate in the planning and project management of educational events
• Lead webinars and interviews with renowned pain researchers
• Engage with senior pain researchers to boost your networks
• Participate in advocacy work – understanding the policy process and how to influence it
• Get to know how a non-profit and non-academic organisation is managed

If you are applying for a Marie Curie fellowship and are interested in including a secondment with EFIC, please contact sam.kynman@efic.org for more information.

To find out more, read the testimonial of Mary O’Keeffe who did a secondment with EFIC in 2020 here.

Current Collaborations

Please find more information and updates on our current collaborations below.

Past Collaborations

Please find more information and updates on our past collaborations below.

Project name: ITPain – Improving Translational Research for Chronic Pain

Project description: ITPain is a one-year networking group project of 21 international experts funded by ERA-NET NEURON (https://www.neuron-eranet.eu/) and aims to address the huge heterogeneity of protocol design and data collection in preclinical and clinical chronic pain trials, through harmonising protocol templates and data collection (including *omics-approaches) for preclinical and clinical trials and aligning them in a translational approach. This will be achieved by developing consensus on protocols and a minimum and clinically relevant “Core Set of Data”. Furthermore, a first step towards a joint server infrastructure for an enhanced comparability and analysis of already available data resources (collected by network members from previous studies to assess comparability and integrability of multidimensional datasets) and future trials is planned.

EFIC’s role in the project: Disseminate and communicate the project results to multiple stakeholders including scientists, policymakers, and payers.

Website: https://itpain.org/ 

News from DIGI4MSK

Project name: IN-ChildPain: The International Network on Chronic Pain in Childhood

Project description: IN-ChildPain is a one-year networking group project of 24 international experts funded by ERA-NET NEURON (https://www.neuron-eranet.eu/) and aims to identify the most important outcome domains that should be assessed in paediatric pain clinical trials and identify the most appropriate (i.e., psychometrically robust, available to researchers at no cost, and easy to translate into multiple languages) patient reported outcome measures (PROMs), develop a guide for an international registry of children with chronic pain and develop a research protocol to study the availability of, and access to, different treatments, to help evaluate their effects as naturally provided to patients.

EFIC’s role in the project: Assist with developing a plan for sustaining the existence of In-ChildPain beyond the life of the action, and particularly in the dissemination and communication to multiple stakeholders including scientists, policymakers, and payers.

News from IN-ChildPain

Project name: Frontier Research Competences for Neuro-modulation (FRESCO4NoPain)

Project description: FRESCO4NoPain is a 48-month EU-funded Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action, Doctoral Network that will provide world-class interdisciplinary training to 17 Doctoral Candidates in the area of non-pharmacological chronic pain treatment based on the pain-related brain oscillations and neuromodulation. The research will focus on three core areas: Preclinical Studies: Brain circuitries, oscillations, and neuromodulation in pain; Human Experimental Studies: Human mechanisms of brain oscillations and neuromodulation in pain; and Clinical Studies: Brain oscillations and neuromodulation in people with chronic pain.

EFIC’s role in the project: EFIC is acting as a secondment location for Doctoral Candidates, where researchers will be able to develop a range of transferable skills through working directly for EFIC on its educational and scientific projects, as well as on advocacy, communication and general association management responsibilities.

 Website: https://www.cnap.hst.aau.dk/fresco4nopain

Available positions: If you are interested in a Doctoral Candidate position within FRESCO4NoPain, please visit this link to apply. https://www.cnap.hst.aau.dk/fresco4nopain/available-positions

News from HaPpY

Project name: Comorbidity of cHronic Pain and mood disorders: breaking the vicious cYcle (HaPpY)

Project description: HaPpY is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network funded via the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 budget. HaPpY aims to create an optimal environment for the training of Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) to break the vicious cycle linking chronic pain and mood disorders. The final HAPpY event will be held in Cádiz for two full days, on the 25th and 26th of September 2025.

News from HaPpY

Project name: Value of Treatment – Chronic Pain

Project description: The Value of Treatment project is managed by the European Brain Council with financial support from Grunenthal and Pfizer. The project aims to develop a robust health economic assessment of multimodal chronic pain treatment, with input from patients, researchers and clinicians. The project aims to identify the ideal care pathways for various pain types and the socioeconomic impacts of adequate treatment.

Project name: INTERACT-EUROPE

Project description: INTERACT-EUROPE is a large multistakeholder project bringing together 33 partners from 17 countries. It aims to develop a European inter-specialty cancer training programme involving all main oncology disciplines and professions, cancer centres and patient groups, based on relevant needs assessments. It is co-funded by the EU under the EU4Health programme 2021-2027, as part of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan.

Click here to download a presentation explaining the project.

EFIC’s role in the project: EFIC’s key role is communication and dissemination. EFIC will provide strategic communication advice and lead on content development including webinars, lay summaries, infographics, and newsletters. This will ensure the project results are communicated to the wider scientific community, general public, and policymakers.

Website: http://www.interact-europe.org/

Project name: smartCARE

Project description:  smartCARE: Improving Cancer Survivors’ Quality of Life is a 24-month project funded under the EU4Health programme 2021-2027 which brings together 41 partners. It aims to develop a ‘Cancer Survivor Smart Card’ – in the form of a mobile application – to improve the quality of life and health status of cancer survivors.

EFIC’s role in the project: EFIC is a consultative partner on the project and our main role is to provide scientific input on the user needs and advise on the piloting stages.

Website: https://www.europeancancer.org/eu-projects/impact/smartcare.html

Project name: PANACEA

Project description: PANACEA is a three-year project funded under the European Erasmus+ programme and aims to contribute to reducing the gap between placebo/nocebo scientific evidence and clinical practice of the future, i.e., higher education students in medicine and nursing, and of today healthcare professionals.

EFIC’s role in the project: EFIC will be responsible for 1. collecting information from clinical practice experience, 2. organizing a symposium where experts can share their expertise and opinions about the management of placebo and nocebo effect in clinical practice, and 3. supervising the planning of the main dissemination events.

Website: https://site.unibo.it/educationonplacebo/en

Past Collaborations

Please find more information on past collaborations below.

Project name: IMI-Pain Care

Project description: IMI-PainCare is a large multi-stakeholder consortium funded via the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 programme, which receives funding from the European Commission and the pharmaceutical industry. IMI-PainCare aims to develop alignment on patient reported outcomes used in pain research, identification of biomarkers for pain, and the refinement of preclinical models for improved translational pain research. Find out more about the project here.

News from IMI-Pain Care

Project name: EIT Health Wild Card 2021 Pain Management call

Project description:EIT Health is a public private partnership funded via the European Commission, bringing together scientists, entrepreneurs, engineers, clinicians and others to foster innovative research and business proposals based on new technologies. The Wildcard programme establishes multidisciplinary teams who are asked to develop a project between them, pitch it to experts and, if chosen, develop a business plan and eventually launch with start-up funding. In 2021 Pain Management was chosen as one of two topics.