Research Agency

Mission

The central aim of the ERS Research Agency is to facilitate respiratory research through the coordination and support of the respiratory research community, and to promote high-quality, multinational respiratory research with the goal of improving the health of respiratory patients.

For more information regarding the goals and structure of the ERS Research Agency, read the ERJ Editorial.

Current activities and key areas

The Research Agency is currently supporting Clinical Research Collaborations (CRCs) in the development and implementation of their plans including seeking funding.

The Agency also aims to be active in the following areas:

  • Standards, guidance and training: The Agency will target this area through the development of Europe‐wide standard protocols and forms for data sharing and consent to data storage; developing education and training programmes on research methods, from experimental techniques, to study design and statistics; or producing research guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
  • Supporting researcher career development: The Agency will target this area by helping to establish new fellowship programmes; seeking sponsors for fellowships; developing partnerships with other funding bodies to increase the number of fellowships involved with respiratory research.
  • Obtaining funding, and coordinating research projects and clinical research: The Agency will target this area by assisting in the design of research studies; supporting the development of proposals for funding at the EU level; reviewing and approving studies, ensuring an ERS seal of quality; or coordinating the conduct of multi-national research projects and clinical studies.
  • Data: The Agency will target this area by ensuring the continuation of existing databases, registries, bio banks, and sample collections; providing additional services around the data, such as the ability to search across several public and potentially legacy datasets; developing and running training on data handling and data analysis; generating guidelines, SOPs, template consent forms for collecting and handling data in compliance with the EU legal and regulatory framework; or establishing a central point to access datasets from multiple projects.

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