Implementation and Multisectoral Partnerships to Advance Cancer Screening Transformation - IMPACT-SCREEN

Curatio International Foundation CIF (Georgia) is building a Horizon Europe Cluster 1 Health consortium to demonstrate how equity-focused, multisectoral implementation research can measurably increase cancer screening participation and earlier diagnosis—starting in Adjara and designed for rapid replication across similar settings.

Georgia has an established national screening program, yet coverage and completion remain uneven, with persistent gaps for rural communities, working-age populations, and groups facing access barriers. Our concept tackles this “last-mile” problem: not by inventing new tests, but by redesigning delivery and demand so that evidence-based screening becomes “easy to start, easy to complete, and easy to scale”. We will integrate pragmatic service innovations (e.g., community- and employer-enabled outreach; self-collection pathways where appropriate; and better-organized referral navigation) with a robust evaluation package that produces decision-ready evidence for national and regional scale-up. The work is structured to deliver what Horizon evaluators and implementers need most: clear objectives, measurable implementation outcomes, and credible pathways from pilot to policy.

The project will generate three high-value outputs for health systems and decision-makers: (1) a tested and transferable service model for increasing uptake and completion of priority screening pathways; (2) implementation evidence on what works, for whom, and at what cost; and (3) a scale-up roadmap, including operational guidance, workforce implications, and scenario-based costing to support regional and national expansion. This is paired with a strong learning agenda: we will document barriers and facilitators across sectors, strengthen coordination beyond the healthcare system, and co-produce solutions with municipalities, employers, community actors, and clinical providers—so that improvements persist after the grant ends.

CIF offers a rare combination of assets: deep local operating capacity in Georgia; long-standing policy-relevant health policy and systems research experience; trusted relationships with national and regional stakeholders; and practical know-how in running field implementation, data collection, and evidence-to-policy translation. We are positioned to lead real-world delivery, stakeholder mobilization, and contextual analysis, while ensuring the work remains scientifically rigorous and publishable.

We are now seeking partners to complete a winning consortium, and our request is explicit—either as core co-beneficiaries or linked partners—so roles and responsibilities are clear from the outset, in line with best practice for brokerage engagement.  We particularly welcome: implementation science and trial/design expertise; health economics and modelling; digital tools for outreach, reminders, and navigation; laboratory/clinical partners for pathway optimization; behavioral science; patient and community organizations; and institutions with strong dissemination and scale-up credentials. We also value partners with prior Horizon collaboration experience and the ability to work across disciplines and borders.

If you are looking for a consortium where innovation is defined by “implementable change”—and where the field site, policy traction, and scale-up intent are in place—let’s connect. The brokerage pitch format we will use will be tightly aligned to the topic, the proposal objectives, our complementary expertise, existing partnerships, and the specific partner profiles still needed.