Mission & Objectives

The ECRAID-Base project, funded by the EU, is the core set of activities for the European Clinical Research Alliance for Infectious Diseases (ECRAID). The project aims to strengthen Europe's defences against emerging infectious diseases and AMR by establishing a multidisciplinary, self-sustainable clinical research network coordinated by the Ecraid foundation. The first studies to benefit from this pan-European infrastructure are five Perpetual Observational Studies (POS) and the ground-breaking adaptive platform trial REMAP-CAP. With their help, the project will generate tangible evidence, advancing the fields of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases, and ensure a more robust response to emerging threats to public health.

 

ESCMID collaboration

In collaboration with Ecraid and the European Respiratory Society (ERS), ESCMID is helping ECRAID-Base clinical sites stay at the top of their game by offering regular training and educational opportunities, both online and in-person. This ensures adherence to the OPERATES training criteria: Organised, Prepared, Engaged, Resourced, Active, Trained, Extensive and Sustainable. Making this a reality is one of the goals of the EU-funded ECRAID-Base project. Training opportunities are available to all clinical sites and investigators within the wider Ecraid network and are often open to unaffiliated persons, too.

 

Upcoming Activities



Wednesday 10 April 2024, 16:00-18:00 CEST

Urinary tract infections (UTI) are one of the most frequent infectious diseases syndromes, both in the community and hospitals. Complicated UTI (cUTI) are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. There are relevant topics to discuss related to cUTI: the classical definition for «complicated», which has been used for randomised trials and recommendations in the management of patients, is being challenged; the recommended microbiological criteria for the diagnosis of the aetiology of UTI is not used in all hospitals and are confronted with specific difficulties; there are novelties in different aspects of management, such as duration and route of antibiotic therapy; antimicrobial resistance in urinary pathogens has become a very frequent problem. Linked to this, cUTI are an important target for research, including new and old/neglected drugs, non-antibiotic approaches and preventive actions. The application of novel designs for randomised trials in cUTI is also being discussed. All these topics will be reviewed and updated in this FREE WEBINAR.

 

Chairs: Prof. Marc Bonten & Prof. Evelina Tacconelli

 

Speakers: PhD. Angela Huttner, PhD. Arjana Tambic, Prof. Pontus Naucler, MD Jose Bravo-Ferrer, PhD Biljana Carevic & Prof. Jesús Rodríguez-Baño

 

Read more & Register to attend for free

 




Respiratory infections - onsite course in Porto, Portugal 29-31 July 2024

This course will provide an update on tuberculosis, non-tuberculosis mycobacteria, fungus, bacterial and viral respiratory infections. The programme, developed by ERS and ESCMID, is designed for attendees to gain a fundamental understanding on the diagnosis, prevention and management of respiratory infections, while participating in workshops and discussion of clinical cases. Find out more information here

 

Selected applicants will receive a free registration to attend this course. A limited amount of grants of up to 600€ are also available for travel and accommodation. Priority will be given to ERS, ESCMID, and The Union members, as well as those involved in the ECRAID-Base project. Application deadline: Monday, 25 March 2024. More information here

 

An application will be submitted to the European Board for Accreditation in Pneumology (EBAP) for CME accreditation of this event.The number of credits that you will receive corresponds to your attendance during the course. Please note that you need to sign the register of attendance each day to ensure that you receive the correct amount of CME credits.

 

This course is supported by the ECRAID-Base project, which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research & Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No. 965313.

 


Past Activities



Sharpen your UTI diagnostic tools with some help from the EU-funded ECRAID-Base laboratory team. This free webinar took place on 14 February and introduced a new sample collection & management manual for urinary tract infections (available for download), which serves as a comprehensive guide for implementing good practices in routine UTI laboratory management. In the second half of the webinar, clinical microbiologists and ID specialists engaged in a dynamic panel discussion, with participants contributing their views on the manual, fostering a collaborative environment for continuous improvement.

 

Access the recorded webinar here

 


Better methods for clinical studies in Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology

24 - 26 October 2023, Prague, Czechia - HYBRID (Onsite and Online)

 

View the course programme flyer here

 

Event report

 


Ecraid at ECCMID 2023

Ecraid Young Investigator Meeting at ECCMID 2023: This second edition,16th April 2023, aimed to engage young investigators to participate in Ecraid to further develop their training, support their career path and engage them in research within a European clinical research network. 57 people attended in a hybrid session and participated actively. We all shared the struggles of running clinical research (long administrative procedures, planning the creation of a protocol, designing an efficient CRF, data management, sharing, analysis…) and the need to collaborate with more experienced people to go through them. As for last year, the main conclusion question was “How can we get in?” - Ana C. Hernandez (Ecraid Young Investigator meeting organiser and speaker)

 

Read more here

 


Better Methods for Clinical Studies in Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology

20 - 22 October 2022, Utrecht, Netherlands

 

View the course programme flyer here

 

Event report

 


Ecraid at ECCMID 2022

After the start of Ecraid-Base early 2021, and the official registration of the Ecraid foundation in January 2022, ECCMID 2022 was the perfect occasion to present this innovative project to the scientific world. This project is creating a clinical research infrastructure that aims to become self-sustainable and shape the future of infectious diseases research in Europe. As such, it is important to engage investigators at the start of their careers, and therefore we organized a young investigators meeting. There were 50 spots available, which were filled up well before the registration deadline. On Monday morning 9am on the third day of the conference, we were wondering whether people still had enough energy to show-up, but the room was already full upon our arrival. The meeting was hosted by Dr Alike van der Velden (UMCU Utrecht), Dr Fabiana Arieti (Verona University), Dr Ana C. Hernandez (CHU Limoges), and Dr Marlieke de Kraker (Geneva University Hospitals). After a welcome video of Marc Bonten, Marlieke presented the general concept of ECRAID, with a specific focus on the perpetual observational studies that are implemented within the infrastructure, Fabiana show-cased the role of the epidemiological workstream (EPI-Net) within ECRAID, followed by an explanation of the role of the statistical workstream (STAT-Net) by Marlieke. After which a lively discussion was initiated, showing the engagement of the young investigators present, and their interest in participating in Ecraid and how Ecraid could help them in their first steps towards scientific research, whereby support for writing and submitting grants to obtain funding was one of the requests. In the second half of the session, Ana and Alike presented the implementation of two specific perpetual observational studies in the fields of ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) and acute respiratory infections (ARI) respectively. They showed the different opportunities the POS provides for the implementation of more extensive observational or interventional studies. At the end of the session, the lively discussions continued until we were summoned to leave the room. It was great to engage with so many young people interested in Ecraid, we have a bright future ahead!  - Marlieke de Kraker PhD

 

Read more here

 


Webinar: Clinical trial platforms for new and neglected antimicrobials

Access the recorded webinar here

 


Webinar: Clinical case discussion: How clinical trials inform antibiotic stewardship

Access the recorded webinar here