Information About Taking the TMF into Account in Funding Applications

TMF – Technologie- und Methodenplattform für die vernetzte medizinische Forschung e.V. (or the TMF for short) is the umbrella organization for networked medical research in Germany and it offers exchange, consultation, and solutions concerning all infrastructural and methodological issues.

In certain funding announcements (e.g. those issued by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, BMBF) it is pointed out that for the interfacing of existing collections of data and material and for the planning and development of new infrastructures, existing concepts, tools, services, and platforms for the exchange of experiences and for method development (like the TMF for example) should also be taken into account. The aim is to make it possible to exploit synergy benefits, avoid duplicated activities, and develop parallel structures.

The existing concepts, tools, and services of the TMF are available to all researchers as public domain. Regular use of the TMF as a platform for the exchange of experiences is primarily reserved for research networks, research teams, and research institutes that are members of TMF e.V. (registered association).

The subscription for membership of the TMF is eligible for funding by the BMBF and by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). The member's subscription normally has to be included in the formal application / funding application. It has to be accompanied by and backed up with individual specific requirements, such as the development of a research data infrastructure, of biobanks, cohorts, and registries or clinical trial projects.

Open services available to all researchers

All interested researchers and research teams can use the concepts, tools, and services of the TMF, irrespective of whether or not they are members of the TMF. That includes

1. legal and other expert opinions concerning numerous issues of medical research
2. generic concepts, concerning data protection for example, or
3. guides, checklists, and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
4. IT tools and applications for medical research
5. advisory services provided by the TMF working groups, especially for the creation of data protection concepts and the development of concepts and infrastructures for biobanks
6. training events and scientific symposiums
7. current information on the activities, projects, and results of the TMF through subscription to the online newsletter.

Specific services available to members of the TMF

As members, research networks, research teams, and research institutes can participate in the work of the TMF and benefit from the exchange of experiences between researchers from a very wide range of subjects and disciplines. They can also co-determine the requirements for new TMF products and services or ones that need updating. In addition to the open services, TMF members – and hence all the researchers involved in a network project – have an opportunity

1. to actively co-organize the development of topics and solutions for medical research, e.g. in the fields of data protection/ethics, IT infrastructure, or biobanking;
2. to receive support in the working groups for the local implementation of solutions and tools;
3. to gain an increase in know-how and an improved exchange of information with other locations through participation in the topic-based working groups;
4. to participate in numerous topic-based workshops and methodological further training events held by the TMF.
5. to extend the experience horizon by participating in field trips organized by the working groups, e.g. field visits by the biobanking working group to biobanks in Germany and other countries;
6. to gain access to the protected area of the TMF website with its diverse information and working documents from the committees and projects of the TMF, and
7. to obtain all new publications in the TMF book series free of charge (each new member receives a set of all the volumes that have been published to date, where currently available).

Research networks and research institutes can apply to the Board of Directors for membership of the TMF. For inquiries and consultation the person to contact at the TMF Office is: Kerstin Splett (Tel: +49 (0) 30 – 22 00 24 771, E-Mail).