Which calls are covered if applying via the Horizon Europe Portal, and what is possible through reviewing the Strategic Orientations documents?
If applying via the Portal, you will find Pillar 2 Calls and Topics from the 2024 Work Programmes onwards (i.e. Calls and Topics with 2024 in the call code) listed as either ‘open for submission’ or ‘forthcoming’. There are only a limited number of calls currently listed on the Portal, however, applications targeting them are most welcome.
Alternatively you can review the Strategic Orientations documents that the European Commission has published as listed on our website, which gives an indication of the content that future calls will focus on. For ease of reference, it is possible to review the various ‘Destinations’ set out in those documents in Annex 1 in the Scheme Guidance Notes. The documents themselves provide further information that applicants will need to review in order to submit an effective application.
From either source, applicants may target any type of action, and focus on any cluster in Pillar 2: 1 (Health), 2 (Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society), 3 (Civil Security for Society), 4 (Digital, Industry and Space), 5 (Climate, Energy and Mobility) and 6 (Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment).
Can the Academy help me to find collaborators?
Unfortunately, the Academy is not able to facilitate networking or share contact details of other applicants.
What makes a successful application?
All eligible proposals submitted in response to this call will be assessed by relevant peer reviewers.
Applications for calls on the Horizon Europe Portal will be assessed against the following criteria:
- The expertise of the applicants in the specific selected Horizon Europe Call and Topic and the alignment of that expertise and the content of the application with that Call and Topics;
- The feasibility of the pump priming proposal including the timescale of the award, and its plan of action in terms of supporting the delivery of a successful application to Horizon Europe (noting that the deadline of your chosen Call and Topic must be at least three weeks after the planned start of the award);
- The commitment and ability of the organisations involved to work together and make a successful application to Horizon Europe;
- The added value of this funding to the proposed pump priming activity, including a particular focus on the relevance of the items listed in the budget and the quality of the financial justification.
Applications for the expected opportunities as set out in the Strategic Orientations documents will be assessed against the following criteria:
- The expertise of the applicants in the area of the expected opportunities as set out in the Destination selected from the Strategic Orientations documents;
- The alignment of the applicants’ expertise with the focus selected from the relevant Strategic Orientations Destination;
- The feasibility of the pump priming proposal including the timescale of the award, and its plan of action in terms of supporting the delivery of a successful application to Horizon Europe’s future calls;
- The commitment and ability of the organisations planned to be involved to work together and make a successful application to Horizon Europe;
- The added value of this funding to the proposed pump priming activity, including a particular focus on the novelty of the collaboration for the partners involved, the early or mid-career stage of the applicants or lack of previous experience engaging with EU Framework Programmes, and the relevance of the items listed in the budget and the quality of the financial justification.
Can you share the details of previous awards?
You can see previous successful awards on our past awards page.
Can you confirm which disciplines are eligible to apply for this call?
Proposals are welcome in all disciplines – engineering, natural sciences, medical and health sciences, humanities, and social sciences.
Are there any restrictions with regards to applicants’ career stage?
The Principal Investigator (PI) must be of postdoctoral or above status (or have equivalent research or innovation experience). If that is met then the applicants can be from any career stage.
Is this call open to applicants planning to apply for starter, consolidator, or advanced ERC grants?
The call is focused solely on Pillar 2 of Horizon Europe – Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness.
Are the following eligible costs: travel of partners, writing workshop costs, the support of a bid writer?
Funding may be used to support:
- costs for concept or proof of market work and proposal development
- costs of meetings for the organisations involved in the UK or the EU to prepare the proposal
- travel and subsistence, including costs to participate in information days, brokerage events directly related to Horizon Europe objectives, relevant discussions with European Commission officials or similar
- research and/or clerical assistance (based in the UK or internationally)
- due diligence work on partners
- costs towards child or parent care if activity is conducted away from home and it is not possible to make alternative arrangements
- contributions towards support services such as proposal writing not exceeding 50 per cent of the total value sought
Can this funding be combined with funding from the EIC to create innovation consortia?
The call is focused solely on Pillar 2 of Horizon Europe – Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness.
Can this pump priming be used to add value or match fund capacity-building EU initiatives (like specific COST actions) that are themselves designed to build capacity towards submitting Pillar 2 2024-Work-programme calls?
The Academy’s funding must be used for the purpose of the call. If applicants wish to add additional funding to that provided by the Academy they are able to do so.
Is there any guidance on the inclusion of non-academic partners in pump priming applications?
Proposals are encouraged and welcomed that involve working closely with any type of organisation eligible for Horizon Europe funding (based in the UK and/or the EU/Associated Countries), including SMEs, third parties, end users and similar bodies/organisations such as hospitals, libraries, regulators, commercial partners, creative industry partners, museums, local authorities and associations, NGOs, charities and companies as appropriate to the selected Call and Topic.
My research topic could cover two clusters in Pillar 2, can I apply for this scheme?
To apply for this call, you will need to choose a Destination within one Cluster.
I am interested in applying for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, can I apply for this call?
This Horizon Europe Pump Priming Collaboration call is focused solely on Pillar 2 of Horizon Europe – Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness.
How many co-applicants can there be?
There is no maximum size for the consortia.
Under ‘Other Participants’ please give the names, appointments, and institutional affiliation of all other participants in the proposed research. Please also describe the contribution to the project to be made by other participants, citing any particular specialisms and expertise, in the ‘Role’ text box. If details of Other Participants are not yet known, again please use the text box to provide indicative numbers and/or types of people who may be involved in the project.
If my pump priming bid is successful, what are the implications for my subsequent Horizon application? Will I need to share my subsequent Horizon Europe application with the Academy?
You will be expected to confirm that you have applied to Horizon Europe, and the outcome of that application.
The Academy would expect that at least some, if not all, of the co-applicants involved in the pump priming proposal would be involved in the Horizon Europe application, but the composition of the consortia can change. While the UK institution needs to lead the pump priming application, this is not the case for the subsequent Horizon Europe application.
An interim report with a final financial statement must be submitted, and all award activity concluded, prior to the deadline of the Horizon Europe call being applied to.
When providing an indication of the expected UK participation in the proposed project will applicants be penalised if they do not lead the eventual application to a Horizon Europe call?
No, the outcome of the application will not be influenced if the UK partners do not lead the Horizon Europe application. Being the lead of the application to Horizon Europe is not a requirement for receiving the award from the Academy.
Are Catapult Centres eligible to be the lead research organisation?
For this call the Academy will be accepting applications from PIs currently employed at Catapult organisations.
For all applications we require that the institution/organisation the applicant is applying from is registered on Flexi-Grant. If this is not the case already the applicant or research office will need to be in touch with us via [email protected] in order for us to complete this process.