Two years on from the UK’s association to Horizon Europe, we are playing our part to boost participation for UK-based researchers

It has been over two years since the UK became an associated country to Horizon Europe – a long sought after outcome for the sector in order to unlock the opportunities and collaboration possible in the world’s largest research and innovation programme. Boosting UK-based researchers’ participation in Horizon Europe has been a key part of the British Academy’s international work.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has published some statistics on the UK's performance in Horizon Europe in 2024 – the first year of association. They show strong performance in Pillar 1 (eg, European Research Council, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions), with an upward trajectory in Pillar 2 (large collaborative consortia grants focused on shared challenges) that should continue to build as UK-based researchers and their counterparts elsewhere in Europe are able to build further collaborations. Here are some of the ways in which we are helping with this, particularly for researchers in the humanities and social sciences.

We run webinars for UK-based researchers in the humanities and social sciences who are interested in applying for European Research Council (ERC) grants. These are led by British Academy Fellows who have first-hand experience of ERC grants and/or panel evaluations and are designed to provide participants with a deeper understanding of how to shape and articulate their research proposal.

Dan Paget, Assistant Professor in Politics at the University of Sussex, attended one of the ERC webinars before being awarded an ERC Starting Grant worth €1.5 million for NEWREPUBLIC, a five-year project investigating the ideas that animate anti-autocratic movements. Dr Paget said:

"I would not be able to do this urgent work without the UK's association with Horizon Europe. I would not have won this grant without the assistance of the British Academy. The events which they convened and the advice which they provided helped to make my application competitive."

With funding from DSIT and in partnership with our fellow National Academies, we and UKRI have awarded Pump Priming grants of up to £10,000 to help UK-based researchers and innovators build the international consortia needed to produce competitive Horizon Europe Pillar 2 applications.

Jill Jameson, Professor of Education at the University of Greenwich, received a British Academy Pump Priming Grant to support the development of her Horizon Europe application for a project on building trust and leadership to challenge aporophobic crimes through a police community of practice. Professor Jameson said:

"The British Academy Pump Priming Award delivered exceptional added value. It provided the essential resources to build the UK–EU collaboration and carry out feasibility and proposal-development activity, enabling me to lead a high-quality Horizon Europe application - successfully resulting in the €3 million BTLCOP award. This is a fantastic funding scheme and the association of the UK with Horizon Europe is absolutely invaluable for achieving life-changing real-world research."

Philip Woods, Professor of Educational Policy at the University of Hertfordshire, was awarded a Pump Priming grant and went on to lead a consortium of six institutions from six countries to secure a Horizon Europe grant of €2.8 million for a project exploring how arts-based and embodied learning methods can promote democratic citizenship. Professor Woods said:

"Securing the Horizon Europe grant is a tremendous result and in no small measure helped by the pump priming grant. It enabled us to reinforce the commitment of the UK to leading Horizon Europe applications and to build an ethos between ourselves and EU partners, as well as significantly enhancing our team's capacity to work closely with partners and refine the application."

Building on this work, over the summer we will run several opportunities for UK-based researchers to engage with Horizon Europe:

• SSH Opportunities in Horizon Europe Pillar 2 - on 30 June we will host a workshop on the opportunities for the social sciences and humanities researchers in Horizon Europe Pillar 2. The workshop is designed to increase awareness and understanding of relevant Pillar 2 calls in the 2026-27 Work Programmes, and to equip researchers and research managers with practical insights to support the development of competitive proposals.
• ERC Advanced Grants Webinar - the next in our series of ERC grants webinars, taking place on 19 June.
• ERC Proposal Reading Day - on 1 June, we held a pilot Reading Day for UK-based humanities and social sciences researchers preparing ERC Starting or Consolidator Grant applications. Participants had the opportunity to read from a selection of 50 successful grant proposals, gaining insight into what makes a competitive application.

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