Horizon Europe Pump Priming Collaboration between UK and EU Partners

This programme builds on the important awareness raising and promotional communications that the sector, National Contact Points, the UK Research Office in Brussels, and the Science & Innovation Network have been taking forward by providing pump priming funding to seed collaborations for applications to specific Horizon Europe calls in Pillar 2.

Funded by the UK’s Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy.

The British Academy (BA), the Science & Innovation Network in Europe (SIN Europe), UKRI and KTN with the support of the Academy of Medical Sciences (AMS) and the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) are inviting proposals from UK and EU/associated countries-based researchers to pump prime collaborations to support the effective uptake of the opportunities UK association to Horizon Europe will provide.

Proposals are welcome in all disciplines – engineering, natural sciences, medical sciences, humanities, and social sciences.

Aims: Horizon Europe is the largest ever EU Framework Programme for research and innovation, with a budget of over €95 billion (2021–2027, excluding contributions from associate countries). Such EU programmes offer significant opportunities to access new knowledge, partners, markets, customers and suppliers. The aim of the call is to develop collaborative activity between UK and EU/associated countries’ entities in Pillar 2 of Horizon Europe. Applicants will need to identify a specific upcoming call in this Pillar as the focus of their proposed collaboration with the goal of submitting an application to that upcoming call building on this pump priming funding. The purpose of this call is not to implement the proposed projects that will be submitted to Horizon Europe, but to give the UK-based partners the resources needed to collaborate with EU organisations and stakeholders to further develop the idea and the market opportunities. The expectation is that the funding will be utilised in a variety of ways but could include feasibility studies, application advice and training, partnership building, and dedicated time to take forward an application.

Each project will be led by a named Principal Investigator (PI). The PI must be a researcher from an eligible UK-based organisation and must be of postdoctoral or above status (or have equivalent research or innovation experience). The PI’s position must last at least the duration of the grant funded by the Academy. The PI is expected to direct and manage the grant and has responsibility for the overall project reporting requirements.

Proposals are welcome from research institutes and universities based in the UK, and proposals that involve working closely with any other type of organisations eligible for Horizon Europe funding (based in the UK and/or the EU/associated countries), including third parties, end users and similar bodies/organisations such as hospitals, libraries, regulators, commercial partners, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), creative industry partners, museums, local authorities and associations, NGOs, charities and companies are particularly encouraged.

Career stage: Early-career, Established researcher, Mid-career, Senior researcher.

The call is focused solely on Pillar 2 of Horizon Europe – Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness. Applications must identify a call in Pillar 2 that they will specifically target to apply to on the back of this pump priming funding.