Horizon Europe Pump Priming Collaboration between UK and EU Partners

Funded by the UK government's Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

The British Academy with the support of the Royal Society, the Academy of Medical Sciences, and the Royal Academy of Engineering are inviting proposals from UK and EU/Associated Countries-based researchers to pump prime collaborations to support the effective uptake of the opportunities provided by the UK’s association to Horizon Europe.

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

The second round deadline is 21 February 2024, 17:00 (UK time)

Aims

Horizon Europe is the largest ever EU Framework Programme for research and innovation, with a budget of over €95bn (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 and topic 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 resource to take forward an application.

Eligibility requirements

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 UK SMEs are strongly encouraged. Proposals can also seek to engage with any other type of organisation 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, creative industry partners, museums, local authorities and associations, NGOs, charities and companies as appropriate to the selected Call and Topic.

The call is focused solely on Pillar 2 of Horizon Europe – Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness.

Applications must identify a call and topic in Pillar 2 that they will specifically target to apply to on the back of this pump priming funding.

Within Pillar 2 the Calls and Topics that this pump priming funding can be used to target must be from the 2024 Work Programmes onwards (i.e. Calls and Topics with 2024 in the call code) that are listed on the Horizon Europe funding portal as either ‘open for submission’ or ‘forthcoming’. Such Calls and Topics may target any type of action and focus on any cluster: 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).

For more details about the programme and the eligibility requirements, please see the scheme notes.

Value and duration

We are able to offer awards of up to £10,000.

Award activity and use of funds must conclude with an interim report by the deadline of the Horizon Europe call being applied to. Awards will be required to provide further reporting on their award, including in relation to the outcome of their application to Horizon Europe.

Funding may be used to support costs for concept or proof of market work and proposal development, costs of meetings, travel and subsistence, research/clerical assistance (based in the UK or internationally), due diligence work on partners, costs towards child or parent care, and contributions towards support services such as proposal writing.

Application and Assessment Procedure

All applicants must register in the British Academy’s online Flexi-Grant system to enable the processing and assessment of their application. All applications must be submitted in English.

Applicants will be required to complete a short form that will include detailing the following:

• The call and topic within Pillar 2 that the application is targeting;
• An indication of the expected UK participation in the proposed Horizon Europe project (i.e. the extent/scale of involvement the application is looking to see the UK have);
• The alignment of the application with the proposed targeted call explaining how the application would address the scope and expected outcome specified in the call text;
• An overview of the work proposed with a clear plan of action, identifying risks and any ethical or legal issues, and a description of the organisations that will be involved in the application and how together they will meet the aims of this call;
• The deliverable: providing information on the anticipated level of funding that will be sought from Horizon Europe and the work that would be fulfilled if the Horizon Europe bid is successful;
• The added value of this grant if successful – why additional funding is required for this work and how will it enable the undertaking of this project differently.