Calls for Project Proposals

Der Europäische Forschungsrat (European Research Council, ERC) fördert mit den ERC Consolidator Grants bereits unabhängig arbeitende Wissenschaftler*innen, die ihre Karriere verstetigen möchten (7-12 Jahre nach Erlangung des Doktortitels). Die ERC Consolidator Grants finanzieren Projekte mit bis zu 2,0 Mio. Euro über eine Laufzeit von max. fünf Jahren. In Ausnahmefällen können zusätzlich und einmalig bis zu 1,0 Millionen Euro beantragt werden. Bei ERC-Förderungen werden ausdrücklich keine Themen vorgegeben (Bottom-up-Prinzip). Anträge von allen Fächern und Disziplinen sind willkommen. Wissenschaftliche Exzellenz sowohl des Projekts als auch des Principal Investigators ist das alleinige Auswahlkriterium. Das Antragsverfahren ist einstufig angelegt, das Auswahlverfahren besteht aus zwei Stufen.

Um die Erfolgsaussichten der Antragstellenden zu erhöhen, sind an der Universität Göttingen Beratungs- und Antragswege etabliert worden, die sich in der Vergangenheit bewährt haben. Die Beratung übernehmen die Mitarbeiter*innen des EU-Hochschulbüros der Abteilung Forschung und Transfer. Damit diese ihren größtmöglichen Nutzen entfalten kann, möchten wir Sie ermutigen, sich drei Monate vor Ende der jeweiligen Einreichungsfrist mit dem EU-Hochschulbüro in Verbindung zu setzen. Der zeitliche Vorlauf ist notwendig, da Abstimmungen zwischen dem Antragstellenden, dem jeweiligen Dekanat und dem Präsidium erfolgen müssen, um u.a. den Zugang zu Räumlichkeiten (z.B. Laborflächen) sowie eine fundierte Budgetkalkulation für die gesamte Projektlaufzeit zu gewährleisten (z.B. Abschreibungen Equipment, Audits). Um alle Antragstellenden bei der Strukturierung des zeitlichen Ablaufs bis zur Antragsfrist zu unterstützen, hat das EU-Hochschulbüro interne Fristen formuliert, die als Empfehlung dienen.

Wenn Sie einen ERC-Antrag stellen wollen, besteht die Möglichkeit, für die Arbeiten während der Antragsphase eine Anschubfinanzierung zu beantragen. Kontaktieren Sie diesbezüglich bitte frühzeitig das EU-Hochschulbüro.
Weitere Informationen zur Ausschreibung (EN)
Weitere Informationen zum ERC Consolidator Grant (EN)
Weitere Informationen zum ERC Consolidator Grant (DE)

FutureFoodS partnership is co-funded by the European Commission, within the Horizon Europe Framework Program. Collectively the goals of the Farm to Fork strategy of the European Green Deal will be achieved aiming to make food systems fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly. FutureFoodS Partnership published its first transnational co-funded call on "Transforming Food Systems - reshaping food system interactions, fostering food innovations and empowering sustainable food choices."

This call brings together 36 funding organizations from 19 countries and the European Commission, jointly committing up to 40 million Euros to support innovative research and development projects focused on creating a sustainable food future. The call offers funding for innovative projects that contribute to one of the following topics:

• Topic 1: The way towards sustainable and resilient food systems (BMEL/ BLE and BMBF/ PtJ)
• Topic 2: New foods – Fostering innovations in food design, processing and supply via demand and supply reorientation (BMEL/ BLE and BMBF/ PtJ)
• Topic 3: Empowering sustainable food choices – Enabling food environments and dietary shifts (only BMEL/ BLE!)

Please read the Call Announcement thoroughly. It will ascertain that your planned project fits to the aim of this call. Please note that some topics may not be fundable by some funding organisations. Therefore, please take a close look at the call document and its annexes, especially Annex I_Nat_Reg_Regulations. In Germany, BMEL/ BLE and BMBF/ PtJ participate in the call. German applicants are strongly recommended to contact their National Contact Persons before submitting a proposal and to refer to the National Announcement.

The call follows a two-stage application procedure: pre-proposals (stage 1) and full proposals (stage 2). The deadline for submitting pre-proposals will expire on 15 January 2025. FutureFoodS organised an info day on the call. The slides are available online.
FutureFoodS: Further information on the call (EN)
FutureFoodS: slides of the call webinar (EN)
BMBF: Further information on the call (DE)

The Agroecology Partnership, funded by Horizon Europe, unites the European Commission (EC) and 72 partners across 26 Member States, Associated Countries, and Third Countries. It will support an agriculture sector that is fit to meet the targets and challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, food security and sovereignty, and the environment, while ensuring a profitable and attractive activity for farmers.

The Partnership published a call for proposals with the title "Integrating environmental, economic, social perspectives in assessing the performance of agroecology". Research and Innovation (R&I) proposals shall apply the multi-actor approach and exhibit co-creation and co-implementation structures, via Living Labs or initiatives following the Living Lab approach. This call for R&I projects addresses a transition to agroecology in the context of both conventional and organic farming systems. The Partnership will fund R&I projects, which contribute to the scope of the call either by developing new methods, approaches, perspectives and technologies or by providing analyses on agroecology’s sustainability dimensions. There are the following call topics:

• Topic 1: Determine and assess benefits/impacts and trade-offs of agroecology, and identify best practices (BMEL and BMBF)
• Topic 2: Transform value chains, businesses and policies to facilitate the transition to agroecology (only BMBF!)

Successful proposals shall contribute to the following outcomes:

• Practical-oriented knowledge, tools and/or innovations available to farmers and the sector, contributing to the uptake of agroecological practices at local, regional and national scales.
• Increased knowledge, knowledge transfer and capacity of farmers and agricultural advisors to implement agroecological practices.
• Increased socio-economic and/or environmental performance of agroecological approaches.
• Enhanced science-policy interfaces serving to facilitate a faster transition to agroecology.

Please read the Call Announcement thoroughly. It will ascertain that your planned project fits to the aim of this call. Please note that some topics may not be fundable by some funding organisations. Therefore, please take a close look at the call document and its annexes, especially Annex IX Funder Regulations. In Germany, BMEL and BMBF participate in the call. German applicants are strongly recommended to contact their Funder Contact Persons before submitting a proposal and to refer to the National Announcement ("nationale Bekanntmachung") where all national requirements for funding are defined.

The call follows a two-stage application procedure: pre-proposals (stage 1) and full proposals (stage 2). The deadline for submitting pre-proposals will expire on 17 February 2025. Agroecology organised an info day on the call on 13 December 2024.
Agroecology: Further information on the call (EN)
BMBF: Further information on the call (DE)

ERC Proof of Concept Grants (ERC PoC) umfassen maximal 150.000 Euro für einen Zeitraum von bis zu 18 Monaten und richten sich ausschließlich an Wissenschaftler*innen, die bereits ein ERC-Projekt eingeworben haben. Das ERC-Projekt muss entweder noch laufen oder das Projektende darf nicht länger als zwölf Monate zurückliegen. Mit dem ERC PoC kann das ökonomische und gesellschaftliche Potenzial von Ideen untersucht werden, die aus ERC-Projekten hervorgegangen sind. Der ERC finanziert hiermit keine Forschungsaktivitäten, sondern Maßnahmen zur Weiterentwicklung der Ideen des ERC-Projekts wie z.B.:

• Marktforschung,
• technische Validierung,
• Machbarkeitsstudien,
• die Klärung von Fragen des geistigen Eigentums,
• die Analyse von Geschäftschancen oder
• die Erstellung eines Business-Plans.

Die Förderung des ERC PoC steht grundsätzlich ERC-Projekten aus allen Fachbereichen offen. So kann auch die Umsetzung innovativer Ideen im öffentlichen und nichtkommerziellen Bereich gefördert werden, etwa wenn es um die Lösung sozialer Probleme oder um die Verwirklichung von Umweltschutzzielen geht. Bei solch spezifischen ERC PoC-Projekten muss allerdings ein gesamtgesellschaftlicher oder ein volkswirtschaftlicher Nutzen deutlich erkennbar sein. Es kann nur ein Antrag pro ERC-Grantee und pro Jahr eingereicht werden. Das Auswahlverfahren ist einstufig angelegt.
Weitere Informationen zur Ausschreibung (EN)
Weitere Informationen zum ERC Proof of Concept Grant (EN)
Weitere Informationen zum ERC Proof of Concept Grant (DE)

Das EU-Justizprogramm trägt zur weiteren Entwicklung eines europäischen Justizraums bei, der auf Rechtsstaatlichkeit basiert. Es fördert justizielle Zusammenarbeit in den Bereichen Zivil- und Strafrecht sowie die juristische Ausbildung, um eine gemeinsame Rechts- und Justizkultur in der EU zu schaffen. Das Justizprogramm erleichtert zudem den effektiven Zugang zur Justiz für alle und unterstützt die Rechte von Opfern von Verbrechen sowie die Verfahrensrechte von verdächtigen und angeklagten Personen in Strafverfahren. Im Jahr 2025 werden u.a. folgende Themen ausgeschrieben:

• Call for proposals for action grants to support transnational projects on judicial training covering civil law, criminal law or fundamental rights (26.03.2025),
• Call for proposals for action grants to promote judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters (23.04.2025).

Das Antragsverfahren ist einstufig angelegt. Bitte beachten Sie, dass in der Regel nur 90 Prozent von der EU gefördert werden und ein Eigenanteil von 10 Prozent an der Gesamtfinanzierung erbracht werden muss.
Weitere Informationen zur Ausschreibung (EN)
Weitere Informationen zum Justice Programme (EN)

The Creative Europe programme 2021-2027, Culture strand of the programme, published a call for proposals on European Cooperation Projects. These are transnational projects involving cultural and creative organisations from different countries. They give cultural organisations of all sizes the possibility to co-produce, cooperate, experiment, innovate, be mobile and learn from each other. The action aims to improve access to European culture and creative works and to promote innovation and creativity. Projects can cover one or more cultural and creative sectors and can be interdisciplinary.

The term 'cultural and creative sectors' means all sectors whose activities are based on cultural values or artistic and other individual or collective creative expressions. The activities may include the development, the creation, the production, the dissemination and the preservation of goods and services, which embody cultural, artistic, or other creative expressions, as well as education or management, related to these activities. Those sectors include, inter alia, architecture, archives, libraries and museums, artistic crafts, audio-visual (including film, television, video games and multimedia), tangible and intangible cultural heritage, design (including fashion design), festivals, music, literature, performing arts, books and publishing, radio, and visual arts.

Funding is available for three categories of projects:

• Category 1 - Small-scale projects: minimum 3 entities from 3 different eligible countries; maximum EU grant amount EUR 200 000 per project; funding rate of maximum 80%.
• Category 2 - Medium-scale projects: minimum 5 entities from 5 different eligible countries; maximum EU grant amount EUR 1 000 000 per project; funding rate of maximum 70%.
• Category 3 - Large-scale projects: minimum 10 entities from 10 different eligible countries; maximum EU grant amount EUR 2 000 000 per project; funding rate of maximum 60%.

Please note also the respective objectives, priorities and annual sector-specific priorities. Projects should not normally exceed 48 months. The deadline follows a single-stage submission procedure.
Further information on the call for small-scale projects (EN)
Further information on the call for medium-scale projects (EN)
Further information on the call for large-scale projects (EN)
Further information of the German National Contact Point (NCP) on the call (DE)

The European Innovation Council (EIC) published the EIC Pathfinder Open Call for collaborative and interdisciplinary research proposals. You should apply to this call, if you are looking for support to realise an ambitious vision for radically new technology, with potential to create new markets and/or to provide solutions for global challenges. EIC Pathfinder Open supports early-stage development of such future technologies (e.g., various activities at low Technology Readiness Levels from 1 to 4), based on high-risk/high-gain science-towards-technology breakthrough research (including ‘deep-tech’). This research must provide the foundations of the technology you are envisioning. EIC Pathfinder Open may support your work, especially if it is highly risky: you may set out to try things that will not work; you may be faced with questions that nobody knows the answer to yet; you may realise that there are many aspects of the problem that you do not master. On the contrary, if the path you want to follow is incremental by nature or known, EIC Pathfinder Open will not support you. Before applying you should verify that your proposal meets all the following essential characteristics (‘Gatekeepers’):

• Convincing long-term vision of a radically new technology that has the potential to have a transformative positive effect to solving a challenge in our economy and society.
• Concrete, novel and ambitious science-towards-technology breakthrough, providing advancement towards the envisioned technology.
• High-risk/high-gain research approach and methodology, with concrete and plausible objectives.

The deadline follows a single-stage submission procedure.
Further information on the EIC Work Programme 2025 (EN)
Further information on the EIC Pathfinder (EN)
Further information on the EIC Pathfinder (DE)

COST ist eine durch Horizon Europe (2021-2027) geförderte zwischenstaatliche Initiative zur europäischen Vernetzung, die allen wissenschaftlichen Disziplinen offen steht. COST Actions finanzieren u.a. die Organisation von Veranstaltungen, Training Schools, Publikationen und Short Scientific Exchanges. COST fördert nicht die Forschungsmaßnahmen selbst.

Die geförderten Netzwerke haben eine Laufzeit von vier Jahren. Das Besondere bereits bewilligter COST Actions liegt in der laufenden Aufnahme neuer Mitglieder. Sie können die COST-Datenbank der bereits bewilligten COST Actions nach für Sie relevanten Stichworten durchsuchen.

COST Actions bieten verschiedene Vorteile für Forschende wie z.B.:

• Sie erleichtern Kontakte zu europäischen Partnern, woraus sich gemeinsame Vorhaben im Bereich Forschung und Innovation entwickeln können wie u.a. Publikationen oder Projektanträge.
• Sie bieten vielfältige Möglichkeiten der Karriereentwicklung, was insbesondere für junge Wissenschaftler*innen nützlich sein kann.

Das Antragsverfahren für neue COST Actions ist themenoffen (Bottom-up-Prinzip) und einstufig angelegt.
Weitere Informationen zu COST (EN)
Weitere Informationen zu COST (DE)

With its Pathfinder programme the European Innovation Council (EIC) aims to build on new, cutting-edge directions in science and technology to disrupt a field and a market or create new opportunities by realising innovative technological solutions grounded in high-risk/high-gain research and development. With each specific Challenge, a portfolio of projects will be established that explore different perspectives, competing approaches or complementary aspects of the Challenge. The complexity and high-risk nature of this research will require multi-disciplinary collaborations. Projects in a Challenge portfolio are expected to interact and exchange, remaining flexible and reactive in the light of developments within the portfolio or in the relevant global scientific or industrial community. They will progress together towards common goals and create new opportunities for radical innovation.

You should apply, if you have a potential cutting-edge project that would contribute to the specific objectives of the respective Challenge. Specifically, your proposed project must aim to deliver by its end the expected outcomes defined in the respective Challenge. In general, the starting point of a proposal answering to a Pathfinder Challenge is an early Technology Readiness Level (TRL, e.g. TRL 2) to up to proof of concept or validation in the lab (e.g. TRL 3 or 4). Project results should also include top-level scientific publications, adequate formal protection of the generated intellectual property (IP) as well as an assessment of relevant aspects related to regulation, certification and standardisation. In addition, you are encouraged to involve and empower in your team key actors that have the potential to become future leaders in their fields such as excellent early-career researchers or promising high-tech SMEs, including start-ups. Your proposed project should reinforce the mind-set for targeted research and development aimed at high-impact applied results.

Before you decide to apply, you are strongly encouraged to read the respective EIC Pathfinder Challenge Guide that will be published on the EIC website and the Funding & Tenders Portal after the call opening. The Challenge Guide will provide you with more information about the objectives of the Challenges, technical information underpinning the objectives and portfolio considerations used for the final selection of proposals to be funded.

The EIC Pathfinder Challenges support collaborative or individual research and innovation from consortia or from single legal entities established in an EU Member State or an Associated Country (unless stated otherwise in the specific Challenge chapter). The legal entities may for example be universities, research organisations, SMEs, start-ups, natural persons.

The following Pathfinder Challenges were published:

• Biotech for Climate Resilient Crops and Plant-Based Biomanufacturing;
• Generative-AI based Agents to Revolutionize Medical Diagnosis and Treatment of Cancer;
• Towards autonomous robot collectives delivering collaborative tasks in dynamic unstructured construction environments;
• Waste-to-value devices: Circular production of renewable fuels, chemicals and materials.

You will receive a grant for a Research and Innovation Action to cover the eligible costs, necessary for the implementation of your project, including the portfolio activities. For this call, the EIC considers proposals with an EU contribution of up to EUR 4 million as appropriate.
Further information on EIC Work Programme 2025 (EN)
Further information on EIC Pathfinder Challenges 2025 (EN)
Further information on EIC Pathfinder (DE)