Horizon Europe Training Day

Horizon Europe is Europe’s biggest research programme – €95.5billion has been committed to the fund between 2021 and 2027. It was fantastic for LBU to welcome Anne Nierobisch from UKRO to a full and captivated audience of our academics in The Knowledge Exchange. Anne explained all about the funding available, and share her expert insight into how to find out about the funding available and set about submitting a winning proposal.

About Horizon Europe

Horizon Europe is divided into three pillars which funding calls can fall under: Pillar 1, Excellent Science; Pillar 2, Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness (including health, culture, digital, energy and more); and Pillar 3, Innovative Europe (including European Innovation Council, Europe’s flagship funding programme to identify, develop and scale up breakthrough and game-changing technologies and innovations.)

Horizon Europe release what is called Work Programmes to share information about funding calls, allowing you to plan ahead for the opportunities you would like to go for.  The 2025 Work Programme is expected to be published in the first quarter of 2025.

Anne stressed the importance of planning ahead early – highlighting that the successful bids always start early – make sure you’re eligible, you have the correct team in place, and really address all of the criteria. So do come to our team early and ask for help.

Funding Opportunities

Several funding opportunities are available, amongst the three main pillars of Horizon Europe:

• Pillar 1: Excellent Science (includes European Research Council and Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions);
• Pillar 2: Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness (includes thematic clusters, i.e. Cluster 2 Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society);
• Pillar 3: Innovative Europe.

Finding partners

Anne talked us through some helpful tips on finding consortium partners:

• Networking or emailing potential partners – make sure your staff profile and online presence are up-to-date! And be honest and clear on what you can deliver.
• Databases of past EU collaborators.
• Events and conferences – including matchmaking events set up by Horizon Europe, which usually start being announced around the call opening time.
• Horizon is funded by the EU – so we must include the minimum number of partners and endeavour to achieve as wide an impact and benefit as possible from the funded project.
• Anne highlighted that successful applicants use a table and match check to each consortium member for each objective – to demonstrate clearly how each member contributes to fulfilling the objectives. So, choose partners carefully and meaningfully, and be clear on who is responsible for what.

Tips on developing a collaborative research proposal

Anne’s take-home tips included:

• Identify the research funding call early.
• Understand the call and the outcomes expected and try to meet them. Be realistic.
• If it says ‘you might want to write this in the proposal’ – you should!
• If in doubt, ask your Research Development Manager.
• Understand the nature of the challenge and how it contributes to EU policies.
• Be specific, to the point, concise.
• Don’t forget to address gender, diversity, ethics, and open science.
• Proposals will be judged based on excellence, impact and implementation.

EU Missions in Horizon Europe

The EU Missions is a separate funding scheme within Horizon Europe. Missions have ambitious goals and will deliver concrete results by 2030 on the challenges of our time – including Cancer, Climate Resilience, Climate Neutral and Smart Cities, and Restore our Oceans and Water.

Mission information days will be taking place in April 2024.

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions are the European Union's reference programme for doctoral education and postdoctoral training.

MSCA projects are bottom-up projects – ie, you choose the discipline, and can apply to any area. We are able to lead consortia, and be full beneficiaries.

Anne emphasised that this type of research project MUST train researchers. They are all about training through research. There are five types of MSCA, including Doctorate networks, postdoctoral fellowships, and staff exchanges.

Please contact our team if you are interested in applying for MSCA.

European Research Council

The European Research Council (ERC) Grant is a prestigious scheme known as the pre-Nobel prize. It funds ambitious, groundbreaking yet risky research in all research disciplines. It is a bottom-up grant, funding ambitious frontier research in any field which expands your current research area and provides solutions to a problem.

Anne stressed that applications for this grant should be “Risky, breath-taking, advantageous.” She advised that it is very competitive, so it is very common not to be successful on first try.

Excellence is the sole criteria for evaluating these proposals, and this is applied to: the research project and its groundbreaking nature, the ambition and feasibility; and the principal investigator’s narrative CV.

Key take-homes of the day

The key take-homes of this immensely useful session include:

• Make sure you start early,
• Read the call information and relevant policies,
• Fully understand the funder's requirements and the call requirements – understand the outcomes expected and what they’re looking for,
• Be realistic and honest about your time and contribution,
• Go to the information days,
• Read the 2025 Work Programme when this is published – sign up to the UKRO newsletter to access this as soon as it is available.
• Get in touch with our team early!

At the end of the day, Anne commented: "It was my absolute pleasure to discuss the different Horizon Europe funding opportunities, and how members of UK entities can successfully apply to them, with your researchers here at Leeds Beckett. Definitely a very engaged audience with lots of ideas!"

We hope you enjoyed the session if you were able to attend – however please do get in touch if you would like to receive a copy of Anne’s slides, or would like to discuss any aspect of applying to Horizon Europe with me.