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The results of the 2025 European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant call (call deadline 14 January 2025) were published. Consolidator Grants are open to researchers with 7-12 years of experience since completion of PhD (extensions are possible under certain documented circumstances), a scientific track record showing great promise and an excellent research proposal. Proposals are evaluated in 28 evaluation panels in three research domains (Physical Sciences and Engineering, Social Sciences and Humanities and Life Sciences) composed of top scientists and scholars coming from all over the world and in addition by remote referees with necessary specialised expertise (two to five per proposal). Of the 3121 submitted proposals 349 researchers with 44 different nationalities received an ERC Consolidator Grant: 93 In Life Sciences, 141 in Physical Sciences and Engineering and 115 in Social Sciences and Humanities. In the ERCEA news articles more background on the evaluation results, call statistics and several project examples are highlighted. Among the 349 selected researchers are nine based at Flemish host institutions. The projects of these nine Principal Investigators (PIs) are presented in the news articles of Universiteit Gent, KU Leuven, Vrije Universiteit Brussel and imec. Isabel Beets, KU Leuven, NEUROPEPTALK - Functional Coding of Neuropeptide Signaling Networks in Learning, panel Life Sciences 5 Frederik Dhondt, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, TREATYLAB - The Labyrinth of Treaties, 1712-1763. International Law Behind the Scenes of Early Enlightenment Diplomacy, panel Social Sciences and Humanities 2 Thomas Jagau, KU Leuven, UNBOUND TWO - Theory of nonradiative decay with two or more electrons at play, panel Physical Sciences and Engineering 4 Jonathan Leliaert, Universiteit Gent, THERMAGINE - Engineering thermal (in)stability in heteromagnetic nanostructures, panel Physical Sciences and Engineering 11 Ine Lentacker, Universiteit Gent, My-NANO - Advancing NANOmedicines to rewire tumoral MYeloid cells for next-generation cancer immunotherapies, panel Life Sciences 7 Anton Potocnik, IMEC, SuperQold - Scalable superconducting Qubit readout with millikelvin detection, panel Physical Sciences and Engineering 7 Yentl Swolfs, KU Leuven, CRACKAR - Off-axis crack arrest by harnessing micro- and mesostructural design, panel Physical Sciences and Engineering 11 Nele Vandersickel, Universiteit Gent, TOPOHEART - Topology for understanding the paired nature of cardiac arrhythmia, panel Life Sciences 7 Sarah Verhulst, Universiteit Gent, InSilicoEars - Unlocking bio-inspired machine hearing and accelerating personalized hearing technologies, panel Physical Sciences and Engineering 7
2025-12-09 Agro-Food, EnvironmentThe European Commission co-funds campaigns to promote EU-grown farm products in the single market as well as in third countries. To evaluate campaign proposals competing for EU funding in 2026, The European Research Agency needs the knowledge and experience of professionals in this field. They are notably looking for experts in: agri-food promotion marketing and consumer behaviour, and/or EU-quality schemes, organic products, and/or sustainable agri-food production and consumption, and/or EU and/or third country agri-food markets. You can find more information on this website.
2025-12-09 Climate, Energy, Mobility Horizon EuropeFor years, European R&I has been obsessed with TRLs (Technology Readiness Levels). Whether developing a battery, mobility service, or digital platform, the prevalent question (for improved clarity) always was: “What is its TRL?”. Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe baked TRL into work programmes, calls and evaluations, and it became a shorthand for maturity of a technology in a given environment. That leaves a simple problem: you can have a technically perfect solution that never gets used because people do not trust it, cannot access it, or do not see it as relevant. With the creation of the Societal Readiness Level (SRL), this issue is addressed. As the first trial has started in Cluster 5, where it is treated as a contractual requierement by the EC, SRL's are no longer just a buzzword. Time for an introduction. What is SRL SRL is short for Societal (or Society) Readiness Level, and is used to describe how far a solution is adapted to and accepted by society. Innovation Fund Denmark originally formalised SRL as a nine level scale that mirrors TRL, but looks at societal adaptation rather than technical performance. SRL is defined as a way of assessing the level of societal adaptation of a project, technology, product, process, intervention or innovation. Don't confuse it with "System Readiness Level", used with Integration Readiness Level to assess complex technical systems (sometimes used in the JRC context). How SRL compares to TRL TRL and SRL are not competing labels, they answer different questions. TRL tracks the maturity of a technology, from basic principle to proven performance in an operational environment. It is strongly focused on technical performance and validation. The scale comes from the aerospace and defence world, and has been standardised by ESA, NASA and was later integrated into EU R&I. SRL tracks the maturity of societal adaptation and acceptance. It focuses on whether stakeholders have been involved, whether concerns are understood, and whether the solution fits existing practices, institutions and norms. A high TRL means the technology works reliably in its target environment. A high SRL means the technology or solution has been developed with strong stakeholder involvement, concerns have been addressed, and the context is ready enough that the solution can realistically be adopted and scaled. How to use? Where TRL is often used as a simple numeric condition in calls, for example “activities are expected to achieve TRL 5 by the end of the project”, the usage for SRL is a bit more complex. The Cluster 5 Work Programme builds a full approach around it, with explicit requirements on resources, work packages, SSH involvement, guiding questions and reporting. The Horizon Europe wording makes the relation very explicit. Societal Readiness is defined as an indicator of research and innovation results that have accounted for different societal needs and concerns and thus have higher potential for societal uptake and adaptation. So you can be at TRL 9 and SRL 1, which means you built a working solution that nobody wants or can use in practice. This issue is precisely what the European Commission wants to address. Where to use? The Horizon Europe Cluster 5 Work Programme 2025 introduced a formal Societal Readiness pilot in Climate, Energy and Mobility. Selected topics are and will be flagged as Societal Readiness pilot topics. A future example is the call "HORIZON-CL5-2027-06-D6-08: Enhancing Mobility for all: affordable, reliable, and accessible multimodal transport for inclusive rural and urban connectivity – Societal Readiness pilot". For these, consortia must: Allocate explicit resources for societal readiness activities, Integrate societal readiness across work packages or through a transversal work package, Include partners with relevant SSH expertise, Produce a first and final public report on Societal Readiness. A dedicated Coordination and Support Action, HORIZON CL5 2026 01 D2 09, will monitor and evaluate the pilot and provide recommendations to the Commission. What to expect in the future? The Cluster 5 pilot is explicitly designed as an experiment. The Work Programme text states that monitoring and evaluation of the pilot will feed into a Commission decision on whether to replicate and widen the approach. If the pilot is judged to be workable for applicants and evaluators and seen as helpful by policymakers, it is reasonable to expect an extension to other clusters and missions, especially where societal resistance is already a recognised risk, e.g. food systems, health data spaces or urban transitions.
2025-12-05 HealthThe Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking has published its Work Programme 2026, announcing €147 million to fund research and innovation projects tackling major global health challenges. The 2026 calls for proposals will open mid-January 2026 and include six topics: four research and innovation action (RIA) topics (two-stage) aimed at developing new or improved TB drugs, supporting the prevention and management of lower respiratory tract infections, ensuring better prevention, treatment and management of HIV and its co-infections and co-morbidities, and addressing the global challenge of climate and health. Deadline for short proposals is 4 March 2026 (first stage). Succesful consortia at the first stage will be invited to submit a full proposal by 17 September 2026 (second stage). two coordination and support action (CSA) call topics (single-stage) will support training and capacity-building activities in the areas of ethics, regulatory and pharmacovigilance, and enhance integrated research and healthcare through digital innovation and artificial intelligence. Deadline for submission is 31 August 2026. More information on the Global Health EDCTP3 website. An online Info Day will take place on 5 February 2026. The Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking (GH EDCTP3 JU) is a partnership between the European Union and the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) Association whose members are several EU Member States and Associated countries and several African countries.
2025-12-05 HealthThe European Rare Diseases Research Alliance (ERDERA) will launch its 2026 joint transnational call 'Resolving unsolved cases in rare genetic and non-genetic diseases' on 10 December 2025. The goal of this call is to solve Undiagnosed Rare Genetic diseases and to address complex, multifactorial Rare Non-Genetic diseases by identifying causative variants in patients with no molecular diagnosis after prior genetic or genomic testing and providing diagnostic clarity for conditions of unknown or mixed pathogenesis.Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) plans to participate in this call. More information on available funding for researchers based in Flanders and on how to apply will be published on FWO's website once the call is launched. Deadline for the submission of pre-proposals is 12 February 2026. Questions on available funding by FWO? Contact europe@fwo.be.More information on the call, its conditions and how to apply will be made available soon on the ERDERA dedicated webpage. Interested in applying? Join the information webinar on 16 December 2025 here.
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The RUSTICA project obtained funding under Horizon 2020, more in particular under the topic ‘Closing nutrient cycles’. RUSTICA focuses on demonstration and implementation of circular bio-based nutrient valorisation chains, focusing on waste from the fruit and vegetable agro-food system. The project kicked off in 2021 and will run until 2024. It will use a strong multi-actor approach to co-create both socio-economic and technological knowledge in four case study regions in Europe and one in Colombia. The Flanders-based company DRANCO is one of the project partners and acts as technical project manager for the entire project. DRANCO participates in the project to develop its own technologies, to network and to help make the transition to a more circular based economy.
