Biodiversa+, a European co-funded partnership aiming to drive transformative change and halt and reverse biodiversity decline, has pre-announced a new transnational joint research call entitled ‘Novel ecosystems: biodiversity, socio-ecological consequences and future trajectories’ (BiodivFuture). The call is planned to officially open on Wednesday 9 September 2026.

The research priorities covered by BiodivFuture are structured around three non-mutually exclusive themes. Projects may address one or several of these themes:

• THEME A – NOVEL ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONING: Understanding the functioning of novel ecosystems and their links to socio-cultural and socio-economic dynamics, identifying mechanisms and developing approaches that can facilitate biodiversity gains.
• THEME B – PATHWAYS TO NOVEL ECOSYSTEMS: Studying robust, plausible, and concrete pathways to novel ecosystems and associated socio-ecological dynamics to prosper under temporal asynchronies and uncertainties.
• THEME C – BIODIVERSITY BENEFITS AND EQUITY IN THE CONTEXT OF NOVEL ECOSYSTEMS: Studying the fair and equitable sharing of biodiversity benefits in the context of novel ecosystems, supported by inclusive, collaborative, and investment-oriented pathways for nature-positive socio-ecological transformations

For more information on the call content, please consult the BiodivFuture webpage.

Applications will be submitted by a project coordinator. Each consortium participant will be funded by the Funding Partner Organisation from the country or region participating in the 2026 Joint Transnational Call. Participants are therefore subject to the eligibility criteria of the relevant national or regional funding organisations.

To be eligible, research consortia must include teams from at least three countries financially participating in the call, including at least two different EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries.

Funding will be provided by various national and regional organisations, for Flanders this is FWO. Details on eligibility, evaluation criteria, and the full description of the themes will be published when the call officially launches.

For further information, please consult the BiodivFuture webpage and follow updates from this website or directly from FWO. This last organisation can also be contacted directly at europe@fwo.be.