Ringing the changes to grant proposals under Horizon Europe

Revamped impact assessment, evaluation pilots and gender equality plans on the cards for multi-partner proposals

The EU’s €95.5 billion research and innovation programme, Horizon Europe, is finally taking shape after much political wrangling. A handful of funding calls, including for European Research Council grants, are already open and the European Commission has said that more will follow once the main work programme, which is expected in April, is adopted. A separate work programme dedicated to Covid-19 is also due to be adopted by the end of March.

The Commission has taken the opportunity of the transition from the bloc’s previous research and innovation programme, Horizon 2020, to make some changes to its application and evaluation process for funding.