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EU and national funders adopt ‘flexible’ approach to accommodate coronavirus disruptions
Deadlines for funding calls under the EU’s Horizon 2020 R&D programme and Erasmus+ academic mobility programme have been extended due to the coronavirus pandemic, the European Commission has announced.
“Extensions will be applied to Horizon 2020 calls with original deadlines from today to 15 April,” EU R&D commissioner Mariya Gabriel tweeted on 17 March. She said there would be no extensions for pilot calls under the Innovative Medicines Initiative public-private partnership or the European Innovation Council, which funds entrepreneurs and companies.
A day earlier, the Commission’s top education official Themis Christophidou announced an extension of application deadlines for strategic partnerships and to the charter for higher education under Erasmus+—a move meant to “make life less complicated for potential applicants”.
The actions came as the Commission announced greater flexibility on grant recipients’ work delivery and cost reimbursement.
On 16 March, it acknowledged that Covid-19 “may have implications for the implementation” of the EU’sMarie Skłodowska-Curie Actions researcher mobility grants.
“There may be circumstances in which the current situation prevents the fulfillment of an obligation laid down in the grant agreement,” the Commission said. It promised the Research Executive Agency, which administers grants, would “adopt a flexible approach” and said projects “could also be exceptionally extended, if necessary”.
The European Research Council said on the same day that it was “taking steps to try to minimise the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic on its operations”, while ensuring people’s safety. It said its grant management activities were “continuing as usual”, but that technical issues might yet cause delays.
Meanwhile the FWF, Austria’s main national research funder, said that proposal submission deadlines “may be postponed” and that it would provide more information in the coming days.