In our latest blog post, Boz Czarnecki, International Research Engagement Manager, shares insights and practical resources from our recent information session and workshop on Horizon Europe collaborative calls.
Finding your way around the Horizon Europe Global Challenges calls
Navigating the Horizon Europe’s Global Challenges can be challenging. Unlike Pillar I, Excellent Science, the Global Challenges call topics that belong to Pillar II are designed to implement EU strategy and policy. Proposals funded under these call topics are meant to respond to clearly identified needs by proposing effective ways to deliver specified outcomes and impacts. In short, research results—no matter how exciting—won’t do unless they are conducive to delivering those outcomes and impacts. The offshoot of this approach is a complex set of Work Programmes, each with multiple destinations, broken down into calls and call topics, often running to hundreds of pages. The good news is that when running your initial searches, you don’t need to fully understand all the different layers of Work Programme text. You just need to find a quick way of scanning it.
Watch our video from our workshop for guidance on scanning work programmes (UoE login is required)
For more detailed information on Work Programme structure read the Horizon Europe briefing for evaluators:
Global Challenges calls as transdisciplinary and transnational collaborative calls
It is non-trivial that the Global Challenges funding is designed to help you address global challenges. Modestly described as encouraging cross-border, multidisciplinary cooperation to tackle shared challenges, Pillar II is the world’s most uniquely transnational and transdisciplinary funding mechanism. By transdisciplinary, I mean that it effectively requires collaborative efforts from both academic and non-academic participants, practically enabled by the eligibility of participants in either category to obtain funding. The key to success lies in bringing together a diverse set of skills and expertise to create impactful projects within the set thematic parameters. Importantly, where national funding mechanisms often fall short of providing equitable or otherwise sufficient conditions for collaboration beyond borders, Horizon Europe’s Global Challenges programme offers a high-quality platform for growing research and innovation networks capable of making lasting impact globally. Since partners from across different locations can obtain funding (note also the minimum requirements), Global Challenges is also a robustly transnational mechanism.
During our recent workshop, University of Edinburgh Horizon awardees, Emily Sena and Frédéric Bosché, highlighted specific opportunities and challenges associated with collaborative calls. Learn about their insights through the workshop recording and slides (UoE login is required):
Workshop: Collaborative Research Projects
During the workshop we asked what a competitive consortium looks like. Part of the answer lies in the Work Programme text. On a practical level, it is the ability to methodically move across different layers of the text that plays a vital role in deciding whom to invite to join your consortium.
As a first step we assessed what role was realistic for us to take within the available timeframe (between now and submission deadline). This included understanding whether the type of action the topic implements was the most appropriate target for us (typically the choice being between Research and Innovation Actions and Innovation Actions (RIAs and IAs), as well as provisionally estimating the consortium size relative to the indicative budget and project duration. We provided some tips for this in the slides (see below).
Once satisfied with the basic parameters set out in the topic text, we took time to dissect the expected outcomes, scope, and destination to further discuss who should be involved and in what capacity. We highlighted the Theory of Change (ToC) framework as a valuable tool for mapping out the most relevant stakeholders and their positions in pathways to impact. For instance, some may be crucial to the research process itself, while others will be indispensable for co-creating impact. Careful inspection of the text can help us ensure no critical information is missed regarding who should be included to effect lasting change.
Lastly, we discussed strategies for identifying and engaging with potential partners, emphasising the importance of attending networking and brokerage events organised by the European Commission and other networks (e.g. Innovate UK). Participants were also advised to leverage their current professional connections and platforms like LinkedIn to identify potential collaborators. For those without existing networks, it is important to actively put yourself out there. And if you find this challenging, to ask trusted colleagues to help make introductions.
Access ERO resources from our workshop including slides and view the topic texts we worked from (UoE login is required):
Read guidance on the Theory of Change (UoE login is required):
Whilst the approach will be relevant for the EU funding context please ensure to refer back to the briefing for evaluators to remain aligned with EU terminology and definitions of outcomes, impacts, etc.
