ERC - Excellence Grants

The European Research Council (ERC) supports excellent researchers at different stages in their careers for groundbreaking and visionary research.

Starting Grants provide support for promising early career scientists from 2-7 years after PhD defence or 4-9 years after MD*.

Consolidator Grants provide support for excellent researchers from 7-12 years after PhD defence or 9-14 years after MD*.

Advanced Grants are aimed at leading and established researchers who have achieved excellent scientific results in the last 10 years.

Synergy Grants provide support to a group of 2 to 4 excellent researchers regardless of their career stage. The ambitious research project can only be implemented through the specific expertise of the group.

*Reference date to calculate the eligibility window is the 1 January of the year of the call. Exceptions regarding the funding eligibility window can be made under certain conditions.

The following apply to all ERC Research Grants:

• Pioneering research is funded
• There are no prescribed priorities or topics for project ideas: bottom up
• The only selection criteria is scientific excellence

For further information, follow the links and/or contact us

ERC - Proof of Concept Grants

ERC Proof of Concept Grants allow for verification of innovative potential of ERC project results.

Forthcoming | ERC Proof of Concept Grants 2026

ERC grantees can apply for a proof of concept grant during or shortly after their ERC research grant.

Regardless of the actual project costs a flat rate of 150.000 Euro is awarded.

The duration can be up to a maximum of 18 months.

The next deadlines are 17 March 2026/ 17 September 2026.

Opening of the call is on 13 November 2025.

For further information click here and/or contact us .

Support for researcher mobility (Marie Sklodowska-Curie Doctoral Networks, Postdoctoral Fellowships, Staff Exchanges)

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie programme provides funding to support international, interdisciplinary, and cross-sectoral mobility in research.

Open:

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Networks

The Doctoral Networks provide funding to develop an international, interdisciplinary, and cross-sectoral graduate training programme.

You can apply for three different types:

• Standard Doctoral Networks (DN)
• Industrial Doctorates (ID)
• Joint Doctorates (JD)

Main points of the call:

• To be eligible, a consortium needs to have at least three institutions, at least one of which is from an EU member state and two others from different member states or associated countries. For Industrial Doctorates and Joint Doctorates there are further specific requirements.
• The applicants are free to choose the research topic of the proposal.
• The duration for the Doctoral Networks and the Industrial Doctorates can be a maximum of four years and for Joint Doctorates five.
• The EU-funding includes fixed rates for the salary of the PhD students and for training, research, networking and management and indirect costs.

The next deadline is on 25 November 2025.

For further information click here and/or contact us .

Cluster 1 – Health

The Horizon Europe Work Programme for the years 2026 and 2027 are expected to be finalized by the end of 2025. These will contain the topics with deadlines foreseen in 2026 (April and September) and 2027 (April). The European Commission has made draft versions available through its Comitology Register. Please note that Information is preliminary and subject to change.

Work programme 2026-2027 Health (version 3 of 20 June 2025)

If you would like information on further programme parts and clusters, contact us .

The 2025 Horizon Europe Cluster Health topics are now closed.

For the two-stage calls, the deadline for the second stage is 16 April 2026.

Mission Cancer

Horizon Europe has five missions with the aim of finding solutions to greater challenges. EU Mission: Cancer addresses the topic of cancer and its objectives are understanding, prevention and early detection, diagnosis and treatment, and quality of life of cancer patients and their families.

The 2026/2027 Work Programme is expected to be published by the end of 2025. It will contain the topics with deadlines in 2026 (April) The European Commission has made draft information available through its Comitology Register. Please note that Information is preliminary and subject to change.

Work programme 2026-2027 Missions (including Cancer and Adaptation to Climate Change) (version 3 of July 2025)

For further information, follow the links and/or contact us .

Mission Adaptation to Climate Change

Horizon Europe has five missions with the aim of finding solutions to greater challenges. The Mission Adaptation to Climate Change is to support at least 150 European regions and communities towards climate resilience by 2030. It focuses on helping these regions and local authorities to understand climate risks, develop adaptation pathways and implement innovative solutions.

The 2026/2027 Work Programme is expected to be published by the end of 2025. It will contain the topics with deadlines in 2026 (September). The European Commission has made draft versions available through its Comitology Register. Please note that Information is preliminary and subject to change.

Work programme 2026-2027 Missions (including Cancer and Adaptation to Climate Change) (version 3 of July 2025)

Innovative Health Initiative (IHI) JU Calls

The Innovative Health Initiative (IHI) is a private-public partnership that offers funding for health research and innovation. Projects include both academic and industry partners and should address public health needs, improve the lives of patients and boost the competitiveness of Europe’s health industries.

Open:

IHI Call 10

IHI Call 10 there are currently three open calls for standard two-stage proposals:

• Topic 1: Digital label-one source of comprehensive information for medical technology products
• Topic 2: Enabling and safeguarding innovation in secondary use of health data in the European Health Data Space (EHDS)
• Topic 3: Per- and Poly-fluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) exposure, emissions, and end of life management in the healthcare sector

Open:

IHI Call 11

IHI Call 11 there are currently five open calls for standard two-stage proposals:

• Topic 1: Towards precision medicine: platform for transdiagnostic stratification of brain dysfunction ;
• Topic 2: Understanding how infections foster and induce non-communicable diseases
• Topic 3: AI-powered signal detection in pharmacovigilance
• Topic 4: Leveraging Europe's expertise to accelerate cell therapy for type 1 diabetes
• Topic 5: Establishing ortho and cardiology ambulatory surgical centres in Europe<br></br><br></br><br></br><br></br>

• Short proposal submission deadline: 9 October 2025
• Full proposal submission deadline: 29 April 2026

European Innovation Council (EIC)

The EIC supports breakthrough innovations throughout the lifecycle from early stage research, to proof of concept, technology transfer, and the financing and scale up of start-ups and small and medium sized enterprises.

The EIC Work Programme 2025 is now published and the EIC held an Online Info Day, the recording and slides of which are now available.

EIC Pathfinder Challenges

Open:

The EIC Pathfinder Challenges funds cutting edge projects that address one of the four challenges in predefined areas of emerging and strategic technologies.

The four challenges 2025 are:

• Generative-AI based Agents to Revolutionize Medical Diagnosis and Treatment of Cancer;
• Biotech for Climate Resilient Crops and Plant-Based Biomanufacturing;
• Towards autonomous robot collectives delivering collaborative tasks in dynamic unstructured construction environments;
• Waste-to-value devices: Circular production of renewable fuels, chemicals and materials.

Main points:

• Single applicants or consortia
• The recommended budget per proposal is up to EUR 4 million (larger if justified)
• The application procedure is one-stage

The next deadline is on 29 October 2025 (indicative).

For further information, follow the links and/or contact us .

Other clusters and programme parts with health aspects

In addition to the topics under Cluster Health, there are topics among the other clusters and programme parts of Horizon Europe that relate to health and that are thence relevant to the UKE.

The work programmes are currently being finalised and we are expecting the publication of calls in April with deadlines in September 2025. If you would like further information, contact us.

European Rare Disease Alliance (ERDERA)

The European Rare Disease Research Alliance (ERDERA) kicked off in September 2024 and integrates over 170 organisations. The aim is to advance research in rare disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment and to build on the results of other EU-funded projects such as the European Joint Programme on Rare Diseases . The first transnational call has now been published, please find details below.

Open:

The Networking Support Scheme (NSS ) aims to promote transnational networking events to share knowledge across borders, disciplines and sectors and to cover topics related to rare diseases and rare cancers

Events can be funded to an amount of EUR 30.000 and must:

• Include at least three different eligible countries
• Involve early stage researcher and patient advocacy
• Promote the inclusion of typically underrepresented countries (UCs)

The call is permanently open with scheduled collection rounds in October and April of each year (until 2029).

Forthcoming

Joint Transnational Call 2026 will be announced in Autumn 2025.

Clinical Trials Call - ERDERA will soon be available.

For further information, contact us .

COST - European Cooperation in Science and Technology

COST actions support networks for innovative research activities in Europe.

The main points of the call:

• Funding for network activities regarding research topics that you are free to choose
• To be eligible, a consortium needs to be comprised of at least seven COST members or cooperating members, at least 50% of which need to be from Inclusiveness Target Countries. Participants from non-EU countries are eligible
• The duration of a COST-Action is 4 years
• One-stage application
• The next deadline for submission is on 21 October 2025 at 12 noon (CEST).

For further information, follow the links and/or contact us .