The challenge of deepening the European Research Area (ERA) includes Open Science, Higher Education and Researchers, Citizen Science, Science Education, Gender and Ethics. It aims at underpinning a new ERA benefitting from knowledge creation, circulation and use. This empowers higher education institutions and research organisations to embrace a transformative process where a highly skilled workforce circulates freely, research outputs are shared, gender equality is assured, and the outcomes of R&I are understood, trusted and increasingly used, by educated informed scientists and citizens to the benefit of society.

Deadline: 25 September 2024

The call HORIZON-WIDERA-2024-ERA-02 on “Enhancing the European R&I system” has 2 topics that may be relevant to CESAM members:

HORIZON-WIDERA-2024-ERA-02-01: Experimentation and exchange of good practices for value creation

Type of action: CSA (Coordination and Support Action)*

Projects expected to be approved: 2 projects, each with a budget of ~1 M€

Expected Outcomes: i) Value creation and transfer to the economy and society by increased interlinkages and cooperation between knowledge valorisation actors (academia/research; industry/SMEs; public administration/policy-makers and society/citizens); ii) New solutions to societal and economic challenges by stronger uptake and deployment of research results, including through the involvement of citizens and civil society; iii) Improvements of structures, strategies, practices and skills for knowledge valorisation through sustainable reforms and new initiatives in line with the ERA Policy Agenda action 7 – Upgrade EU guidance for a better knowledge valorisation, and with the European Council Recommendation on the Guiding Principles for knowledge valorisation.

HORIZON-WIDERA-2024-ERA-02-02: Science comes to town

Type of action: CSA (Coordination and Support Action)*

Projects expected to be approved: 1 project with a budget of ~6 M€

Expected Outcome: Part of the ambition of the new European Research Area is to increase societal responsibility, trust and commitment to science and innovation by engaging stakeholders, local communities and citizens in the design and implementation of R&I policies and by enhancing science communication activities. This action provides a unique opportunity to cities in Member States and Associated Countries to take centre stage in implementing this vision. It allows them to bring together their citizens and R&I communities to showcase the contribution of science in addressing the needs of citizens and its contribution to improving the well-being of citizens on a sustainable planet together with economic prosperity. The call topic invites a small group of cities to jointly design and implement a vibrant and engaging year-long programme of activities under the label “Science comes to town 2026” with impact at local, regional and European levels. The programme should connect local R&I communities with a broad group of stakeholders and, most importantly, citizens around the topic of science and its role in society.

More information and applications can be found in the EU Funding & Tender Portal. If you want to apply you should analyse the abstracts of awarded applications (in your research area) and watch the videos of info sessions organized by the European Commission.

If you are considering to apply, please get in touch with us (cesam-gesciencia@ua.pt).

Please, consult the information provided by the NCP_WIDERA.NET project about this call HERE.

*Coordination and Support Actions (CSAs): address needs to i) structure stakeholder communities; ii) support dissemination and exploitation of research or innovation projects; iii) exploit synergies of scale among projects; iv) raise awareness in specific areas; v) support technological visions (e.g. road-mapping, user cases, etc.) and outreach (e.g. events, publications, etc.); vi) promote international cooperation with specific regions and/or technological areas for any of the above-mentioned activities; vii) undertake other activities similar in nature to those above (i.e., this is not an exhaustive list).