The British Academy (with the support of the Royal Society, the Academy of Medical Sciences, and the Royal Academy of Engineering) is expecting to launch a call for Horizon Europe Pump Priming later this month.
The call will invite proposals from UK and EU/Associated Countries-based researchers to pump prime collaborations to support the effective uptake of the opportunities provided by the UK’s association to Horizon Europe.
Proposals are welcome in all disciplines – engineering, natural sciences, medical and health sciences, humanities, and social sciences.
This programme will provide pump priming funding to seed collaborations for applications to specific Horizon Europe topics in Pillar 2, which comprises the following ‘clusters’:
- Health
- Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society
- Civil Security for Society
- Digital Industry and Space
- Climate, Energy and Mobility
- Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment
Within Pillar 2, the calls and topics that this pump priming funding can be used to target (i.e. calls and topics with 2025 in the call code) are listed on the Horizon Europe funding portal as either ‘open for submission’ or ‘forthcoming’.
Additional 2025 calls will appear on the Horizon Europe Portal soon. Details of the expected calls can be found in the pre-published work programmes.
ELIGIBILITY
- Each project must be led by a named Principal Investigator (PI).
- The PI must be a researcher from an eligible UK-based organisation and must be of postdoctoral or above status (or have equivalent research or innovation experience).
- The PI’s position must last at least the duration of the grant funded by the Academy.
- The PI is expected to direct and manage the grant and has responsibility for the overall project reporting requirements.
- An individual cannot be the PI on more than one bid under this call.
Proposals that involve working closely with UK SMEs are strongly encouraged. They can also seek to engage with any other type of organisation eligible for Horizon Europe funding (based in the UK and/or the EU/Associated Countries) as appropriate to the selected call and topic, including third parties, end users and similar bodies/organisations such as:
- hospitals
- libraries
- regulators
- commercial partners
- creative industry partners
- museums
- local authorities and associations
- NGOs
- charities
- companies
VALUE AND DURATION
Awards are worth up to £10,000.
Award activity and use of funds must conclude with an interim report by the deadline of the Horizon Europe call being applied to. Awards will be required to provide further reporting on their award, including in relation to the outcome of their application to Horizon Europe.
KEY DATES
Expected deadline: 11 June 2025