Tagged / EU funding

Horizon Europe Event – April 2026

We have established an annual event dedicated to EU funding, with a particular focus on the Horizon Europe Framework Programme.

This year’s event is hosted and supported by MST and will explore the theme: ‘EU Funding: Busting Myths, Building Capacity’. During the session, experienced Horizon bidders from BU will demystify Horizon Europe, sharing their insights alongside practical advice for prospective applicants.

The event is open to colleagues from all faculties. We aim to deliver it in a hybrid format and to record the session; however, this cannot be guaranteed.

While registration is not mandatory, we strongly encourage attendees to sign up, as the online joining link will only be shared with registered participants. Please use the registration link provided.

The event’s primary aim is to broaden the pool of Horizon Europe applicants across MST and BU. Currently, a relatively small, established group of senior academics leads the majority of applications, placing considerable pressure on them, while comparatively few new applicants are entering the process.

The event will last approximately one and a half hours and will take place on 29 April 2026 at 10:30 in PG22, Poole House. A number of BU Professors have kindly agreed to participate as panellists and will be available to answer questions.

The session will begin with a short introductory presentation covering the fundamental principles of Horizon Europe and its current landscape. The rest of the event – at least one hour – will be dedicated to discussion and audience Q&A.

Please share this information with colleagues so they can save the date. Further details, including the event link, will be circulated in due course.

Ainars

Horizon Europe Work Programme 2025 Published

Funding opportunities

The European Commission has published the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2025.

Parts of the Work Programme are available for download:

In addition to the Info Days announced earlier, there is an info day dedicated to Cluster 3 ‘Civil Security for Society’ to be held on 11 June at 9:00 (UK time), followed by a brokerage event on 12 June. All Info Days are recorded and can be accessed at any time directly from the event website.

UKRO has published guidance materials and explainers in the run-up to the adoption of the 2025 Work Programme. Those interested in these materials may be required to log in to the UKRO portal with their credentials.

If you have any EU funding-related questions, feel free to get in touch with me – Research Facilitator International Ainar Blaudums. For general pre-award or non-EU queries, please email the Pre-award Enquiries mailbox or contact my colleagues who support UK applications. There is a lot of useful information on our RDS pre-award SharePoint site.

Horizon Europe 2025 Work Programme pre-Published

Funding opportunities

The main Horizon Europe work programme 2025 has been pre-published.

The usual caveat is that these drafts have not been adopted or endorsed by the European Commission and any views expressed are the preliminary views of the Commission services and may not in any circumstances be regarded as stating an official position of the Commission. However, it is a solid basis to plan this year’s applications.

You can find all parts of the pre-published work programmes following this link: Horizon Europe work programmes – European Commission

The adoption (official release) of the Horizon Europe main work programme 2025 and the amended Horizon Europe work programme 2023-2025, as announced earlier, is planned for May 2025.

Let me remind you that in May, there are several information days hosted remotely by the Commission. You can find more information about information days on my previous blog, following this link: BU Research Blog | Horizon Europe info days 2025 | Bournemouth University

Those interested in applying for Horizon Europe grants, please read the appropriate parts of the work programme and attend the information days if you can. You can also find a summary of most important dates and useful links in the presentation I have recently updated and uploaded to RKE SharePoint site.

As usual, if you have any EU funding-related questions, feel free to get in touch with me – Research Facilitator International Ainar Blaudums. For general pre-award or non-EU queries, please email the Pre-award Enquiries mailbox or contact my colleagues who support UK applications. There is a lot of useful information on our RDS pre-award SharePoint site.

Update on Horizon Europe Guarantee

The UK government remains in discussion on the UK’s involvement in EU research programmes and hopes that negotiations on Horizon Europe will be successful.

There are good news regarding Horizon Europe guarantee provided by the UK government. The UK government has announced an extension to the support provided to UK Horizon Europe applicants until the end of September 2023.

The UK Horizon Guarantee will now be in place to cover all Horizon Europe calls that close on or before 30 September 2023. Eligible, successful applicants to Horizon Europe will receive the full value of their funding at their UK host institution for the lifetime of their project.

Full details of the scope and terms of the extended Guarantee are available on the dedicated UKRI website (login may be required).

With any further questions related to Horizon Europe, please get in touch with me.

Please note that, as part of RDS funding briefing, there will be a session dedicated to Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships 2023 call on 21 June (no briefing this week).

Horizon Europe Update – January 2023

Welcome to the first Horizon Europe news of 2023. This is a summary based on articles published by UKRO and Research Professional early this year.

Horizon Europe association

The EU and New Zealand have concluded the official negotiations on the non-EU country’s association to Horizon Europe; the signing of the Association Agreement is expected to take place in early 2023. This will allow researchers and organisations from New Zealand to participate as beneficiaries receiving EU funding in projects funded under the six thematic Clusters of Horizon Europe’s second Pillar (Societal Challenges).

This is the first time that a highly industrialised country outside of Europe has become associated to the EU framework programme, however for all other parts of the programme, including European Research Council and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, New Zealand will continue to be considered a non-associated third country. Canada is also expected to become associated to Horizon Europe in early 2023, while Japan and South Korea continue to have early exploratory talks on association with the EU.

UK Government’s plan B

According to Research Professional, the UK science minister has said that the UK’s alternative plan for spending money ringfenced for European R&D programmes, the so-called ‘plan B’, is being signed off by prime minister Rishi Sunak. In his speech, Freeman said that ministers “haven’t yet finalised” the alternative package, which is “now with the prime minister, the chancellor, the cabinet and the National Science and Technology Council”.

The science minister said that the government was “still pushing, and I’m still hopeful”, for UK association, but added that access to EU R&D programmes was “caught up in the high politics of the post-Brexit negotiation”.

A glimmer of hope for such negotiations was reached this week when the EU and the UK reached agreement on a specific issue related to trade in Northern Ireland. The UK government has ringfenced £6.8bn for membership of EU programmes.

Pilot of two-stage proposal evaluation

The European Commission will pilot a new mechanism in the Horizon Europe evaluation process called ‘blind evaluation’ in all two-stage calls included in the recently published Work Programme 2023-24. The objective of anonymised proposals in the ‘blind evaluation’ pilot is to tackle some concerns about a potential bias of evaluators towards well-known organisations in countries with better-performing R&I systems.

The ‘blind evaluation’ approach means that at stage one of the evaluation process, the applicants’ identity is not revealed to the experts. At the first stage of proposal submission, applicants may not disclose their identity in Part B of their proposal. The second stage, in which full proposals are submitted, is not anonymised. All first stage applicants should keep in mind that if a proposal includes any identification of the applicant(s) in Part B, the bid will be declared inadmissible and will be rejected.

Expert Evaluators in Horizon Europe

The Commission and its executive agencies that manage Horizon Europe’s calls for proposals are continuously looking for new evaluators who assist the EU services in a personal capacity as experts with the implementation of EU funding and tenders. The Commission is looking for experts with a high level of expertise and professional experience in all EU action and policy fields, particularly those relevant to Horizon Europe’s calls for proposals.

Individuals interested in becoming expert evaluators in Horizon Europe should register in the dedicated ‘Work as an expert’ area of the F&T Portal. The Portal Expert Database is the central database for all expert work in this domain. Registration is a mandatory prerequisite for being contracted by the Commission to work as an evaluator on any EU funding programme. The Commission welcomes experts from any country, as long as they are not subject to EU administrative sanctions.

Becoming an expert evaluator in Horizon Europe is the best way to get to know the evaluation process in the new programme and become successful as an applicant faster. Knowing how the evaluation process works and what the experts are looking for in an excellent proposal will allow you to improve your own applications in the future.

Horizon Europe Resources

Happy New Year everybody!

In December, Innovate UK Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) and the UK’s Horizon Europe National Contact Points (NCPs) hosted a series of webinars presenting funding opportunities of the Horizon Europe 2023-24 work programme parts for the six Clusters under Pillar 2 ‘Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness’.

The video recordings and presentation slides from these events are now available online. Each webinar provides an overview of calls for proposals for the specific Cluster, practical tips for applicants and case studies.

As a reminder, the European Commission’s info days and brokerage events are taking place in in January 2023, follow the link for more information. You can also find more Horizon Europe internal resources on Brightspace.

As a reminder, one of BU Funding Development Briefings in January (scheduled for 25/01/23) will have spotlight on UK government guaranty related Horizon Europe grants.

Horizon Europe Update – End of 2022

Two weeks ago, I reported that on 6 December 2022 the European Commission adopted and published the final versions of Horizon Europe individual Work Programmes for 2023 and 2024.

One of the last thing to find out in 2022 has been situation regarding UK government guarantee for Horizon Europe calls closing in 2023.

According to the Research Professional, the government has once again extended its “safety net” for UK-based winners of funding from the EU’s Horizon Europe R&D programme, amid continuing uncertainty over long-term UK participation.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy announced on 19 December that it would provide backup funding for successful UK applicants to Horizon Europe calls that close on or before 31 March 2023. BEIS said that eligible, successful applicants to the programme would receive the “full value of their funding at their UK host institution for the lifetime of their grant”.

The announcement builds on a previous extension of the guarantee to cover calls ending on or before 31 December. The UK government now needs to decide whether to walk away from association and launch its ‘plan B’ or enter an arbitration process that could take months to conclude.

The government’s ‘plan B’ includes a new “flagship talent offer” with “high-value, long-term fellowships and a strong international mobility offer”, as well as an “ambitious programme for supporting global collaboration” and an increase in investment for “end-to-end innovation”.

The backup funding is being administered by UK Research and Innovation. According to data published by the national funder on 30 November, at least 1,353 UK-based researchers have requested £678.4 million in backup funding.

This must be my last research blog of 2022. I would like to thank you for being such encouraging colleagues, attending weekly funding briefings throughout 2022 and wish you calm and peaceful winter break!

Horizon Europe Update – December 2022

There is some good news this time; yesterday, on 6 December 2022, the European Commission adopted and published the final versions of Horizon Europe individual Work Programmes for 2023 and 2024. Those are publicly available in the ‘Reference documents’ section of the Funding & Tenders Portal. Some of the 2023 calls for proposals have already been launched.

R&I investments planned under the 2023-24 Work Programme will contribute to the EU reaching its climate goals, increasing energy resilience, and developing core digital technologies. They will also address targeted actions to support Ukraine, boost economic resilience and contribute to a sustainable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

There are some changes in the new work programme, just a couple to mention here.

Legal entities established in China will no longer be eligible to participate in Horizon Europe Innovation Actions in any capacity.

Participation of Russian and Belarusian organisations as well as those based in non-government-controlled territories of Ukraine are not eligible to participate in any capacity even when they are not subject to specific EU restrictive measures.

The Commission is already holding a series of information days on the 2023 calls for proposals included in the new Work Programme. The already confirmed information days can be found on the Commission’s dedicated website.

Association to Horizon Europe still remains the UK government’s priority, although there already are some plans in place if that is not going to happen. Just to note that UK applicants must apply for funding from the EU as beneficiaries and not as Associated Partners in order to be eligible for the UK government’s Horizon Europe funding guarantee. The change to Associated Partner status must only be made after the project has been assessed at the point of preparing the EU grant agreement.

Horizon Europe 2023-24 Work Programmes – UK NCP Webinars in December

Info Days

About ten days ago I published a blog regarding Horizon Europe info days organised by the European Commision. UKRO have announced the UK National Contact Points’ (NCP) Clusters Webinar Series on the 2023-24 Work Programmes.

The webinar series hosted by Innovate UK Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) and the UK’s Horizon Europe National Contact Points (NCPs) will give you an overview of the Horizon Europe 2023-24 Work Programmes for the six Clusters under Pillar 2: Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness.

The dates of each two-hour webinar are below:

  • 1 December 2022 – Cluster 5: Climate, Energy & Mobility
  • 2 December 2022 – Cluster 1: Health
  • 6 December 2022 – Cluster 6: Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment
  • 7 December 2022 – Cluster 2: Culture, Creativity & Inclusive Society
  • 8 December 2022 – Cluster 4: Digital, Industry & Space
  • 15 December 2022 – Cluster 3: Civil Security for Society

Registration is mandatory to attend the webinars.

In a case of further questions related to EU and international funding opportunities please contact Research Facilitator International Ainar Blaudums or any of my RDS Funding Development Team colleagues.

Horizon Europe Information Days – Save dates

Info Days

Cluster 6:  Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment

According to UK Research Office (UKRO), the Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation will host Information Days for Horizon Europe Cluster 6 on 13-14 December 2022.

This event will present the research topics proposed under the yet-to-be published 2023 Work Programme of Cluster 6 (Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment). A separate brokerage session will take place on 19 December.

Information is not yet available on the registration method or format of the events; a detailed agenda has not been published either.

BU academics can refer to our UKRO’s dedicated Cluster 6 Factsheet for an overview of the main policies and topic areas involved (login details required).

Cluster 5: Climate, Energy & Mobility

The Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation will host hybrid Information Days for Horizon Europe Cluster 5 on 15-16 December 2022

The event will present the research topics proposed under the yet-to-be published 2023 Work Programme of Cluster 5 (Climate, Energy & Mobility) with focus on twin green and digital transitions to achieve climate neutrality in Europe by 2050.

A separate physical pitching session and brokerage session organised by the Cluster 5 National Contact Points will take place in the afternoon on 15 December.

Limited physical registrations will be possible via the official Info Days registration page. Online participation will be possible without prior registration. The detailed agenda and practical details are available on the event website.

BU academics can refer to our UKRO’s dedicated Cluster 5 Factsheet for an overview of the main policies and topic areas involved (login details required).

Horizon Europe association

As you may know, Government’s policy is to encourage UK researchers to continue to apply for Horizon Europe grants despite uncertainty over association. This time I wanted to tell how other countries are progressing with the association.

According to Research Professional, New Zealand is ready to start formal talks on association to the Horizon Europe programme. On 18 October, New Zealand’s science minister, Ayesha Verrall, “expressed her willingness” to enter formal negotiations.

Earlier this year, New Zealand and Canada concluded exploratory talks on possible association to Horizon Europe, which would give their scientists similar access to the bloc’s member states to the parts of the programme covered by the agreement, in exchange for budget contributions.

Let’s wish New Zealand to have more luck than we have had so far.

In the meantime, Australian official claims EU put limits on Horizon access. An official from a second country has said it was the EU that limited the scope of talks on association to the bloc’s research and innovation programme.

So far, 16 countries have associated across Horizon Europe. Kurt Deketelaere, secretary-general of the League of European Research Universities, warned that it “really is worrying” that research-intensive countries are being “excluded” from parts of Horizon Europe for “unknown reasons”.

Horizon Europe Update – October 2022

Since my last update, there is no significant news and the message from officials remains the same – UK researchers should continue to apply for Horizon Europe grants despite uncertainty over association.

I want personally to thank those BU academics who follow this advice in practice. As a result, 15 EU grant applications have been submitted in September. The fact is that the only way to secure external funding is to apply for it.

There are still calls open on EU Funding & Tenders portal with deadlines in November until early 2023. Work programme parts for 2023 – 2024 still are in development stage, more information regarding those you can find on Brightspace (presentation from yesterday’s funding briefing session is also there).

There was an interesting article published by Research Professional today about EU/UK negotiations related to Horizon Europe association; if interested, you can read full article here.

I only have to add that negotiations are not over; they speak in article about specific working group established in August 2022; unfortunately, their efforts ended up without any results.

We have recently seen some interest in COST Actions from BU academics. Formally, COST is not a part of Horizon Europe and the UK is one of COST member states. You can also read more here.

Once again, I would like to emphasise that regardless of outcome of EU/UK negotiations, international networking generates opportunities to apply for collaborative grants. If you are invited to join COST network, please do remember to submit e-ItB form, so RDS can process and support your application.

September update on Horizon Europe

The UK government has announced an extension of the financial support provided to successful UK Horizon Europe applicants, which will now be in place to cover all Horizon Europe calls that close by the end of this year.

According to UK Research Office in Brussels (UKRO), this new announcement reiterates that association to EU programmes remains the UK’s preferred outcome and extends the scope of the Guarantee to cover additional Horizon Europe calls for proposals while the delay to association continues.

Following the announcement, the relevant UKRI guidance documents have been updated.

Previous versions of this guidance included a list of calls in the annex, but this has been replaced by a comprehensive commitment to include all Horizon Europe calls with a final submission deadline date on or before 31 December 2022 as shown on the EC Funding and Tenders Portal. For two-stage calls, only a final submission deadline on or before 31 December is considered to be in scope.

The MSCA4Ukraine scheme to support displaced scientists from Ukraine is now open to prospective host organisations. Organisations interested in hosting a displaced researcher from the Ukraine can register their interest on the MSCA4Ukraine website by completing the online form. The scheme will fund individual researchers at either the doctoral or postdoctoral level for a minimum of six months up to a maximum duration of two years. The funding rates are in line with the MSCA Doctoral Networks and the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships.

The MSCA4Ukraine scheme has a total budget of €25 million and forms part of the European Union’s collective response to the Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Although there is a separate process for registration of interest, please note that applications must be submitted by prospective host institutions on behalf of a named researcher, so the usual BU/RDS processes are in place.

Preliminary information on eligibility criteria and application requirements are available of the call website, and there is a dedicated FAQ page. If you have any additional questions, please contact the MSCA4Ukraine team directly.

Please note that RDS resumes weekly funding briefings on 14 September. You are welcome to participate every Wednesday at 12pm. An overview of Innovate UK SMART Grants is scheduled for the first this season’s briefing session. The first spotlight focusing on Horizon Europe will be on 28 September. You can find link to join briefings and more details in our previous post.

UKRO Subscription Services for BU Academics and Staff

Funding opportunities, international

Many BU academics may have recognised that RDS hosts annual UK Research Office (UKRO) visits to BU. These sessions are led by RDS and delivered in collaboration with BU European Advisor at the UKRO. Although, not all may be aware that BU is one of UKRO’s subscriber organisations.

UKRO supports the UK research and innovation community from Brussels and works with partners across government and stakeholders to maximise UK engagement in Horizon Europe programme. UKRO delivers subscription-based advisory service for research organisations; they even have non-UK associated members from Belgium, Norway, Finland and other countries.

UKRO also delivers free UK National Contact Point services for those interested in Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions and European Research Council programmes, however some sections of UKRO website are only available to staff at subscribing organisations.

Any BU employee can access UKRO services by creating their own profile. We encourage all BU academic staff to register – this is a quick and simple process which only requires institutional email address.

For all users in subscriber organisations UKRO provides the following services:

  • Access to the UKRO Portal, to keep you informed
  • Registered users receive tailored news articles on the latest EU funding and policy developments, as well as factsheets on different strands and aspects of EU research, innovation and higher education activities
  • Regular Horizon Europe training and information events
  • A place to meet and work in Brussels*

You can read more about EU-UK Relationship and UK Participation in EU-funded Programmes on UKRO portal and on a dedicated European Commission website.

If you are not sure or still have questions, contact Research Facilitator International Ainar Blaudums.

* It is possible to use UKRO’s dedicated workspaces for European project meetings. UKRO office is located within easy walking distance of most European Commission buildings, the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers.

UKRO annual visit – meeting with BU academics in 2021

Funding opportunities

As usual, RDS will host the annual UK Research Office visit to BU in 2021 – this year it will be virtual again.

This year’s event is scheduled for October 27, 2021 and is organised as part of funding briefing session; we have those on Teams every Wednesday.

Please make a note in your diaries – all academic staff interested in Horizon Europe framework programme and EU funding in general are invited to attend this session.

The session will be hosted by RDS and led by our UKRO European Advisor Ms Malgorzata Czerwiec from Brussels.

This year you are not be required to register in advance – simply join our Wednesday’s briefing session on 27th October at noon.

Agenda

12:00 – 12:10

Newest funding opportunities (as usual)

12:10 – 12:50

Horizon Europe Pillar 2 opportunities – how to approach calls for collaborative funding.

During this session will be covered opportunities of Horizon Europe 2022 calls, highlighting key features of proposal writing/consortium building/evaluation.

13:00 – 14:45

Previously booked one-to-one sessions (to be held using Zoom) with UKRO representative.

Academics are welcome to book one-to-one sessions indicating their EU funding related topic of interest; please email individually to Research Facilitator International Ainar Blaudums by 25 October and we will allocate 15 minutes timeslot for you.

UKRO delivers subscription-based advisory service for research organisations and provides Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) and European Research Council (ERC) National Contact Point services in the UK. As part of UKRO services, BU members of staff may sign up to receive personalised email alerts and get early access to the EU funding related publications on UKRO portal.

Please contact Research Facilitator International Ainar Blaudums if you have further questions.

Update on Horizon Europe

Funding opportunities

The Horizon Europe Regulation was published on 12 May and we were expecting to see the first Work Programme published by the European Commission in the same week. However, since then, the publication has been delayed several times, and while some calls have already opened and closed (ERC, emergency COVID-19, EIC), most of the main calls have not been published.

According to UKRO, the reason for this delay is the on-going discussions on eligibility criteria for certain topics in specific Work Programme parts, related to whether topics in selected areas will be open to the participation of Associated Countries. A positive vote on the Horizon Europe Work Programme by Member States this week would allow a publication within the next two weeks.

If the Work Programme is agreed by mid-June, as currently expected, the European Commission will organise online info sessions on the first calls at the end of June or the beginning of July. If there is a further delay, the timetable for calls might need to be revised more substantially.

UKRO understands that the European Commission wants to maintain a period of at least three months between the opening of calls and respective deadlines. If the Work Programme is agreed by mid-June, and calls launch simultaneously, this will mean a delay of a few weeks to deadlines compared to the original schedule where calls would have been launched in mid-March.

This delay of the calls does not affect UK participation and UK entities have already started participating in the first Horizon Europe calls or are in the process of submitting proposals. UK entities can apply to the calls once they open, as confirmed by the European Commission.

Horizon Europe Consortia Building Events

Funding opportunities

The UK National Contract Points (NCPs) for Horizon Europe in collaboration with KTN Global Alliance, are inviting potential applicants in the UK, Europe and beyond to participate in their Horizon Europe consortia building event series on 14, 17 and 21 June 2021.

These events are not information dissemination events, but instead will focus on pitching of project ideas and brokering partnerships for European Research and Innovation collaborations and networking.

The events are ideal for those who have identified specific call topics or at areas of interest, are ready to take the next steps, discussing concrete project ideas with potential partners and going forward to a proposal submission.

Themes across the webinars are scheduled as follows:

14 June 2021

  • Cluster 1 – Health.
  • Cluster 2 – Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society.

17 June 2021

  • Cluster 3 – Civil Security for Society.
  • Cluster 4 – Digital, Industry and Space.

21 June 2021

  • Cluster 5 – Climate, Energy and Mobility.
  • Cluster 6 – Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment.

These are excellent opportunities for researchers to widen their academic network with an aim to apply for EU collaborative grants.

For further information and to register, visit the KTN website.

The UK is expected to soon become an associated country to the EU’s R&I Framework Programme Horizon Europe. The UK will therefore have the same rights and obligations as other
countries associated to the Programme. UK entities can be included in consortia, as if the UK were already associated to the programme, in accordance with the Commission’s guidance.

In a case of further queries related to EU funding, get in touch with RDS Research Facilitator International Ainar Blaudums.

Horizon Europe – Clusters for Collaborative Research Projects

This is another post related to UK’s participation in EU Horizon Europe (HE) Framework Programme.

As mentioned earlier, based on UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, the UK will be HE Associated Country. This association will ensure that UK and EU entities participate in Horizon Europe Programme on equivalent terms.

Similarly as for previous EU Framework Programme Horizon 2020, research activities in Horizon Europe are structured under 3 pillars. However, there are some differences; as they say – ‘no revolution but evolution’:

  • Pillar 1 – Excellent Science
  • Pillar 2 – Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
  • Pillar 3 – Innovative Europe

In the picture above, you can see that all themes we knew as ‘Societal Challenges’ in Horizon 2020 have been moved under Pillar 2 and integrated with ICT, NMBP and space topics – this seems to be the major change; there are more, however I will leave them unexplored for now.

So, most of collaborative research projects BU academics may be interested in lay under the second pillar in Horizon Europe. Those are grouped in clusters and Work Programmes for each of these clusters have been drafted.

I will continue these series of blog posts about HE providing more details regarding topics and expected opening of HE calls (first calls are expected to be open in March/April).

There will be funding briefing for BU academics on Wednesday 3 February at 12pm led by RDS Research Facilitators.

This week’s spotlight topic will be MSCA Individual Fellowships. It should be useful for those academics who wish to submit applications this year and also those who are not familiar with MSCA funding scheme. Feel free to join this weekly event on MS Teams.

Just as a reminder – with enquiries regarding international funding opportunities and questions related to EU, especially Horizon Europe, funding contact me – Research Facilitator International Ainar Blaudums.

Major Study on 3D Printing and IP Law Led by Prof. Dinusha Mendis Published by the European Commission

Awarded & submitted bids, Business Engagement, Fusion themes, Industry collaboration, innovation, Knowledge Exchange, PG research, Post-award, REF Subjects

A large scale empirical and legal study on the Intellectual Property Implications of the Development of Industrial 3D Printing, funded by the European Commission and led by Professor Dinusha Mendis (FMC, Law and Co-Director CIPPM) has been published.

The report can be accessed here: https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/e193a586-7f8c-11ea-aea8-01aa75ed71a1/language-en/format-PDF/source-124493516

The project was awarded to Professor Mendis in 2018 and together with academic and industry partners from UK (Dr. Julie Robson, Bournemouth University; Prof. Phill Dickens, Added Scientific Ltd), Germany (Prof. Dr. Jan Nordemann, Nordemann LLP; Hans Brorsen) Austria (Dr. Maria del Carmen Calatrava Moreno, Technopolis Group) and Finland (Dr. Rosa Ballardini, University of Lapland) the project was completed in February 2020, with the report being published in April 2020.

Ahead of the completion of the project and publication of the report, a final workshop was hosted in Brussels on 14 October 2019. The presentations from the workshop as well as the panel discussion, can be accessed here.

The project provides an overview of the past and current industrial applications of Additive Manufacturing (AM) and 3D printing in seven  selected sectors (health, aerospace, automotive, consumer, energy, construction and tooling) whilst identifying potential challenges and opportunities in need of clarification. With the aim of enhancing the competitiveness of the AM sector in Europe, the Study makes policy recommendations in the field of intellectual property for businesses engaged in the AM and 3D printing field, and in the present context, is highly relevant for businesses and consumers working with 3D printers, in the fight against Covid-19.