• European Research Council (ERC) Grants
• Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions (MSCA) Postgraduate Fellowships
• Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions (MSCA) Doctoral Networks
• Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions (MSCA) Staff Exchanges

Global challenges & European Industrial Competitiveness 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

EU Missions

• Adaptation to Climate Change
• Cancer
• Restore our Ocean and Waters
• Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities
• A Soil Deal for Europe

• EIC Pathfinder Open
• EIC Pathfinder Challenges
• EIC Transition Open

The UK Government has extended the Horizon Europe Guarantee.  The guarantee will now be in place to cover all Horizon Europe calls that close on or before the end of June 2023.

Also, following the Windsor Agreement news last week, and the statement from Ursula Von der Leyen that the deal was “good news for scientists and researchers in the EU and in the UK”,  and that work could begin “immediately” on securing UK association to EU R&D programmes once the new Windsor Framework is implemented - the UK research and business community must now wait to hear news of ongoing negotiations around association and the UK future financial contribution to the programme.

Branwen Hide from the UK Research Office (UKRO) will be coming to the University on 20^th April to run a couple of EU sessions with me for all University Research Services staff.  This afternoon event will look at Horizon Europe including engaging with the programme and proposal submission.   The event is currently open for RS staff registrations - if we have the space we will open registrations wider across the University.

Horizon Europe – Engaging with the Programme and Proposal Submission - 20^th April 2023  -  2:30pm – 4:30pm - Coupland Building 3 – Lecture Theatre A

The session will give a general introduction to the Horizon Europe Programme and will provide advice on proposal preparation including setting up project budgets and cost categories. The session will address all Horizon Europe schemes and provide some advice on the UK guarantee.

University staff involved with Horizon Europe proposal preparation, including preparation of budgets and advising research staff, should try to attend. 

**EVENT POSTPONED - RESCHEDULED DATES WILL BE ANNOUNCED SHORTLY**

Branwen Hide from the UK Research Office (UKRO) will be coming to the University on 20^th April to run a couple of EU sessions with me for all University Research Services and Research Finance staff. 

This morning event will look at Horizon 2020 - Financial Management and Post-Award Reporting.   The event is currently open for RS and RF staff registrations - if we have the space we will open registrations wider across the University.

H2020 - Financial Management and Post-Award Reporting - 20^th April 2023  -  10:00- 12:00 - Mansfield Cooper Building – G21

The session will give a general introduction to the H2020 Programme and will provide advice on preparation of financial reports, eligible and ineligible costs and audits but will also look at amendments, access rights, IPR management and reporting and other aspects of post-award project management.

All University staff involved with H2020 projects are invited to attend. 

**EVENT POSTPONED - RESCHEDULED DATES WILL BE ANNOUNCED SHORTLY**

Two-factor authentication will become mandatory for all EU Login accounts on the Commission’s Participant Portal.

What is two-factor authentication?

Two-factor authentication (or 2FA) is an electronic authentication method in which a user is granted access to a website or application only after successfully presenting two or more pieces of evidence (or factors) to an authentication mechanism protecting user data from being accessed by an unauthorized third party that may have been able to discover a single password.

Why is the Commission introducing mandatory two-factor authentication on EU Login accounts?

The threats to cybersecurity are increasing and this prompted the Commission to introduce two-factor authentication for their EU Login accounts – this is optional at this stage.  Many of you will already have seen that every time you log in to your account a reminder pops up with information on how to set up two-factor authentication to make your account more secure.

While there is currently no clear timeline for two-factor authentication becoming mandatory we understand that this is expected to happen during the course of 2023, this will l be gradual process rather than a revolution and nothing will happen overnight, however, users can register at any time.

There are still a number of unanswered questions about the practicalities of use of 2FA, UKRO is discussing these with the Commission, including what two-factor authentication means for projects using shared mailboxes (e.g. finance@university.ac.uk) – as soon as I hear anything more about this I will let people know, at the moment I don’t have any detail on this.

You can view an EU webinar on 2FA on YouTube via this link.

Horizon Europe Guarantee - extended to 30th September 2023

The government has announced an extension to the support provided to UK Horizon Europe applicants until the end of September 2023.

The support provided to UK Horizon Europe applicants has been extended for a further three months. The extension will ensure that eligible, successful UK applicants will continue to be guaranteed funding, supporting them to continue their important work in research and innovation.

The guarantee will 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 grant.

All other conditions around submitting proposals and applying for the guarantee remain the same  - details regarding the scope and terms of the extension are available on the UKRI website.

All recent EU updates can be found on the EU Funding Website

Please visit FAQs page for more information on UK participation in Horizon Europe.

The UK is still eligible to apply to Horizon Europe calls including ERC calls, the Government guarantee will currently cover any successful award with a deadline on or before 30^th September (this may be extended) should the UK not sign the Association Agreement.

Upcoming ERC deadlines:

• Proof of Concept Grants – 21^st September 2023
• Starting Grants – Deadline  24^th October 2023 (Slides from the most recent UKRO information session are attached)
• Synergy Grants – 8^th November 2023 (UKRO information session registration details below)

UKRO offers a number of resources to support European Research Council (ERC) grant applications and host organisations with proposal development and project implementation.

ERC news and legal and financial resources include:

• Are Recruitment Costs Eligible in Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe?
• Issues with ERC Eligibility Extensions
• Minimum PI Time Commitments and PIs Across Multiple Institutions on ERC Grants
• ERC Grants: Funding and Design of Project Team Members
• Equipment Ownership and Obligation to PI on ERC Grants
• ERC Additional Funding for Major Equipment, Large Facilities and Experimental/Field Work Costs 
• 2024 ERC Work Programme
• Horizon Europe factsheets

UKRO Synergy Grant information sessions via Zoom in September open for registration.

ERC 2024 Synergy Grant: Call Information Webinar 1 of 2 – UKRO (urlisolation.com)

ERC 2024 Synergy Grant: Call Information Webinar 2 of 2 – UKRO (urlisolation.com)

The webinars will provide participants with a detailed practical overview of the ERC Synergy Grant scheme.  Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of the proposal format and the key issues they are required to address in planning, writing and costing a proposal. The evaluation procedure and how to approach writing an application will also be explained.

The session is aimed at researchers based in, or moving to, the UK who are planning to submit a proposal to the 2024 ERC Synergy Grant call, and the research support staff who will be supporting these applications. Applicants are expected to be active researchers and to have a track record of excellent research.

For details on UK participation in ERC grants under Horizon Europe refer to UKRO’s dedicated factsheet for up to date information and guidance that can be shared with colleagues at other institutions.

The UK is to re-join the EU's flagship scientific research scheme, Horizon, the government has announced.

The joint UK/European Commission statement can be found here.

Today, the European Commission and the UK Government have concluded negotiations and reached an agreement in principle on the association of the UK to Horizon Europe and Copernicus under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement.  The UK will associate to Copernicus, the EU's £8bn Earth observation programme but will not be re-joining EURATOM although there is an agreement to cooperate specifically on nuclear fusion.

UK researchers will be able to fully participate in the Horizon Europe programme on the same terms as researchers from other associated countries, including leading consortia, from the 2024 Work Programmes and onwards – including any 2024 calls opening this year. For calls from the 2023 Work Programmes, the European Commission will continue to administer transitional arrangements and the UK will continue to provide funding under the UK Guarantee. UK and EU scientists and researchers can have confidence in continuing long-term partnerships with their counterparts.

In a press release, the European Commission said the decision would be "beneficial to both" and stated that "overall, it is estimated that the UK will contribute almost €2.6bn (£2.2bn) per year on average for its participation to both Horizon and Copernicus.

The scientific and academic community has welcomed the news of Horizon association, the Chief Executive of Universities UK Vivienne Stern told the BBC there would be a "unanimous sigh of colossal relief"  from scientists which would allow them to work across geographical borders by drawing funding from a common pot.

The application process will remain unchanged, researchers should continue to apply as usual.

The UK Government and the European Commission have reached an agreement in principle on the association of the UK to the Horizon Europe and Copernicus programmes under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA).  Once the relevant protocol of the TCA is signed the UK will officially associate to Horizon Europe as of 1 January 2024.  UK organisations will be able to apply for and obtain EU funding and lead projects for the vast majority of upcoming calls that will be opening throughout the autumn.

• UK applicants to calls under the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2023 should continue to apply to Horizon Europe calls as beneficiaries, and, if successful, they will continue to be funded as an Associated Partner under the UK Guarantee scheme and will still not sign the EU Grant Agreement.  The Guarantee scheme is expected to be extended shortly. 

• For calls under the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2024, successful UK applicants will be funded as an Associated Country by the EU.

To clarify the terminology:

• Associated Partner – This is a Third Country role/status which is NOT Commission funded, for the UK this is funded by the guarantee.  The UK cannot coordinate/lead projects as an Third Country/Associated Partner.

• Associated Country – From 1^st January 2024 (including 2024 calls issued towards the end of 2023) the UK will be an Associated Country and will be eligible for Commission funding as a full Beneficiary on HE projects.  The UK can coordinate/lead projects as an Associated Country.

The terminology can be confusing, however, nothing will change in the way we submit proposals to HE, we continue to apply as a full Beneficiary with an EU budget as we have done over the past few years for Horizon Europe, however, for 2024 calls we will NOT change status to Associated Partner if we are successful, we will remain a full Beneficiary and claim our costs from the Commission.

FAQs

From when will the association agreements for Horizon Europe and Copernicus apply?

As stated in the European Commission’s Q&A, association to both programmes will become effective as of 1^st  January 2024.

Are the remaining 2023 Horizon Europe calls for proposals covered by the association agreement?

All 2023 calls will still be covered by the guarantee, for example, this includes all recent MSCA proposals (e.g. the recent HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01 call).

As included in the joint statement, “…………..for calls from the 2023 Work Programmes, the European Commission will continue to administer transitional arrangements [with UK organisations applying as beneficiaries and becoming Associated Partners at the granting stage] and the UK will continue to provide funding under the UK Guarantee.”

How do I know if the Horizon Europe call that I am applying to is covered by the association agreement?

The agreement means that UK organisations will be able to access Horizon Europe funding from 2024 work programmes and onwards – including any 2024 calls opening this year.  

The easiest way to find out if a call is covered by the association agreement is to look at the call/topic identifier.  All calls from the 2024 work programmes will have 2024 included in their identifier (e.g. ERC-2024-SyG or HORIZON-HLTH-2024-STAYHLTH-01-05-two-stage).

What happens to UK participants on ongoing Horizon Europe projects, which are subject to the transitional arrangement?

As included in the European Commission’s Q&A, “…………….so far, scientists affiliated to a UK institution have benefited from a transitional arrangement, which allowed them to apply and be evaluated as other potential beneficiaries under Horizon Europe calls.  However, in order to be eligible for EU funding, there needs to be an association agreement in place.  In practice, this means that in most cases UK entities were able to continue cooperation within Horizon Europe research consortia [as Associated Partners] while obtaining their funding from other sources.  Today’s agreement means that these researchers will be able to access Horizon Europe funding from 2024 work programmes and onwards.”  

Association will not cover already awarded Horizon Europe projects with funding from the guarantee.

Guidance documentation on UK Association.

In response to initial questions DSIT has published a helpful explainer document, which includes useful clarifications on many issues related to UK association to both programmes.  This document will continue to be updated to address any new questions on association. Please share this and the other official documents on UK association widely with your networks:

• UK Government explainer document on UK Association to Horizon Europe and Copernicus
• Joint statement by the UK and Commission
• UK Gov press release
• EC Q&A on the UK’s association to Horizon Europe and Copernicus

Horizon Europe calls will be issued via the Participant Portal you will need to register to set up or view a proposal.

The University’s Participant Identification Code (PIC) remains the same as for Horizon 2020 - 999903840.

You do not need to apply for a separate/new PIC when setting up a new proposal session.

Following the decision of the UK not to associate to Euratom R&T the government announced on Thursday 7^th September that it plans to put in place an ambitious and cutting-edge suite of new, alternative, R&D programmes to support the UK’s flourishing fusion sector and strengthen international collaboration, in support of the UK Fusion Strategy.

To deliver this package the government plans to invest up to £650 million until 2027, subject to business case approvals.  This is in addition to the £126 million announced in November 2022 to support UK fusion R&D programmes.  Further details on the alternative programmes will be set out later in the Autumn.

The UK remains open to collaboration with the EU and other international partners and this will form a key part of this new programme of work.

The new alternative fusion R&D package will include:

• new facilities, specifically to grow new fusion fuel cycle capabilities and support innovation
• a new fusion skills package, to ensure that we develop the skills and capability needed to deliver on our fusion strategy
• further support to strengthen international collaborative projects
• other measures to accelerate the commercialisation of fusion including boosting our world leading Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production programme

Given delays to association this alternative approach gives the UK the best opportunity to deliver a fusion strategy driving job creation, investment and growth.  This ambitious domestic programme fully aligns with the core principle of international collaboration in the UK fusion strategy, the UK remains open to such collaboration including with the EU and ITER (the large international fusion experiment being built in France).  However, it was decided that the UK can be of most use to the global fusion mission outside the Euratom R&T framework.

Planning on the new package is well advanced and further details will be announced in due course.

UKRO, in its capacity as UK National Contact Point for the European Research Council (ERC), is organising a webinar for researchers who are interested in applying for the 2024 ERC Consolidator Grant call on 26 October 10:00-12:00 (UK time) the event will last 2 hours with a break midway through and an extended Q&A session in the second half.

This session will provide a basic overview of ERC, the submission process, how proposals are evaluated and other elements to consider when designing a project for your research idea.

The overall aim of this webinar series is to provide participants with practical information about the ERC Consolidator Grant scheme. Participants should gain a deeper understanding of the proposal format and the key issues they are required to address in planning, writing, and costing a proposal. The evaluation procedure and how to approach writing an application will also be explained.

The session is aimed at researchers based in, or moving to, the UK who are planning to submit a proposal to the 2024 ERC Consolidator Grant call, and the research support staff who will be supporting these applications.

Attendance is free of charge, but registration is mandatory.

 As confirmed in last week’s update of UKRI’s guidance on the Horizon Guarantee, the Euratom Research and Training Programme’s 2023 call (HORIZON-EURATOM-2023-NRT-01) is covered by the Guarantee – although Euratom is formally not part of Horizon Europe – and funding may be accessed through the Innovation Funding Service.

In contrast to the previous advice for applicants expecting to obtain funding from the UK Horizon Guarantee funds, UK applicants must submit to any of the current Euratom calls as Associated Partners and not as beneficiaries.  This is because the UK has not associated to the Euratom programme and so is no longer a candidate associated country for this part of the programme, the UK is a Third Country for these calls.  This applies to Euratom calls ONLY, for all other 2023 and 2024 Horizon Europe calls the UK should apply as Beneficiaries with an EU budget listed on the Portal.

This is in line with the Commission’s FAQ advice:

“Under call HORIZON-EURATOM-2023-NRT-01, are entities established in the UK eligible to participate as beneficiaries or affiliated entities?

No. The UK has decided not to pursue its association to the Euratom Research and Training Programme 2021-2025. Therefore, UK entities (as any other entity from non-associated third countries) cannot participate as beneficiaries (with or without funding) or as affiliated entities. They can implement action tasks in their own name only as associated partners without funding.”

The UK decided not to associate to Euratom and an alternative domestic nuclear research and development scheme will be implemented instead, as announced last month.

Other than Horizon Europe and Copernicus, the UK is considered a non-associated third country and therefore not eligible for EU funding in many EU programmes, this includes Erasmus+, Euratom, Digital Europe, the Single Market Programme, LIFE, Creative Europe, EU4Health, the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme, the Justice Programme, the European Defence Fund and many others.  The full list of EU funding programmes is available here.

When applying to the remaining Horizon Europe calls (not Euratom) from the 2023 Work Programme, UK organisations must still apply for funding from the EU as Beneficiaries and not as Associated Partners in order to be eligible for the 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.

Euratom    UK Participation

Horizon Europe calls will be issued via the Participant Portal you will need to register to set up or view a proposal.

The University’s Participant Identification Code (PIC) remains the same as for Horizon 2020 - 999903840.

You do not need to apply for a separate/new PIC when setting up a new proposal session.

The Commission intends to increase the number of calls that will use the lump sum funding model to help reduce the number of financial errors on research and innovation grants, these projects will be managed using the Lump Sum Model Grant Agreement.  The number of calls using lump sums will steadily increase throughout 2023 and is expected to reach 50% of all topics in future Work Programmes.  Attached are the slides from the Commission’s webinar which focused on how lump sum funding works, and how to write a proposal - the webinar included two case studies from relevant ongoing projects.

The approach to lump sum funding under Horizon Europe remains mostly unchanged from Horizon 2020 and builds on the 2018-2020 Lump Sum Pilot.  The key aspect of lump sum projects is that payments are made at the end of each reporting period upon the completion of work packages.  If a work package is not completed at the end of a reporting period, payment for the corresponding activities will be delayed.  As in Horizon 2020, payments do not depend on a successful outcome but on the completion of the project activities.  It is now possible for incomplete work packages to be finalised in the subsequent reporting periods.  Moreover, in the last reporting period beneficiaries can declare partial work packages that were not completed earlier and get paid accordingly for their work efforts.  

There is a dedicated EC website that brings together all the information on lump sum funding in the programme which includes a FAQ section.

The EC has also recently added a new section of the Horizon Dashboard called ‘Horizon Dashboard for lump sum evaluations (personnel costs)‘ it contains details of the average personnel costs per organisation type/country, which can be useful for costing future lump sum projects.

Below are a few key points for preparing a lump sum funded proposal.

Preparing the budget 

• Applicants must include a detailed budget table using the Excel file provided during submission (see budget table template) as an annex to Part B of the application form.
• The budget is based on cost estimates that approximate to the actual costs and are subject to the same eligibility conditions as actual costs grants, and must be in line with institutional practice, as well as being reasonable and necessary for the proposed activities.
• The detailed budget table is not included in the grant agreement but is used to generate the breakdown of lump sum shares per work package/participant (Annex 2).

Work package design

• EC often see an increase in number of work packages, but they should always meet project needs and be manageable.
• Overarching work packages, such as ‘Management’, can be split into smaller ones to align with reporting periods/payments.
• When splitting work packages, such as ‘Management’, one does not need to describe them in detail more than once.
• When thinking about the timing of work packages, bear in mind the reporting periods.

Evaluation

• Experts will assess the costs estimations entered in the detailed budget table, under the ‘implementation criteria’;
• If the costs are not considered ‘reasonable’ and or, do not meet the needs of the project, the evaluators can recommend the budget to be reduced accordingly;
• Cost estimations that are clearly overestimated or underestimated will lead to a reduced score under ‘implementation’.
• The newly added section of the Horizon Dashboard called ‘Horizon Dashboard for lump sum evaluations (personnel costs)’ can be used for costing lump sum projects.

Implementation

• Once the lump sum is fixed, the amount will not be changed.
• The budget can be used flexibly, including the transfer of budgets between work packages and beneficiaries without the need for an amendment.
• Amendments are needed if the redistribution of the budget results in a change to the payment schedule, or if beneficiaries want additional clarity in Annex 2.
• Payments are based on the acceptance of a completed work package.
• Payments can be made for partially completed work packages and the amount will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
• Completion of work packages is not dependent on a successful outcome.
• There are no financial audits on lump sum projects, although in cases where serious fraud is suspected, an audit will be carried out by the relevant EU bodies.
• Audits will look to see if internal policies and procedures have been carried out.
• No timesheets are needed; however, if it is an internal policy of the participant to keep them, they will need to be kept on record.
• The contribution to a work package by an associated partner is not taken into consideration by the EC when deciding if a work package has been completed.

EC lump sum webinar slides 

Branwen Hide from the UK Research Office (UKRO) will be presenting an online Horizon Europe session, this event will look at Horizon Europe including association, engaging with the programme and proposal submission.   

Horizon Europe – Engaging with the Programme and Proposal Submission - Webinar 

16^th November 10:00 – 12:00

The session will give a general introduction to the Horizon Europe Programme and will provide advice on proposal preparation including setting up project budgets and cost categories

University staff involved with Horizon Europe proposal preparation, including preparation of budgets and advising research staff, should try to attend. 

You can join the Horizon Europe event at:

Microsoft Teams meeting

Join on your computer, mobile app or room device

Click here to join the meeting [teams.microsoft.com]

Meeting ID: 365 814 952 502
Passcode: 4axLm3

Download Teams [microsoft.com] | Join on the web [microsoft.com]

Join with a video conferencing device

ukri@m.webex.com

Video Conference ID: 122 283 500 1

Alternate VTC instructions [webex.com]

Learn More [aka.ms] | Meeting options [teams.microsoft.com]

There is a separate session on Tuesday 14^th November between 10:00 and 12:00 which will address Horizon 2020 post-award financial management and reporting – this session is open to Research Finance staff involved with submitting H2020 financial and periodic reports.

Please find attached the slides from the UKRO Horizon Europe here - Legal and Finance session held on Tuesday 14^th November.

This session is relevant to all researchers and Research Support staff interested in participating in Horizon Europe.

The UK’s association to Horizon Europe and Copernicus was officially sealed on 4^th December. The association agreement was adopted in the form of a protocol to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement by the EU-UK Specialised Committee on Participation in Union Programmes.

After the announcement on 7 September 2023, UK organisations will be able to participate in Horizon Europe calls for proposals on the same terms as institutions from other Associated Countries, including leading consortia and receiving EU funding, from the 2024 Work Programme and onwards. This includes any 2024 calls opening this year.

Participation in Copernicus, the EU Earth Observation programme, will enable the UK’s access to a state-of-the-art capacity to monitor the Earth and to its services, as well as provide the UK research community with access to unique data, which is often required on Horizon Europe projects.

The UK Government has published a helpful explainer document, which includes clarifications on many issues related to the UK association to both programmes.

Next steps

Department for Science, Innovation and Technology will shortly launch a communications campaign to maximise participation in Horizon Europe and Copernicus from researchers, academics and businesses of all sizes in the UK. This PR push will shine a light on the real-world examples of the benefits Horizon and Copernicus participation can deliver for academics, researchers and businesses, right across the UK – particularly small and medium-sized businesses involved in R&D, which might not have previously considered applying.

Alongside this, in a partnership with the British Academy and other key backers, support will be made available to selected UK researchers applying for Horizon for the first time, through ‘pump priming’ funding, with up to £10,000 available per application. The funding will be available to support those researchers who have not previously had experience, including next generation researchers. The fund will be targeted to ensure it maximises the UK’s involvement in Horizon.

Please do not send bank details for the University of Manchester to any partners or coordinators of EU projects without approval - this should always be provided/verified by someone in the Finance Directorate.

British Academy: Horizon Europe Pump Priming Collaboration between UK and EU Partners 2024

Deadline: 17 January 2024 

The British Academy with the support of the Royal Society, the Academy of Medical Sciences, and the Royal Academy of Engineering are inviting 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 (Pillar 2 only). Proposals are welcome in all disciplines – engineering, natural sciences, medical and health sciences, humanities, and social sciences, the award will be up to £10,000.

Applications must identify a call and topic in Pillar 2 that they will specifically target to apply to on the back of this pump priming funding.

Within Pillar 2 the Calls and Topics that this pump priming funding can be used to target must be from the 2024 Work Programmes onwards (i.e. Calls and Topics with 2024 in the call code) that are listed on the Horizon Europe funding portal as either ‘open for submission’ or ‘forthcoming’. Such Calls and Topics may target any type of action and focus on any cluster:

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

EC Webinar on Lump Sum Funding in Horizon Europe

8^th February 2024

9:00 – 12:00

No registration is required, and joining instructions are available on the event website.

The webinar will focus on how lump sum funding works and how to write a proposal for a call that uses the lump sum funding model. The agenda will also include a discussion panel with guests presenting their practical experience with lump sum grants - attendees will be able to post questions via Slido.

A dedicated “Lump sum funding in Horizon Europe” section is available on the Funding and Tender Opportunities Portal. It brings together all the information on lump sum funding in the programme, FAQs and events.

Horizon Europe Guarantee: UKRI Guidance Has Been Updated

UKRI has updated its Horizon Europe Guarantee guidance with the following information:

• New funding routes opening on Je-S for 2023 MSCA Citizens and Postdoctoral Fellowships.
• The 2022 ERC Consolidator and 2022 MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships will close on Je-S on 1 March 2024.
• Q38 – Clarification on the foreign exchange rate in the IFS cost conversion tool
• Q65 – Clarification on Global Talent Visa documentation
• Q75 – Guidance provided on the Transfer Expenditure Statement for Horizon grants transferred to the UK
• Q90, Q91, Q95 – Clarifications on the eligibility of equipment, T&S and visa costs on ERC grants funded by the Guarantee
• Q92  – Clarification on sabbaticals on ERC grants funded by the Guarantee
• Q93, Q94 – Guidance on joining the Association of ERC Grantees (AERG) and on branding for ERC grants funded by the Guarantee
• Q105, 106 –  Clarifications on long-term leave allowance on MSCA projects funded by the Guarantee
• Q111 – Clarifications on timesheets on MSCA projects funded by the Guarantee
• Q112 – Clarifications on the eligibility of visa costs on MSCA projects funded by the Guarantee
• Q125 – Guidance on terminating MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships funded by the Guarantee
• Q127 – Clarification on project-wide costs on MSCA projects funded by the Guarantee
• Q132, 137 – Clarifications of UK transfers for MSCA Doctoral Networks and MSCA Staff Exchanges
• Q133, 134 – Clarifications on obligations related to students participating in MSCA Doctoral Networks funded by the Guarantee
• Q138 – Clarification on secondments involving organisations based in Third Countries
• Q139 – Clarification on the eligibility of doctoral candidates for secondment on MSCA Staff Exchanges funded by the Guarantee

Your questions and feedback

Any questions related to the Guarantee should be directed to UKRI at eugrantsfunding@ukri.org  - UKRI will continue to ensure feedback and suggestions are fed into relevant work streams.

The COST Association will host its annual Information Day on 27 March 2024.

This online info session is open to all researchers and innovators at any career stage and from any field of research, especially young researchers.

The event will provide information on how to participate in COST Actions or submit a COST Action proposal.

Programme overview

10:00: Welcome and introduction
10:10: What is COST and how to participate in a COST Action?
10:30: How to submit an application?
10:50: Which networking activities are funded within COST Actions?
11:00: What are the benefits of participating in COST?
11:15: Q&A
11:30: End of the session

Register at Online COST Info Day 2024 - COST

What is funded by COST?

COST Actions provide funding for networking activities in a wide range of scientific topics within the research networks, such as organising:

• conferences
• meetings
• training schools
• short scientific exchanges
• other networking activities in a wide range of scientific topics

The aim of these activities is to support the research network in targeting complex ideas in a concerted and targeted approach.

COST does not fund basic research.

Who can be funded by COST?

Researchers and innovators from the academic and non-academic sectors, from all research fields, can participate in a COST Action. This includes:

• universities
• research institutions
• SMEs
• NGOs
• industry
• public institutions
• other relevant organisations

Researchers can apply at any stage of their career.

Eligibility of the UK to participate

COST is an intergovernmental framework consisting of more than 40 Full Member States, 1 Cooperating Member State (Israel) and 1 Partner Member State (South Africa), and is separate from the Horizon Europe programme. Investigators from these countries can freely participate in COST Actions.

As the UK is a COST Full Member, UK-based researchers and innovators are fully eligible to apply to and participate in COST Actions, regardless of the UK’s status in Horizon Europe.

UK-based scientists and innovators will be reimbursed for their participation in:

• all COST Action networking activities (meetings, conferences, Training Schools
• short-Term Scientific Missions (STSMs), and virtual mobility grants
• COST-organised activities, such as COST Academy training

UK-based scientists and innovators are eligible to:

• be a main or secondary proposer in the COST Open Call for new Actions
• hold all leadership positions in ongoing Actions
• host the Grant for a COST Action grant at their institution

European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) National Contact Point

UKRO is the COST NCP and can be contacted via e-mail widera-uk@ukro.ac.u​​k​​.

Sign up for UK Horizon Europe newsletters for regular updates on the programme from the UK National Contact Points.

The UK COST National Contact Point is funded by the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology.

UKRO run a comprehensive events programme for both subscribers and non-subscribers - if you aren’t registered you can do this here - all University of Manchester staff are eligible to register.

National Contact Point (NCP) events, including events on funding from the European Research Council (ERC) and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), can also be accessed from the UKRO website.

• Events – UKRO

Some examples of up-coming funding events available on the website are:

• EU Research and Innovation Days 2024 – 20/21 March

• COST Information Day 27^th March 2024

• Horizon Eurpe Information Day 2024 – WIDERA Work Programme 2023-2025 – 22^nd April 2024

You can also view past webinar recordings by choosing the ‘past events’ tab - past events include:

• EC Webinar on Lump Sum Funding

• Legal and Financial Matters in Horizon Europe

Other resources available on the UKRO website include:

• Horizon Europe Work Programme 2023-2024

• Horizon Europe UKRO Factsheets

• Module 1: EU Framework Programme Lifecycle and Budget [ukro.ac.uk]

• Module 2: The Funding & Tenders Portal and Proposal Submission [ukro.ac.uk] 

• Module 3: Legal and Financial Matters in Horizon Europe [ukro.ac.uk] 

• Module 4: Horizon Europe Clusters (incl. general criteria for projects and the evaluation process) [ukro.ac.uk]

Following UK association to Horizon Europe and looking forward to future reporting as a full beneficiary on projects, the template for the Certificate on the Financial Statements (CFS) has been updated.

The European Commission has published an updated template of the Certificate on the Financial Statements (CFS) also known as the ‘audit certificate’. The main change concerns the addition of the “agreed-upon procedures checklist” specifying general eligibility conditions and ineligible costs for each cost category.  This CFS update replaces the CFS template for Horizon Europe and any other 2021-2027 programmes, in line with the EC’s corporate approach.

• A CFS is obligatory for all Horizon Europe beneficiaries (and Affiliated Entities) that request an EU contribution of at least €430,000 for the entire duration of the project.  

• A CFS is not required for MSCA grants (using unit costs) and for projects receiving lump sum funding.

• The cost for a CFS is eligible under “other goods, works or services” (category C.3) and should be budgeted at the proposal stage.

• The CFS template for H2020 remains as it was.

The ERC Scientific Council has implemented changes to the evaluation processes and application forms for 2024 research proposals, following recent debates on research assessment.  In a dedicated report, entitled “Evaluation of research proposals: the why and what of the ERC’s recent changes” ERC President Maria Leptin gives an overview of the changes and the reasoning behind them.

The changes, explains Professor Leptin, address the issue that current assessment systems often use narrow methods to evaluate research quality, performance, and impact.

The main changes (as previously reported by UKRO) include the following:

• The description of required ‘profiles’ of ERC PIs has been removed from the Work Programme.
• In the application form, the CV and track record, previously two separate documents, are now combined as a single template.

In a recent Interview ERC President Maria Leptin set out the rationale for evaluation changes

“High-risk, high-gain” was confusing for applicants

The European Research Council has explained recent changes to its project proposal evaluation strategy, including why it no longer bills itself as a “high-risk, high-gain” funder.  Established in 2007, the ERC has become the EU’s flagship funder of basic research, and has a 2024 budget of about €2.22 billion to support single researchers at all career stages as well as teams of leading principal investigators.  For its 2024 calls, the funder changed how it evaluates proposals, both in terms of the information it seeks from applicants and how information is considered.

Risky business

The ERC no longer specifies that it seeks proposals for “high-risk, high-gain” projects. In the report, ERC president Maria Leptin said this phrase “was seen as potentially confusing and problematic”.  It was intended to discourage evaluation panels from being conservative, Leptin explained, adding that the funder is still not backing away from the risk that a project will produce unpredictable results.  But, she added, a researcher may have preliminary data indicating that ground-breaking work has a relatively high chance of success—and such projects would be welcome to the ERC. “We stress that the ERC continues to look for proposals that address important challenges and hope that the research funded by the ERC will lead to major advances at the frontier of knowledge,”. “However…the terms ‘ambitious’, ‘creative and original’ are better descriptors for the kinds of proposals the ERC should fund.”

Projects before people

In addition, the ERC is now putting more emphasis on projects than their proposers and no longer numerically grading proposals for both the planned work and the applicant themselves.  Leptin said this is because, under the previous method for assessment, an application for a weak project from a strong researcher could end up with a similar score in the first evaluation phase as an application for a brilliant project from “a less accomplished” researcher.  This left brilliant proposals at risk of not being funded for reasons including that the proposing researcher was based at a less well funded institution, with this impacting unjustly on the researcher themselves. She said that, nonetheless, ERC scientific council members “found it important to understand the track record and CV of the applicant to decide whether to select the application for in-depth evaluation in the second step”.  Therefore, the funder decided to evaluate projects first, and assign them a numerical grade used for ranking.  Applicants are assessed qualitatively and the two assessments are not combined into an overall score. “In this way, the evaluation should give more weight to the project than to the applicant,”.

Supervision and publication

The ERC no longer asks applicants how many other researchers they have supervised.  This is because “numbers alone are not sufficient to assess whether a principal investigator has been a good advisor”. We were unable to come up with any other reliable and fair measure for ‘good mentorship’ and thus concluded that this information should no longer be asked for,”. The ERC has also stopped steering applicants towards peer-reviewed journals when setting out their track record, Leptin said, because “some ground-breaking discoveries may only have been posted on pre-print servers, [or] been published in niche or specialist journals, while others may be in entirely different formats or platforms, and in some disciplines national publications may be the most relevant and important”.

During the Research & Innovation week which took place last week in Brussels, the European Commission announced the new release of the EU Funding & Tenders Portal.

The new release includes but is not limited to:

• updated interfaces, with a streamlined homepage now showcasing the Portal’s main services
• new functionalities powered by state-of-the-art technology, such as a new funding page search engine
• affinity-based recommendations of ‘calls for proposals’ for logged-in users
• a newly integrated ‘global search’ tool

The EU Funding & Tenders Portal has over 1.5 million users, including EU funding applicants, beneficiaries, tenderers, and experts. These developments have been implemented after user feedback was collected on the Portal’s services and tools, to provide users with an updated and more seamless experience.

The European Commission has released a video which showcases the Portal’s new features and provides guidance on how to navigate them.