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Grant Analysis

Purpose & Target

Single, clear statement: This grant aims to provide trans-national and/or virtual access to integrated and customised research infrastructure services for curiosity-driven research in specific scientific domains, fostering wider, more efficient access and sustainability. It also supports training and improvements to these services.
Explicit identification of target recipient type and size: The primary recipients are research infrastructures, including ESFRI Landmarks and European Research Infrastructure Consortia (ERICs), and potentially other legal entities hosting ERIC facilities. There are no explicit size restrictions mentioned for these organizations.
SECTOR-SPECIFIC
Geographic scope and any location requirements: Organizations established in EU Member States and Associated Countries are generally eligible. Additionally, legal entities established in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, India, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Switzerland, and USA are exceptionally eligible for funding if they provide access to their research infrastructures for researchers from EU Member States and Associated Countries.
Key filtering criteria for initial grant screening: Must be a research infrastructure offering trans-national or virtual access, focusing on atmospheric chemistry/dynamics or hadron physics, and including at least one ESFRI Landmark or ERIC as a beneficiary.
Grant frequency and program context: This is a specific topic within the annual Horizon Europe Work Programme for Research Infrastructures 2025, suggesting a recurring program context with specific calls released periodically.

Financial Structure

Funding rate: 80% of the eligible costs.
Eligible costs: May take the form of unit costs for trans-national and virtual access to research infrastructures, as defined in the Decision authorising the use of unit costs for such actions.
Total Topic Budget: 20000000.0 EUR for the 2025 budget year.
Minimum grant amount per project: 10000000.0 EUR.
Maximum grant amount per project: 10000000.0 EUR.
Expected number of grants: 2.
Financial and operational capacity requirements are described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes (details not provided here).

Eligibility Requirements

Organization Type

Eligible organizations are primarily research infrastructures.
Must include at least one ESFRI Landmark or European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) as a beneficiary.
For distributed ERICs, a legal entity hosting ERIC facilities, resources, or related services may participate as a beneficiary, provided the ERIC confirms support.

Geographic Location

Organizations established in EU Member States and Associated Countries are eligible for funding.
Legal entities established in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, India, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Switzerland, and USA are exceptionally eligible for funding if they provide access to their research infrastructures to researchers from EU Member States and Associated Countries.

Specific Qualifications and Certifications

Must be able to provide trans-national and/or virtual access services to integrated and customised research infrastructures.
Access provision activities must be included in the proposal.
Proposed actions should be strongly linked to research infrastructures of pan-European relevance (ESFRI, ERICs).

Organizational Capacity

Must possess the financial and operational capacity as described in Annex C of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes (details not provided here).

Partnership Requirements

Consortium required: Proposals must involve multiple entities, explicitly requiring at least one ESFRI Landmark or ERIC as a beneficiary.
Expected to involve an interdisciplinary set of research infrastructures, including, if applicable, emerging facilities.

Exclusion Criteria

Proposals focused solely on longer-term Research & Development for new instrumentation, tools, methods, and advanced digital solutions will not be supported. The main goal is access provision to existing services.

Application Process

Application Deadlines and Submission

Submission Deadline: 2025-09-18 00:00:00+00.
Submission session available: From 2025-05-06.
Submission procedure: Single-stage.
Submission platform: Electronic Submission Service via the Funding & Tenders Portal. Applicants must log in to access.

Required Documentation and Materials

Proposals must adhere to the page limits and layout described in Part B of the Application Form, available in the Submission System.
Applicants are not required to include a plan for exploitation and dissemination of results, as the main objective is service provision.
Application page limit is 100 pages.
General conditions for admissibility are described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes (details not provided here).
Standard application form (HE RIA, IA) is used.

Evaluation Process

Evaluation and award processes, including indicative timelines, are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual (details not provided here).
Evaluation forms (HE RIA, IA) will be used with necessary adaptations.

Post-Award Requirements

Reporting Schedule: Financial reporting requirements, audit requirements, and legal/financial set-up of grants are described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes (details not provided here).
Monitoring and Evaluation: Compliance with access provision requirements will be taken into account during evaluation.

Application Assistance Availability

Support information is available through the Online Manual, Horizon Europe Programme Guide, Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ, Research Enquiry Service, National Contact Points (NCPs), Enterprise Europe Network, IT Helpdesk, European IPR Helpdesk, CEN-CENELEC/ETSI Research Helpdesk, European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct, and Partner Search tools.

Evaluation Criteria

General Award Criteria

Award criteria, scoring, and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes (details not provided here).
Grants will be awarded not only in order of ranking but also to the highest-ranked proposals within each scientific area (atmospheric chemistry/dynamics and hadron physics), provided all thresholds are met.

Excellence Criterion (Additional Aspects)

The extent to which the access activities (trans-national and/or virtual) will offer access to:
State-of-the-art infrastructures of European interest in the field.
High quality services.
Enable users to conduct excellent research.
The extent to which the project will contribute to:
Facilitating and integrating the access procedures.
Improving the services the infrastructures provide.
Further developing their on-line services.

Impact Expectations

Expected outcomes: Wider, simplified, and more efficient access to research infrastructures; breakthrough research enabled by advanced services; improved and harmonised services; a new generation of researchers trained; cross-disciplinary fertilisations; better data management (including FAIR data principles).
Emphasis on sustainability of the access scheme.

Quality and Efficiency of Implementation

Consideration of the proposed activities and allocated resources reflecting the main goal of access provision.
The improvement and optimisation of offered services and development of new services are supported, provided resulting services are opened under the action and long-term sustainability is ensured.

Compliance & Special Requirements

Regulatory Compliance

Adherence to the guidelines and principles of the European Charter for Access to Research Infrastructures is expected.
Compliance with specific provisions under the 'Specific features for Research Infrastructures' section of the work programme is mandatory and will be assessed during evaluation.
Legal and financial set-up of grants follows Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Ethical and Data Standards

Data management (including FAIR data principles) and related ethics issues should be addressed where relevant.
Interoperability and connection of digital services (e.g., data services) to the European Open Science Cloud should be addressed where relevant.

Intellectual Property Policies

Intellectual Property (IP) policies are typically covered under general Horizon Europe Model Grant Agreements; no specific topic-level details are provided here.

Risk Management and Security

Not explicitly detailed in the provided grant text, but generally covered under broader Horizon Europe guidelines.

Unique Aspects and Strategic Opportunities

This topic supports access provision to existing services, with a strong emphasis on sustainability of the access scheme.
It fosters the exploitation of synergies and complementarity with other EU grants supporting access provision.
Allows for the improvement and optimisation of services, and development of new services, provided they are offered under the action and are sustainable long-term.
Proposals must explicitly state which scientific domain area they address: Area 1 (Environment: atmospheric chemistry and dynamics) or Area 2 (Physical sciences and engineering: hadron physics).
For Area 2, proposers should exploit transversal links and identify common developments with neighbouring particle and nuclear physics communities.

Cross-Cutting Considerations

The integration of the gender dimension (sex and gender analysis) in research and innovation content is not a mandatory requirement for this topic.
Proposals should take into account major European or international initiatives and foster the use of (open) global standards.
Includes an outreach and engagement plan to advertise services, particularly to Widening countries.

Grant Details