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Grant Analysis

Purpose & Target

Objective: To analyze the impact of learning environments and digital tools, including generative AI, on children's wellbeing, key skills, and competence development, focusing on primary and secondary general compulsory education.
Explicit identification of target recipient type and size: Organizations capable of conducting inter- and transdisciplinary research, including universities, research centers, social partners, civil society organizations, practitioners, VET providers, and SMEs.
MUST state if grant is 'SECTOR-SPECIFIC' or 'SECTOR-AGNOSTIC': SECTOR-SPECIFIC (Education, Digital Technologies, Social Sciences and Humanities).
Geographic scope and any location requirements: Applicants must be established in an EU Member State or a Horizon Europe Associated Country.
Key filtering criteria for initial grant screening: Focus on research in education, digital tools, child development, wellbeing, and social sciences.
Grant frequency and program context: Part of the 2025 'Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society' Work Programme under Horizon Europe, offered as a single-stage call for proposals.

Financial Structure

Grant type: Lump Sum contribution.
Total budget for this topic: 10,200,000 EUR.
Expected number of grants: 3.
Minimum grant amount per project: 3,400,000 EUR.
Maximum grant amount per project: 3,400,000 EUR.
Currency: EUR.
Funding rate: For Research and Innovation Actions (RIA), the reimbursement rate is typically 100% of eligible costs, which is factored into the lump sum calculation.
Eligible costs for lump sum calculation: Categories include Personnel costs (employees, natural persons under direct contract, seconded persons, SME owners), Subcontracting costs, Purchase costs (travel, subsistence, equipment, other goods, works, and services), and Other cost categories (financial support to third parties, internally invoiced goods/services, transnational/virtual access to research infrastructure, etc.). Costs must be eligible under standard Horizon Europe rules.
Indirect costs: Calculated at a 25% flat rate on qualifying direct costs and are included in the lump sum contribution.
Co-financing: Required; the total estimated costs of the action must be greater than the estimated Union contributions to comply with the co-financing principle.
Payment mechanism: Lump sum contributions are paid per work package upon successful fulfillment of its conditions during a reporting period.
Pre-financing: Follows standard Horizon Europe rules.
Mutual Insurance Mechanism: 5-8% of the total lump sum is retained as a contribution to this mechanism.

Eligibility Requirements

Organizational Type

Eligible entities include: Universities, Research Organizations, SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises), NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations), Civil Society Organizations, Social Partners (e.g., trade unions, business organizations), Practitioners, VET (Vocational Education and Training) providers, and other entities capable of conducting Research and Innovation Actions.

Geographic Location

Applicants must be established in one of the following countries to be eligible for funding:
Austria (AT), Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), Croatia (HR), Cyprus (CY), Czechia (CZ), Denmark (DK), Estonia (EE), Finland (FI), France (FR), Germany (DE), Greece (GR), Hungary (HU), Ireland (IE), Italy (IT), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Malta (MT), Netherlands (NL), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Romania (RO), Slovakia (SK), Slovenia (SI), Spain (ES), Sweden (SE).
Albania (AL), Bosnia and Herzegovina (BA), Faroe Islands (FO), Georgia (GE), Iceland (IS), Israel (IL), Kosovo* (XK), Moldova (MD), Montenegro (ME), North Macedonia (MK), Morocco (MA), Norway (NO), Serbia (RS), Tunisia (TN), Turkey (TR), Ukraine (UA), United Kingdom (UK).

Consortium Requirements

Applications must be submitted by a consortium (multi-beneficiary project) to facilitate comprehensive inter- and transdisciplinary research.

Action Type

Proposals must be for 'HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions (RIA)'.

Financial and Operational Capacity

Applicants must meet the financial and operational capacity requirements as described in Annex C of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.

Exclusion Criteria

Standard Horizon Europe exclusion criteria apply, as described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Application Process

Application Deadline

Submission deadline: 2025-09-16 00:00:00+0000.
The submission session for this call opened on 2025-05-15.

Submission Process

Application procedure: Single-stage submission process.
Submission platform: Applications must be submitted electronically via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal's Electronic Submission System.
Accessing submission: To initiate a proposal, click the submission button next to the 'HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions' type of action and 'HORIZON Lump Sum Grant' model grant agreement.

Required Documentation

Part B of the Application Form: This is the narrative part of the proposal, with a strict page limit of 50 pages for Research and Innovation Actions (RIA) using the lump sum model.
Detailed budget table: A mandatory component, applicants must use the specific template available in the Submission System to provide a detailed cost estimation for the lump sum.
Declaration: Beneficiaries are required to declare that they have prepared their estimated budget following their own accounting practices.

Grant Agreement

Legal and financial set-up: If successful, grants will be established using the 'Lump Sum Model Grant Agreement' (HORIZON-AG-LS).

Post-Award Requirements

Reporting: Payments are contingent upon the successful completion and fulfillment of conditions for each defined work package, as verified by the granting authority.
Monitoring: Checks, reviews, and audits will primarily focus on the technical implementation of the action, including the fulfillment of work package conditions, adherence to ethics and research integrity, effective dissemination and exploitation of results, management of intellectual property, and gender equality aspects.

Evaluation Criteria

Quality and Excellence

Soundness of methodology: Proposals should use mixed methods approaches and demonstrate how they address the complex nature of the topic, existing data, and rapid technological changes.
Inter/Transdisciplinary approach: Strong emphasis on inter- and transdisciplinary research, including Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) disciplines, involving multiple perspectives.
Engagement of stakeholders: Active and meaningful participation of children and young people, as well as other relevant stakeholders, in data collection.
Scientific/technical performance: The proposed research must be of the highest quality, pushing the boundaries of state-of-the-art knowledge.

Impact

Contribution to Expected Outcomes: The proposal must clearly demonstrate how it will provide analyses of digital tools' impact on wellbeing and learning, and offer evidence-based recommendations for high-quality education that uses digital technologies.
Policy Relevance: Potential to provide valuable insights to policymakers at European, national, regional, and local levels.
Socio-economic Impact: Strengthening social and economic resilience, boosting inclusive growth, and effectively reducing vulnerabilities, poverty, and inequalities.
Dissemination and Exploitation: Maximizing feedback to policy and ensuring effective dissemination and exploitation of research and innovation results and practices.
Data Management: Data produced must adhere to FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Re-usable). Proposals should leverage European Research Infrastructures and the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) where applicable.
International Cooperation: Encouraged whenever relevant in the proposed topics.

Quality and Efficiency of Implementation

Work Plan Coherence: Clarity, completeness, and feasibility of the work plan, including detailed descriptions of activities and related resources for each work package.
Team Composition: The consortium must bring together the right mix of actors and expertise to achieve high-quality research.
Budget Justification: Detailed cost estimation for the lump sum per work package and per beneficiary, demonstrating that it represents an approximation of actual eligible costs. Experts will check this against benchmarks.
Sound Financial Management: Compliance with co-financing principles, ensuring total estimated costs exceed the EU contribution.

Compliance & Special Requirements

Funding Model Specifics

Lump Sum Contribution: This grant operates under a lump sum funding model, meaning the grant amount is a fixed sum determined upfront. Payments are based on the achievement of specific work package conditions and objectives, rather than detailed reporting of actual incurred costs. This significantly reduces the administrative burden on beneficiaries by removing the need for financial ex-post audits.
Financial Checks: There will typically be no financial ex-post audits. Checks will instead focus on the technical implementation of the action and the fulfillment of specified work package conditions.

Ethical and Societal Compliance

Ethical Standards: Adherence to high ethical standards and research integrity principles is mandatory throughout the project.
Inclusivity: Proposals should specifically address and pay attention to intersecting factors influencing children's experiences with digital tools, including age, gender, disabilities, digital exclusion of marginalized groups, and socio-economic status.
Voice of Children/Young People: Active and meaningful participation of children and young people, alongside other relevant stakeholders, must be integrated into the data collection process.

Data Management

FAIR Data Principles: All research data produced in the context of this topic must be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Re-usable (FAIR).
Research Infrastructures: Proposals are encouraged to leverage data and services available through EU-funded European Research Infrastructures, particularly those in the social sciences and humanities domain, and relevant Data Spaces such as the European Open Science Cloud.

Policy Alignment

Strong alignment with various EU policies and strategies is expected. This includes the European Pillar of Social Rights and its Action Plan, the European Education Area and its 2030 targets, Union of Equality policies (e.g., Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Gender Equality Strategy, EU Anti-racism Action Plan, LGBTIQ+ Equality Strategy), the Communication on Demographic change, the EU's just transition policy framework (including the 2040 Climate Target Plan and Just Transition Mechanism), the Council Recommendation on strengthening social dialogue, the European Child Guarantee, adequate minimum income, and a comprehensive approach to mental health.

Unique Project Focus

Research Focus: The core of the project involves investigating the impact of the expansion and normalization of children's use of digital technologies (including generative AI) on their learning and wellbeing (cognitive, emotional, social), particularly during the development of literacy and numeracy skills and adolescence, within primary and secondary general compulsory education settings.
Learning Environment: Proposals may also investigate the impact of physical learning environments on educational outcomes and how their design responds to changes in teaching and learning.

Grant Details