Belmont Forum - RESILIENCE : Gestion de la vulnérabilité et de la résilience des systèmes socio-environnementaux dans les territoires exposés - 2025

GRANT PURPOSE AND TARGET

Core Objective

This grant, a Collaborative Research Action (CRA) named Resilience, aims to fund transdisciplinary research projects that define and promote new risk management concepts. It is inspired by the recent COVID-19 pandemic and seeks to better account for global change and the evolving relationship between societies and nature.

Funding Organization

• Belmont Forum: An international partnership of research funding organizations.
• Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR): The French national funding agency, acting as a partner for French participants.

Target Recipients

This call is open to a broad range of applicants, including:
* Public research bodies and Universities
* Private companies (including SMEs and large enterprises)
* Other public or private players involved in research.

Sector Focus

SECTOR-AGNOSTIC. The call focuses on the scientific theme of socio-environmental resilience and is not restricted to any specific commercial or industrial sector.

Geographic Scope

International. This is a collaborative call requiring project partners from multiple countries. Funding for French partners is provided by ANR. Applicants must consult the Belmont Forum website for the full list of participating countries and their respective national funding agencies.

Key Filtering Criteria

• International Collaboration: Projects must be collaborative, involving partners eligible for funding from at least three different participating national funding agencies.
• Transdisciplinary Research: Projects must integrate expertise from different scientific disciplines and ideally involve societal stakeholders (co-production of knowledge).
• Thematic Focus: Proposals must address at least two of the three specified focus areas.
• Two-Stage Application: The application process involves a mandatory pre-proposal stage.

FINANCIAL STRUCTURE

Funding is awarded by national funding agencies to the partners in their respective countries. The following details are based on general ANR regulations for French partners, as specific figures for this call are not provided.

Funding Range

• Minimum/Maximum Grant Amount: Not specified in the provided materials. The amount of funding that can be granted by ANR to French partners is detailed in the 'modalités de participation des partenaires sollicitant une aide de l'ANR' annex, which was not available for this analysis.

Co-financing

• Applicant Co-financing: No matching fund requirements for applicants are specified in the documents.
• Funding Mechanism: Each national agency funds its own country's researchers within the international consortium. No funds are transferred across borders between agencies.

Eligible Costs

• Eligible costs for French partners are determined by the ANR's financial regulations ('Règlement financier'). These typically include:
• Staff costs
• Instruments and material
• Buildings and land
• Subcontracting and other external costs
• Overheads (A 'préciput' is paid to French institutions for general and lab support costs, as per the 2026 rules).

Ineligible Costs

• Not specified in the provided materials. Applicants must refer to the rules of their respective national funding agency.

Payment & Reporting

• Payment: For French partners, ANR funding can be based on 'real costs' ('coûts réels') or a 'lump sum' ('aide forfaitaire'). The specific mode for this call is not defined. Payments are typically made in installments based on project progress and reporting.
• Reporting: Scientific and financial reporting will be required. For 'real cost' funding, a final statement of expenditure is needed, while for 'lump sum' funding, reporting is focused on achieving scientific milestones.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

Formal Criteria

• Consortium Composition: Project consortia must include researchers from at least three countries with funding organizations participating in this call. The specific list of participating countries and agencies is available on the Belmont Forum website.
• Thematic Alignment: Proposals must clearly address at least two of the three thematic domains of the call:
• Domain 1: Better assess risks of increasing complexity with global change.
• Domain 2: Pay specific attention to exacerbated vulnerabilities in highly exposed territories.
• Domain 3: Develop innovative solutions for Disaster Risk Reduction.
• Transdisciplinarity: The project must be transdisciplinary in its approach.
• ANR-Specific Eligibility (for French Partners): French partners must meet the eligibility criteria defined by ANR. For more details, applicants must consult the document 'Modalités de participation pour les partenaires français' linked on the ANR website. General ANR rules apply regarding the status of the applicant organization.

Organizational Status

• The call is explicitly 'Ouvert aux entreprises' (Open to companies), including SMEs and large enterprises.
• Public entities such as universities, research institutions, and laboratories are eligible.
• The eligibility of specific legal structures is determined by the respective national funding agencies (e.g., ANR for French partners).

Technical Expertise

Applicants are expected to have expertise in fields relevant to the call, such as:
* Risk science
* Sustainability science
* Socio-environmental systems
* Disaster risk reduction
* Governance and stakeholder engagement

Exclusion Criteria

• Proposals submitted by single entities or non-international consortia.
• Proposals that do not address at least two of the three specified thematic domains.
• Projects that do not demonstrate a transdisciplinary approach.
• Partners from a country whose funding agency is not part of this specific call.

APPLICATION PRACTICAL INFORMATION

Deadlines

The application is a two-stage process:
* Call Opening: 18 June 2025, 09:00 CEST (UTC+2)
* Stage 1 (Pre-proposal) Deadline: 07 November 2025, 23:59 CET (UTC+1)
* Stage 2 (Full Proposal) Deadline: 05 March 2026, 23:59 CET (UTC+1) (for invited applicants only)

Required Documents

• Stage 1: A pre-proposal must be submitted via the online portal. The specific template is not provided.
• Stage 2: Invited applicants must submit a full, detailed proposal.
• Consortium Agreement: If the project is funded, a consortium agreement must be signed by all partners, defining IP rights and collaboration rules. ANR provides a template for French consortia.

Application Process

1. Submission: Proposals must be submitted electronically via the Belmont Forum submission portal: http://www.bfgo.org.
2. Stage 1 Evaluation: Pre-proposals are evaluated by the Scientific Evaluation Panel. Successful applicants are invited to Stage 2.
3. Stage 2 Evaluation: Full proposals undergo a more detailed evaluation, including reviews by external experts.
4. Rebuttal: Applicants are given an opportunity to respond to comments from the external expert reviews.
5. Final Ranking: The panel convenes to rank the proposals and make a final funding recommendation.

Support

• Type: The call provides financial support (funding) for research and development activities.
• Contact: For questions regarding the ANR participation, the contact is Johann Müller: johann.muller(at)anr.fr.

Post-Award Obligations

• Project Implementation: Funded projects are expected to be carried out as described in the proposal.
• Reporting: Regular scientific and financial reporting to the respective national funding agencies is required.
• Consortium Agreement: A signed consortium agreement is a mandatory deliverable, especially for projects involving private companies.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

While specific scoring weights are not provided in the documents, the evaluation is a two-stage peer-review process conducted by a Scientific Evaluation Panel. The evaluation will likely be based on the following factors derived from the call's objectives and the standard ANR process.

Scoring Factors

• Scientific Excellence and Innovation: The novelty and originality of the proposed research in relation to the state of the art.
• Quality and Efficiency of the Implementation: The feasibility of the project plan, methodology, budget, and risk management.
• Impact: The potential scientific, societal, and/or economic impact of the project results.
• Transdisciplinarity and International Collaboration: The quality of the consortium, the integration of different disciplines, and the added value of the international collaboration. Co-production of knowledge with stakeholders is a key expected outcome.

Innovation & Impact

• Innovation: The call explicitly seeks 'innovative solutions for Disaster Risk Reduction' and 'new' risk management concepts.
• Impact: Expected outcomes include the development of risk science, co-production of knowledge, a focus on highly vulnerable territories, informed governance, and training a new generation of scientists and stakeholders.

Project Quality

The standard ANR evaluation process, which this call follows, assesses:
* Methodology: The soundness of the research approach.
* Feasibility: The realism of the project timeline, resources, and work plan.
* Team Quality: The expertise and track record of the consortium partners and their synergy.

Strategic Fit

• Alignment with Call Themes: Proposals must address at least two of the three thematic domains.
• Alignment with Funder Priorities: Projects should contribute to the advancement of risk science in line with sustainability science, as stated in the call's objectives.

Cross-cutting Themes

• Co-production of Knowledge: Projects are expected to involve stakeholders beyond academia to ensure relevance and applicability of the research.
• Gender: While not a specified scoring criterion in the call text, the general ANR Work Programme commits to reducing gender inequalities, which may be considered in the evaluation.

COMPLIANCE AND SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS

Regulatory Compliance

• Nagoya Protocol: Projects involving access to genetic resources must comply with the Nagoya Protocol, as per ANR's general commitments.
• Ethics and Scientific Integrity: All applicants must adhere to the principles outlined in the ANR code of ethics and scientific integrity.

IP Policy

• For collaborative projects, especially those involving public and private partners, a consortium agreement is mandatory.
• This agreement must define the rules for collaboration, including the management of intellectual property (IP), to ensure compliance with European Union state aid regulations regarding indirect aid to companies.
• ANR provides a recommended template for this agreement.

Unique Aspects

• Two-Stage Submission: This is a key procedural aspect that applicants must follow, starting with a pre-proposal.
• International Consortium Required: This is not a grant for a single institution. Building a valid international and transdisciplinary consortium is the first critical step.
• National Funding Rules: Each partner in the consortium is funded by their own national agency. Therefore, the consortium must be designed so that partners' budgets and activities comply with their respective national rules (e.g., ANR rules for the French partner, etc.).

Industry-Specific Rules

• Not applicable, as the call is sector-agnostic. However, companies participating must comply with EU State Aid rules for RDI (Research, Development, and Innovation), which is managed through the consortium agreement.