Open topic on citizen and regional and/or local authorities' engagement in enhanced disaster risk awareness, including education, and preparedness

Grant Purpose and Target

• Core Objective: The grant's mission is to enhance societal resilience to disasters by improving risk awareness and preparedness among citizens and local/regional authorities. It supports projects that either develop innovative tools and solutions for this purpose or create mechanisms to strengthen the dialogue and knowledge sharing between scientific communities, policy-makers, and local communities.
• Funding Organization: European Commission, as part of the Horizon Europe programme. The Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO) is a key stakeholder.
• Target Recipients: The grant requires a consortium of diverse entities. Explicitly required participants include Regional and/or Local Authorities, organisations representing citizens (like NGOs or volunteer associations), and First responders or disaster management authorities. Other entities such as universities, research organisations, and private companies (including SMEs) are eligible to participate as part of the consortium.
• Sector Focus: SECTOR-SPECIFIC. The grant is focused on Civil Security, Disaster Risk Reduction, and Public Administration. It is not open to projects outside this domain.
• Geographic Scope: Applicants must be legal entities from EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries. A list of eligible countries is provided in the eligibility requirements.
• Key Filtering Criteria:
  • Project Type: Research and Innovation Action (RIA).
  • Consortium: A specific, multi-stakeholder consortium is mandatory.
  • Project Focus: Must address one of two options: a) developing tools and solutions for disaster preparedness, or b) creating mechanisms for enhanced dialogue and research uptake.
  • Funding Model: Lump Sum funding of €4,000,000 per project.

Financial Structure

• Funding Type: This grant is a Research and Innovation Action (RIA), provided as a Lump Sum payment. The lump sum amount is fixed in the grant agreement and is paid upon completion of work packages, not based on reporting actual costs. However, the budget must be an accurate estimation of eligible costs.
• Funding Range: The European Commission's contribution is fixed at €4,000,000 per project.
• Co-financing: The funding rate is 100% of eligible costs for all beneficiaries. No co-financing is required.
• Total Budget: The total indicative budget for this topic is €12,000,000, with an expectation to fund approximately 3 projects.
• Eligible Costs: Costs must be an approximation of real costs that would be eligible under an actual cost grant. This includes:
  • Personnel costs
  • Subcontracting costs
  • Purchase costs (travel, equipment, other goods and services)
  • Indirect costs (a flat rate of 25% of the total eligible direct costs, excluding subcontracting and financial support to third parties).
• Ineligible Costs: Costs that do not comply with the basic eligibility conditions outlined in the Horizon Europe Model Grant Agreement are ineligible.
• Payment & Reporting: The grant is paid in installments: an initial pre-financing, potential interim payments, and a final payment. Payments are triggered by the completion of work packages and deliverables as defined in the grant agreement, rather than detailed financial reports.

Eligibility Requirements

Formal Criteria

• Consortium Composition: Applications must be submitted by a consortium that meets two sets of requirements:
  1. Standard Horizon Europe Requirement: At least three independent legal entities, each established in a different country, with at least one from an EU Member State and two others from different Member States or Associated Countries.
  2. Topic-Specific Requirement: The consortium must include, as beneficiaries, a minimum of:
     • 2 Regional and/or Local Authorities.
     • 2 organisations representing citizens or regional/local communities (e.g., NGOs, volunteer associations).
     • 2 First responders or disaster management authorities.
     • These specific partners must come from at least 3 different EU Member States or Associated Countries.
• Legal Entity Status: All participants must be registered in the Participant Register to obtain a Participant Identification Code (PIC).

Organizational Status

• Eligible Entities: The call is open to any legal entity (public or private, including universities, research organisations, NGOs, public authorities, and companies) from eligible countries, provided they meet the consortium requirements.
• Gender Equality Plan (GEP): Public bodies, research organisations, and higher education establishments from EU Member States and Associated Countries must have a GEP in place to be eligible.

Technical Expertise

• The project must demonstrate an effective contribution from Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) disciplines. The involvement of SSH experts and institutions is a requirement.
• Expertise in disaster management, citizen engagement, communication, and relevant technologies (e.g., AI, as mentioned in the scope) is necessary for the project's implementation.

Exclusion Criteria

• Standard Horizon Europe exclusion criteria apply (e.g., bankruptcy, professional misconduct, fraud).
• Entities subject to EU restrictive measures are ineligible.
• Legal entities established in Russia, Belarus, or in non-government controlled territories of Ukraine are not eligible to participate.
• Legal entities established in China are generally not eligible to participate in Horizon Europe Innovation Actions. While this is a Research and Innovation Action (RIA), applicants should be aware of the broader policy context.

Application Practical Information

• Deadlines:
  • Opening Date: 12 June 2025
  • Submission Deadline: 12 November 2025, 17:00:00 UTC (18:00:00 Brussels Time)
• Application Process:
  • Submission System: Proposals must be submitted electronically via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal.
  • Procedure: This is a single-stage submission process.
• Required Documents:
  • Application Form Part A: Contains administrative information, to be filled out directly online.
  • Application Form Part B: The technical description of the project, uploaded as a PDF. Page limit is 50 pages for lump sum RIA.
  • Detailed Budget Table: A mandatory Excel file detailing the estimated costs that form the basis of the lump sum.
  • Information on Security Practitioners: A specific annex to detail the roles of the required practitioner beneficiaries (local authorities, citizen orgs, first responders).
• Support Provided:
  • Financial: A lump sum grant of €4,000,000.
  • Non-Financial: The project involves engagement with practitioners and authorities, facilitating networking and validation of results. The Commission also provides access to the Union Civil Protection Knowledge Network.
• Post-Award Obligations:
  • Implementation: Projects must carry out the work as described in the grant agreement.
  • Reporting: Periodic and final reports on technical progress are required to trigger payments.
  • Dissemination: Beneficiaries must develop and regularly update a 'Plan for the exploitation and dissemination of results'.
  • Collaboration: Successful proposals are expected to coordinate with other projects funded under this topic to avoid duplication and exploit synergies.

Evaluation Criteria

Proposals are evaluated based on three standard criteria for Research and Innovation Actions (RIA), each scored out of 5, with an overall threshold of 10/15 required for funding consideration.

1. Excellence (Threshold: 3/5)

• Clarity and Pertinence of Objectives: How clear, pertinent, and ambitious the project's objectives are. The proposal must demonstrate that it goes beyond the current state-of-the-art.
• Methodology: The soundness of the proposed methodology. This includes the underlying concepts, models, and assumptions. Key aspects assessed are:
  • Inter-disciplinary Approaches: How the project integrates different fields of expertise.
  • Gender Dimension: How the gender dimension (sex and/or gender analysis) is appropriately considered in the research and innovation content.
  • Open Science Practices: The quality of practices for managing and sharing research outputs, and for engaging with citizens, civil society, and end-users.

2. Impact (Threshold: 3/5)

• Credibility of Pathways to Impact: The credibility of the proposed pathways to achieve the expected outcomes and impacts specified in the work programme. The likely scale and significance of the project's contributions are key.
• Maximizing Impact: The suitability and quality of the measures outlined in the dissemination and exploitation plan, including communication activities, to maximise the project's expected outcomes and impacts.
• Strategic Fit: Projects should align with the EU Preparedness Union Strategy, DG ECHO recommendations, and the EU's disaster resilience goal No. 2. Proposals are encouraged to use the 'Special Eurobarometer on Disaster risk awareness and preparedness'.

3. Quality and Efficiency of the Implementation (Threshold: 3/5)

• Work Plan and Resources: The quality and effectiveness of the work plan, including a thorough assessment of risks. The appropriateness of the effort and resources assigned to each work package is evaluated.
• Consortium Capacity: The capacity and role of each participant, and the extent to which the consortium as a whole brings together the necessary expertise to execute the project successfully.

Special Evaluation Aspect

• Portfolio Approach: To ensure a balanced portfolio, the evaluation will fund applications not only by rank but will also ensure at least one highest-ranked project is funded from each of the two main scope options (Option a: Tools and solutions; Option b: Dialogue mechanisms), provided they meet all scoring thresholds.

Compliance and Special Requirements

• Regulatory Compliance:
  • If the project uses satellite-based data and services (for earth observation, navigation, or timing), it must use Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS services.
  • Projects must adhere to all applicable EU, international, and national laws, including data protection (GDPR) and ethical principles.
• IP Policy: Standard Horizon Europe rules apply. Results are owned by the beneficiary that generates them. Other consortium partners are granted royalty-free access rights to use the results for the project's purposes. The granting authority may have certain rights in specific circumstances, such as public emergencies.
• SSH Integration: Proposals must demonstrate an effective contribution from Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) disciplines. This is a mandatory component and will be evaluated under the 'Excellence' criterion.
• Gender Dimension: The integration of the gender dimension into the research and innovation content is required and evaluated.
• Portfolio Balance: The call has two distinct options (a: tools and solutions; b: dialogue mechanisms). To ensure a balanced portfolio, funding will be awarded not just in order of ranking but also to at least one highest-ranked project from each option, provided they meet all thresholds. This is a key strategic opportunity for proposals that are strong within a specific option.
• Lump Sum Model: This grant uses a lump sum funding model. While this simplifies financial reporting, the initial budget must be meticulously planned and justified in the 'detailed budget table', as the amount is fixed and cannot be easily changed.