Open topic on prevention, detection and deterrence of various forms of crime and terrorism through an enhanced understanding of the related societal issues

Grant Purpose and Target

• Core Objective: To fund research and innovation projects that develop new tools, methodologies, and understanding for preventing, detecting, and deterring crime and terrorism by exploring their societal aspects. The grant seeks creative or disruptive solutions to new and unforeseen challenges in this domain.
• Funding Organization: European Commission
• Target Recipients: The grant is open to any legal entity, including universities, research organisations, public bodies, and private companies. A key requirement is that consortia must include Police Authorities and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) or Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) as beneficiaries.
• Sector Focus: SECTOR-SPECIFIC. The focus is exclusively on Civil Security, specifically the fight against crime and terrorism. It requires a strong contribution from Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) disciplines.
• Geographic Scope: Applicants must be part of a consortium with at least three entities from three different countries, including at least one from an EU Member State and two others from different EU Member States or Associated Countries. Specific consortium roles have geographic requirements.
• Key Filtering Criteria:
  • Project Scale: The indicative grant amount is €3,000,000 per project.
  • Technology Readiness Level (TRL): Projects are expected to achieve TRL 5 (technology validated in a relevant environment) by their conclusion.
  • Consortium Composition: A consortium is mandatory and must include at least one Police Authority and one CSO/NGO from at least two different EU Member States or Associated Countries.

Financial Structure

• Funding Range: The EU contribution is fixed at €3,000,000 per project. The total topic budget is €12,000,000, intended to fund approximately 4 projects.

• Co-financing: As a Research and Innovation Action (RIA), the funding rate is 100% of total eligible costs.

• Eligible Costs:

  • Standard Horizon Europe cost eligibility rules apply. This includes personnel costs, subcontracting, purchase costs (travel, equipment), and other direct costs necessary for the project.
  • Indirect costs are covered by a flat rate of 25% of the total eligible direct costs (excluding subcontracting, financial support to third parties, and costs that already include indirect costs).

• Ineligible Costs:

  • Costs not directly related to the project, profit margins, and other costs as defined by the Horizon Europe Model Grant Agreement are ineligible.

• Payment & Reporting:

  • Payments follow the standard Horizon Europe model: an initial pre-financing payment, followed by interim payments linked to periodic reports, and a final payment at the project's conclusion.
  • A portion of the pre-financing (5-8%) is transferred to the Mutual Insurance Mechanism.
  • Financial Support to Third Parties (FSTP): This is a mandatory component. Beneficiaries must allocate between 5% and 20% of their EU funding to provide financial support to other practitioners (Police Authorities and/or CSOs/NGOs). The maximum grant amount for each third party is €60,000.

Eligibility Requirements

• Formal Criteria:

  • Consortium: A consortium is mandatory, consisting of at least three independent legal entities from three different countries. At least one entity must be from an EU Member State, and at least two others from different EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries.
  • Specific Participants: This topic specifically requires the active involvement, as beneficiaries, of at least 1 Police Authority AND at least 1 Civil Society Organisation (CSO) / Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO). These two types of practitioners must come from at least 2 different EU Member States or Associated Countries in total.
  • Satellite Data: If using satellite-based data, projects must use Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS services.

• Organizational Status:

  • Open to any legal entity (public, private, non-profit, etc.) that forms a valid consortium.
  • Police Authority Definition: 'Public authorities explicitly designated by national law... for the prevention, detection and/or investigation of terrorist offences or other criminal offences, specifically excluding police academies, forensic institutes, training facilities as well as border and customs authorities.'
  • CSO/NGO Definition: 'An entity whose members serve the general interest through a democratic process... mediator between public authorities and citizens... not connected to nor managed by state authorities.'
  • Gender Equality Plan: Public bodies, research organisations, and higher education institutions must have a Gender Equality Plan (GEP) in place.

• Technical Expertise:

  • Projects require the effective contribution of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) disciplines. The involvement of SSH experts and institutions is mandatory to enhance the societal impact of the innovation.

• Exclusion Criteria:

  • Entities subject to EU restrictive measures are ineligible.
  • Legal entities established in Russia, Belarus, or non-government controlled territories of Ukraine are ineligible.
  • Standard Horizon Europe exclusion grounds apply (e.g., bankruptcy, professional misconduct, fraud).

Application Practical Information

• Deadlines:

  • Call Opening: 12 June 2025
  • Submission Deadline: 12 November 2025, 17:00:00 Brussels Time (CET)

• Required Documents:

  • Application Form Part A: Contains administrative data, completed directly in the portal.
  • Application Form Part B: The main technical description of the project, submitted as a PDF. The page limit for a Research and Innovation Action is 45 pages.
  • Annex on Security Practitioners: Must be filled out to provide details on the participating Police Authorities and CSOs/NGOs.
  • Annex on Financial Support to Third Parties: Must describe the process for awarding funds to third parties.
  • A plan for the exploitation and dissemination of results must be included.

• Application Process:

  • Submission is a single-stage process.
  • All documents must be submitted electronically through the EU's Funding & Tenders Portal.

• Support:

  • The primary support is financial, provided as a grant covering 100% of eligible costs.
  • Projects must include the development of training curricula and provide capacity-building for practitioners.

• Post-Award Obligations:

  • Regular technical and financial reporting according to the Grant Agreement schedule.
  • A mid-term deliverable is required, consisting of an assessment of the project's progress performed by the practitioners involved.
  • Beneficiaries are expected to engage with relevant EU agencies (e.g., Europol) to facilitate the uptake of project results.

Evaluation Criteria

Proposals are evaluated based on the standard criteria for a Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Action (RIA).

• Scoring Factors: Proposals are scored out of 15 points, with a minimum threshold of 3/5 for each criterion and an overall threshold of 10/15.

  • Excellence (Score: 0-5): Assesses the clarity of objectives, the ambition beyond the state-of-the-art, and the soundness of the methodology. This includes inter-disciplinary approaches and the quality of open science practices.
  • Impact (Score: 0-5): Evaluates the credibility of the project's pathways to achieve the expected outcomes and impacts listed in the work programme. It also considers the quality of dissemination, exploitation, and communication plans.
  • Quality and Efficiency of the Implementation (Score: 0-5): Focuses on the effectiveness of the work plan, risk assessment, appropriateness of resources, and the capacity and role of each consortium partner.

• Innovation & Impact:

  • Proposals must choose between two options: Option A (societal issues related to crime) or Option B (societal issues related to terrorism and radicalisation).
  • Portfolio Approach: To ensure a balanced portfolio, funding will be awarded not only by rank but also to at least one project that is the highest-ranked within each of the two options (A and B), provided they pass all thresholds.
  • Projects should address new, upcoming, or unforeseen challenges not covered by recent calls and explain how they will build upon, and not duplicate, previous research.
  • Expected outcomes include improved tools for practitioners, enhanced understanding of societal aspects of crime, and evidence-based policy support.

• Project Quality:

  • The methodology must be sound and include plans for demonstration, testing, or validation of the developed tools and solutions.
  • The work plan must be effective, with a clear assessment of risks and allocation of resources.
  • The consortium must demonstrate it brings together the necessary expertise, including the mandatory practitioners (Police, CSOs/NGOs) and SSH experts.

• Strategic Fit:

  • Projects should align with the goals of the 'Civil Security for Society' cluster.
  • Where relevant, proposals are expected to engage with the Europol Innovation Lab, the EU Drugs Agency, and the EU Knowledge Hub on prevention of radicalisation to facilitate future uptake of results.

• Cross-cutting Themes:

  • Gender Dimension: The 'appropriate consideration of the gender dimension in research and innovation content' is a mandatory part of the methodology evaluated under the Excellence criterion.
  • SSH Integration: The 'effective contribution of SSH disciplines' is a requirement and evaluated for its ability to produce meaningful societal impact.
  • Open Science: The quality of open science practices, including data management and sharing, is evaluated under the Excellence criterion.

Compliance and Special Requirements

• Regulatory Compliance:

  • Projects must adhere to all applicable EU, international, and national laws, including strict ethical principles and data protection regulations (GDPR).
  • An ethics self-assessment is mandatory as part of the proposal.

• IP Policy:

  • Standard Horizon Europe Intellectual Property rules apply. Results are owned by the beneficiary that generates them.
  • Access rights must be granted to consortium partners for project implementation and exploitation.
  • Beneficiaries must comply with open access requirements for publications and research data (under the 'as open as possible, as closed as necessary' principle).

• Unique Aspects:

  • Open Topic: Allows flexibility for proposals to address emerging or unforeseen challenges.
  • Two-Option Structure: Applicants must choose between focusing on crime (Option A) or terrorism/radicalisation (Option B), with the funder ensuring at least one project from each option is funded.
  • Mandatory FSTP: A portion of the budget (5-20%) must be cascaded to external practitioners through grants.
  • Security Sensitivity: Activities may involve using classified information or producing security-sensitive results. Applicants must complete a security issues table and may be subject to a formal security review process. The project may be required to follow specific security rules, such as limiting the dissemination of certain deliverables.

• Industry-Specific Rules:

  • While not an industry, the Civil Security sector has specific operational rules. Proposals must detail how they will obtain necessary data for training and testing, and how they will involve practitioners like Police Authorities in a way that respects their operational and legal constraints.