The beginning of 2015 brings with it the second part of the first Work Programme of Horizon 2020, and that means a new tranche of funding calls.
The beginning of 2015 brings with it the second part of the first Work Programme of Horizon 2020, and that means a new tranche of funding calls.
Out of the new calls, almost 60 of them actively promote the opportunity for international collaboration. This is part of Horizon 2020’s ethos of being ‘open to the world’, encouraging the best researchers from Europe and globally, to come together in collaborative projects to develop answers to some big questions.
There are three things to take into consideration when applying for Horizon 2020 funding and considering international cooperation.
The first is that even if International Cooperation (ie. participation from a country outside of the European Union) is not specified, it is still possible for international collaborations to be included. In your application, you should specify what your international collaborator brings to the table- whether it’s expertise, equipment or methodologies or access to unique resources such as biodiversity, communities or geographies that will enhance the overall research proposal.
The second consideration follows on nicely from the first: this is to see if there is any way for international collaborators to bring funding with them. While this applies to any country, there are a number of countries who have committed to funding their researchers should they be part of successful Horizon 2020 consortium (see above map in yellow and green). It’s worth asking your non-EU collaborator to check what the precise requirements are for their country before getting started – you don’t want to get too far into crafting a proposal before finding out that your collaborator may not be able to participate after all.
The third consideration really focusses on those countries that are depicted as blue in the above map. These are automatically eligible recipients of EU Horizon 2020 funding (a full list can be found here). Consortia members from these countries aren’t required to bring funding with them, and are eligible for Horizon 2020 funding. This opens doors to research consortia looking for new and different perspectives, and is something worth considering when thinking about what will make your proposal stand out to assessors.
For the complete list of Horizon 2020 calls with international cooperation, click here.