Good practices for increased autonomy of persons with disabilities, including physical, mental, intellectual and sensory disabilities
HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions
Basic Information
- Identifier
- HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-TRANSFO-09
- Programme
- Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society - 2025
- Programme Period
- 2021 - 2027
- Status
- Closed (31094503)
- Opening Date
- May 15, 2025
- Deadline
- September 16, 2025
- Deadline Model
- single-stage
- Budget
- €10,500,000
- Min Grant Amount
- €3,000,000
- Max Grant Amount
- €3,500,000
- Expected Number of Grants
- 3
- Keywords
- HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-TRANSFO-09HORIZON-CL2-2025-01Education, special (to gifted persons, those with learning disabilities)Family studies, Social workPsychology, special (including therapy for learning, speech, hearing, visual and other physical and mental disabilities)Social issuesSocial policies, work and welfareSociology
Description
Projects should contribute to some of the following expected outcomes (minimum three outcomes):
- Develop innovative evidence-based policy approaches to promote the autonomy of persons with disabilities of any age and any origin of the disability or impairment.
- Develop practices that facilitate the full inclusion and participation of persons with disabilities in different areas of life, including education, family life, employment, living arrangements, leisure, arts, culture and sport on equal basis with others.
- Address the seamless use of accessible and assistive technology, including digital technologies and artificial intelligence, in the community and related services and infrastructure. If possible, identify specific measures and tools for different addressed areas of lives of persons with disabilities, such as education, recruitment, hiring, return to work, and independent life.
- Identify and compare the usefulness of different options for policies and measures aiming to increase the autonomy and quality of life of persons with disabilities, as well as the quality of life and well-being of their families, using a person-centred approach, taking into account the individual needs of persons with disabilities and ensuring their full enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms on equal basis with others.
- Identify relevant actors to achieve effective results (public actors, civil society organizations, private sector, social economy actors, etc.) and explore their roles and interaction, with a view to assessing integration among different social, support and essential services (including e.g. transport or housing) necessary to promote autonomy and inclusion in the community.
The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities[1] recognises the right to individual autonomy and independence for persons with disabilities, including the freedom to make their own choices. Ensuring this right requires a differentiated landscape of measures in all areas of society, including ensuring accessibility and quality person-centred support services.
Having affordable and community-based services and measures in place, which meet the individual needs of persons with disabilities, is a basic pre-condition for autonomy and independence. Social and support services and measures need to be inclusive and accessible for persons with disabilities of any age and with any disability. The proposals may focus on a specific disability or address several of them. Research (including from SSH disciplines) should address barriers and solutions with regard to specific disabilities to increase inclusiveness, decision-making and autonomy, taking into account the integrated and person-centred support provided by families. The role of the family as carers and as the first agent to promote inclusion needs to be addressed. Different solutions for accessible and inclusive housing could also be explored.
A key aspect of the autonomy and independence of persons with disabilities is the access to inclusive education, training, active labour market measures and employment in the open labour market. Promising support practices in these areas should be mapped, analysed and tested, including the integration and communication between different services for a user-centred approach.
European Education Area initiatives such as the Council Recommendation on Pathways to School Success[2] aim to address equity and inclusion in education. A wide range of actions and peer learning activities aimed at supporting inclusive education are also implemented, in particular through two European Education Area strategic framework Working Groups[3]: Working Group on Equality and Values in Education and Training and Working Group on Schools – Pathways to School Success.
The proposals should consider the impact – including the impact on the self-esteem of persons with disabilities – of inclusive education versus special needs education or special schools/classes for promoting the autonomy of persons with disabilities. The proposals may also consider the role of special training and lifelong learning adapted to persons with physical, mental, intellectual or sensory disabilities.
New and innovative ways of increasing the autonomy of persons with disabilities need to be explored and tested with the objective to reduce inequalities, promote their full inclusion in society in different areas of life, including education, family life, employment, living arrangements, leisure, arts, culture and sport, and improve their quality of life, as well as the quality of life and well-being of their families. This includes the use of assistive technology and other accessible digital technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) measures and tools to increase accessibility in society and overall communication, social participation and inclusion of persons with disabilities.
The possible loneliness, impact on emotional well-being and inactivity status of many persons with disabilities needs to be addressed when designing approaches to increase their autonomy and independence. Moreover, the higher risk of persons with disabilities to be exposed to abuse, neglect (including self-neglect), scams and aggression needs to be considered, including when disability is combined (from an intersectional perspective) with other conditions which may be a source of vulnerability (e.g. age, gender, migrant status, discrimination based on racial or ethnic origin). Loneliness and other mental health issues (e.g. burnout) suffered by family carers or other informal carers may be also considered.
Proposals should include civil society engagement and dialogue, for wider input and uptake. Proposals are encouraged to seek synergies and collaboration whenever possible with projects funded under the topic HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-STAYHLTH-01: Improving the quality of life of persons with intellectual disabilities and their families. Where applicable, proposals should leverage the data and services available through European Research Infrastructures federated under the European Open Science Cloud, as well as data from relevant Data Spaces. Particular efforts should be made to ensure that the data produced in the context of this topic is FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable).
[1] Article 1 of the Un Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities: Persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-persons-disabilities
[2] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32022H1209%2801%29
Destination & Scope
Draft expected impacts:
Projects funded under this destination should contribute to the following expected impacts in the Horizon Europe Strategic Plan 2025-2027[1]:
- Strengthening social and economic resilience and sustainability
- Boosting inclusive growth and reducing vulnerabilities effectively
The expected impacts reflect the two-pronged nature of the destination. On the one hand, research funded by this destination will improve the understanding of how the macro drivers of change (technological change, climate change, new global trade patterns, along with migration, human mobility, and other demographic changes) impact society and inform policy makers on how to mitigate negative consequences and harness newly created opportunities. The results obtained should improve the understanding of the interplay between different drivers of change and their social, ethical, political, and economic implications. The improved understanding of these challenges and their economic, social, and distributional impacts will fill in the research gaps while also inform the design and assessment of policies addressing existing and emerging challenges, including in the areas of education, well-being and mental health.
On the other hand, research and innovation investment should be geared towards deepening the understanding of how ongoing changes impact society, with a specific emphasis on the key objectives of boosting inclusive and sustainable growth and effectively reducing vulnerabilities, poverty and inequalities. This knowledge should provide valuable insights to policymakers to design and assess policies that effectively address vulnerabilities while capitalizing on emerging opportunities.
Overall, the destination’s activities will help promote the EU’s inclusive growth, resilience, and fair transition towards climate neutrality, by providing solid analytical evidence to implementing actions related to:
- The European Pillar of Social Rights, and its Action Plan with its three ambitious targets (78% employment rate, 60% of population with yearly training, and reduction of the number of people at risk of poverty and social exclusion by at least 15 million by 2030)
- the European Education Area and its EU-level 2030 targets
- The Union of Equality policies and strategies, including:
- the Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030, the European Accessibility Act (Directive 2019/882), and the European Disability Card.
- The Gender Equality Strategy 2020 – 2025 and the Directive combating violence against women and domestic violence
- EU Anti-racism Action Plan 2020-2025
- The Strategic EU Framework for Roma Equality, Inclusion and Participation 2020-2030
- The LGBTIQ Equality Strategy 2020-2025
- The Strategy on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-203
- The Communication on Demographic change in Europe: a toolbox for action
- The EU’s just transition policy framework, in line with the 2040 Climate Target Plan, including the Just Transition Mechanism, the Social Climate Fund, and the Council Recommendation on ensuring a fair transition towards climate neutrality.
- The Council Recommendation on strengthening social dialogue in the EU.
- The European Child Guarantee
- The Council Recommendation on adequate minimum income
- EC Communication on a comprehensive approach to mental health
- The New Pact on Asylum and Migration and its accompanying actions, initiatives and legislation.
Applicants are encouraged to consider, where relevant, the services offered by the current and future EU-funded European Research Infrastructures, particularly those in the social sciences and humanities domain[2].
Where applicable, proposals should leverage the data and services available through European Research Infrastructures federated under the European Open Science Cloud, as well as data from relevant Data Spaces. Particular efforts should be made to ensure that the data produced in the context of this research is FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable).
To maximise the impacts of R&I under this Destination in line with EU priorities, international cooperation is encouraged whenever relevant in the proposed topics.
Research on socio and economic transformations funded by topics in the Work Programmes 2025-27 will build upon its predecessors in Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe and further push the boundaries of state-of-the-art knowledge. It will do so by further engaging with a vast array of stakeholders. Not only universities and research centers, but also social partners (trade unions and business organizations), civil society organizations, practitioners, VET providers, and SMEs.
The destination will rely on a carefully balanced mix of actions, to bring together the right mix of actors to achieve the highest quality research, while aiming at providing recommendations to policymakers at European, national, regional and local level that could have a beneficial societal and economic impact. In order to achieve this, it will maximise the feedback to policy and the dissemination and exploitation of research and innovation results and practices in the domain of social and economic transformations.
[1] https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/6abcc8e7-e685-11ee-8b2b-01aa75ed71a1/language-en
[2] https://ri-portfolio.esfri.eu/
for example CESSDA - Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives
Eligibility & Conditions
General conditions
1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout
As described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.
Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System.
The page limit for the Part B of the Research and Innovation (RIA) application using lump sum is 50 pages. In addition, it is mandatory to submit a detailed budget table, using the template available in the Submission System.
2. Eligible Countries
As described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.
3. Other Eligible Conditions
As described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion
As described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.
5a. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds
As described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes.
5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes
As described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual.
5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement
As described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.
6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants
Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum as defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021 authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme – the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2021-2027) – and in actions under the Research and Training Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community (2021-2025). [[This decision is available on the Funding and Tenders Portal, in the reference documents section for Horizon Europe, under ‘Simplified costs decisions’ or through this link: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/guidance/ls-decision_he_en.pdf]].
In addition, as described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.
Specific conditions
described in the [specific topic of the Work Programme]
Application and evaluation forms and model grant agreement (MGA):
Application form templates — the application form specific to this call is available in the Submission System
Standard application form (HE RIA, IA)
Evaluation form templates — will be used with the necessary adaptations
Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA)
Guidance
Model Grant Agreements (MGA)
Call-specific instructions
Detailed budget table (HE LS) (version 3.3)
Additional documents:
HE Main Work Programme 2025 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2025 – 5. Culture, creativity and inclusive society
HE Main Work Programme 2025 – 14. General Annexes
HE Framework Programme 2021/695
HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764
EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509
Decision authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme
Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment
EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual
Support & Resources
Online Manual is your guide on the procedures from proposal submission to managing your grant.
Horizon Europe Programme Guide contains the detailed guidance to the structure, budget and political priorities of Horizon Europe.
Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ – find the answers to most frequently asked questions on submission of proposals, evaluation and grant management.
Research Enquiry Service – ask questions about any aspect of European research in general and the EU Research Framework Programmes in particular.
National Contact Points (NCPs) – get guidance, practical information and assistance on participation in Horizon Europe. There are also NCPs in many non-EU and non-associated countries (‘third-countries’).
Enterprise Europe Network – contact your EEN national contact for advice to businesses with special focus on SMEs. The support includes guidance on the EU research funding.
IT Helpdesk – contact the Funding & Tenders Portal IT helpdesk for questions such as forgotten passwords, access rights and roles, technical aspects of submission of proposals, etc.
European IPR Helpdesk assists you on intellectual property issues.
CEN-CENELEC Research Helpdesk and ETSI Research Helpdesk – the European Standards Organisations advise you how to tackle standardisation in your project proposal.
The European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for their recruitment – consult the general principles and requirements specifying the roles, responsibilities and entitlements of researchers, employers and funders of researchers.
Partner Search help you find a partner organisation for your proposal.
Latest Updates
CALL UPDATE: PROPOSAL NUMBERS
Call HORIZON-CL2-2025-01 has closed on 16/09/2025.
1122 proposals have been submitted.
The breakdown per topic is:
HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-DEMOCRACY-01: 16
HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-DEMOCRACY-02: 5
HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-DEMOCRACY-03: 23
HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-DEMOCRACY-04: 18
HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-DEMOCRACY-05: 80
HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-DEMOCRACY-06: 6
HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-DEMOCRACY-07: 45
HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-DEMOCRACY-08: 46
HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-DEMOCRACY-09: 65
HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-DEMOCRACY-10: 91
HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-DEMOCRACY-11: 15
HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-DEMOCRACY-12: 3
HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-HERITAGE-03 : 76
HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-HERITAGE-04 : 78
HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-HERITAGE-05 : 34
HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-HERITAGE-06 : 14
HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-HERITAGE-07 : 49
HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-HERITAGE-08 : 24
HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-HERITAGE-09 : 20
HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-TRANSFO-01 : 51
HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-TRANSFO-02 : 29
HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-TRANSFO-03 : 16
HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-TRANSFO-05 : 14
HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-TRANSFO-06 : 27
HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-TRANSFO-07 : 71
HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-TRANSFO-08 : 77
HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-TRANSFO-09 : 96
HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-TRANSFO-10 : 21
HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-TRANSFO-11 : 12
Evaluation results are expected to be communicated in February 2026.
Please read the published frequently asked questions and answers in the `Topic Q&A` section of the topic.
Please note that the technical issue has been solved and the details of the Destination of the topic are now displayed on the topic page.
Please note that the topic page does not display the description of the destination due to a technical issue, but the full description of the 3 destinations (Democracy, Heritage, Social and Economical Transformations) that are relevant for the call are available in the Work Programme 2025 “Culture, creativity and inclusive society”. Please select from the Work Programme the destination relevant to your topic and consider the description when preparing your proposal.