Gender Differences In Career Trajectories Of Parents And Their Implications For Gender Equality And Family Well-being
HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions
Basic Information
- Identifier
- HORIZON-CL2-2025-02-TRANSFO-04-two-stage
- Programme
- Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society - 2025 - Two-stage
- Programme Period
- 2021 - 2027
- Status
- Closed (31094503)
- Opening Date
- May 15, 2025
- Deadline
- September 16, 2025
- Deadline Model
- two-stage
- Budget
- €10,200,000
- Min Grant Amount
- €3,400,000
- Max Grant Amount
- €3,400,000
- Expected Number of Grants
- 3
- Keywords
- HORIZON-CL2-2025-02-TRANSFO-04-two-stageHORIZON-CL2-2025-02-TWO-STAGEEconometrics, statistical methodsGender in economicsHouseholds, family and fertilitySocial economicsWomen and gender studies
Description
Projects should contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
- Policymakers, social partners, and other relevant stakeholders have better understanding of gender differences in career trajectories of parents and their consequences for gender inequalities in the labour market and within households.
- Policymakers, social partners, and other relevant stakeholders have better understanding of links between parental career- and childcare-related decisions, family well-being, and different policy/institutional settings.
- Providing policymakers with effective policy options that help reduce gender gaps in labour market outcomes of parents and support family well-being.
Gender differences in career trajectories of parents account for large shares of gender employment and pay gaps. This is often referred to as child/motherhood penalties for women (as opposed to child/fatherhood premium for men).
The research proposals should identify key gender differences in careers of parents and assess how they affect at least some of the current gender gaps in socio-economic outcomes such as employment, entrepreneurship, choice of occupation, pay, career opportunities, working conditions, (mental) health, or poverty risks. The research should take an intersectional perspective, considering that career trajectories of women and men also depend on other individual and household characteristics, such as household composition (e.g. single parents), socio-economic status, gender identity (e.g. LGBTIQ parents), migrant background or racial or ethnic origin.
The proposals should assess key positive and negative consequences of different career trajectories of parents for families, taking into consideration the diversity of family arrangements, age and number of children (with emphasis on pre-school ages), quality and stability of family relationships, the availability of economic and social resources, and family well-being.
The proposals should analyse key drivers of parental career and household-related decisions, paying particular attention to the division of unpaid childcare within households, social and cultural norms and stereotypes, work cultures in different economic sectors and occupations, and institutional and policy settings (e.g. childcare, maternity/paternity/parental leaves and other work-life balance policies such as flexible working arrangements or telework).
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).
The proposals should:
- Explore the use of longitudinal data from administrative or survey sources on parental careers and/or children’s well-being;
- Explore both individual and structural drivers of gender differences in career trajectories of parents through quantitative models;
- Provide in-depth insight into careers of mothers and fathers, and their implications for family well-being, through qualitative research and case studies.
Within the broad scope of SSH research described above, the proposals are encouraged to pay particular attention to:
- Exploring how specific features of early childhood education and care systems (e.g. quality, availability or affordability) affect child participation and family wellbeing;
- Exploring how child/parent friendly workplaces and organisational cultures affect parental careers and family well-being;
- Quantifying economic costs of child/motherhood penalties;
- Reflecting on how child/motherhood penalties affect women from migrant backgrounds, for example in the context of migration flows following the Russia’s war of aggression on Ukraine;
- Investigating the impact of heteronormative norms, discrimination, and support systems on LGBTIQ parents’ career trajectories and family well-being.
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 for the first stage of the 2-stage call is 10 pages.
The second stage application will have a separate submission session with the applicable templates.
The page limit for the Part B for the second stage of the 2-stage call will be maximum 50 pages.
In addition, it is mandatory to submit a detailed budget table, using the template available in the Submission System (version 3.4).
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 are 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 Stage 1)
Standard application form (HE RIA, IA) - only for information, applicable only for the second stage of the application process
Evaluation form templates — will be used with the necessary adaptations
Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA and CSA Stage 1)
Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA) - only for information, applicable only for the second stage of the evaluation process
Guidance
Model Grant Agreements (MGA)
Call-specific instructions
Detailed budget table (HE LS) - only for information, applicable only for the second stage of the application process
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
Frequently Asked Questions About Gender Differences In Career Trajectories Of Parents And Their Implications For Gender Equality And Family Well-being
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
Total Available budget: EUR 20.200.00
Topic: HERITAGE-02-two-stage: EUR 10.200.000
Topic: TRANSFO-04-two-stage: EUR 10.000.000
The results of the evaluation for each topic are as follows:
HERITAGE-02-two-stage | TRANSFO-04-two-stage | |
Number of proposals submitted (including proposals transferred from or to other calls) | 161 | 47 |
Number of ineligible/inadmissible proposals | 4 | 1 |
Number of proposals invited to stage 2 | 12 | 8 |
Total budget requested for overall dynamic -threshold proposals | EUR 45.994.966,00 | EUR 27.338.279,00 |
Summary of observer report:
The Independent Observer (IO) concluded that the evaluation meticulously adhered to all applicable rules and guidelines and was executed with competence, fairness, and impartiality by the expert team under continuous Agency monitoring. The IO found no incidents that jeopardized the integrity or equitable nature of the process.
The expert panels were well-balanced in terms of gender and national representation. The process was successful, meeting all deadlines. Reports were of excellent quality, being complete and clear. Experts consistently demonstrated high professionalism, independence, impartiality, and objectivity, supported by excellent guidance from the REA C1 team. The overall quality of the evaluation is formally recognized as excellent.
We recently informed the applicants about the evaluation results for their proposals.
For questions, please contact the Research Enquiry Service
Call opening date: 15/05/2025
Closing date: 16/09/2025
Available budget: EUR 22.200.000,00
The results of the evaluation for each topic are as follows:
The number of proposals received in response to this call is 209, divided as follows:
- 161 for the topic HORIZON-CL2-2025-02-HERITAGE-02-two-stage, out of which we evaluated 157 proposals (4 proposals were declared ineligible/inadmissible). Number of proposals invited to stage 2: 12 proposals
- and 48 for the topic: HORIZON-CL2-2025-02-TRANSFO-04-two-stage, out of which we evaluated 47 proposals (1 proposal was declared inadmissible). Number of proposals invited to stage 2: 8 proposals
In accordance with General Annex F of the Work Programme, the evaluation of the first-stage proposals was made looking only at the criteria ‘Excellence’ and ‘Impact’.
- The individual threshold for each criterion was 4 points (out of 5).
- The overall threshold (applying to the sum of the two individual scores) was set for the call, at a level that allowed the total requested budget of proposals admitted to stage 2 be as close as possible to 2 times the available budget (and not below 1.5 times the budget). The overall dynamic threshold for both topics was 9.5 points (out of 10).
TRANSFO-04
GENERALISED FEEDBACK for successful applicants after STAGE 1
In order to best ensure equal treatment, successful stage 1 applicants do not receive the evaluation summary reports (ESRs) for their proposals, but this generalised feedback with information and tips for preparing the full proposal.
Information & tips
Main shortcomings found in the stage 1 evaluation:
Topic: HORIZON-CL2-2025-02-TRANSFO-04-two-stage
EXCELLENCE
C.1.1
- Some aspects of the objectives are not sufficiently developed in the proposals.
- The ambition of some of the proposals is not fully credible as some tools are already existing and their enhancement beyond the state-of-the-art is not sufficiently justified.
C.1.2
- Some proposals lack clarity in some parts of the methodology (e.g. qualitative and quantitative data; longitudinal aspects of the datasets).
- Leveraging data or services available in the European Research Infrastructures, e.g. European Open Science Cloud, are not sufficiently considered if pertinent to the proposal description.
- It is not fully made clear what kind of data (qualitative, quantitative) will be made available for secondary use whenever appropriate and relevant for the proposals.
- The way expertise and methods from various fields will be integrated is not fully detailed.
IMPACT
C.2.1
- The contribution of some proposals to some Expected Outcomes is not sufficiently developed.
- Some proposed outcomes and impacts are overly ambitious and their achievement is therefore not sufficiently credible.
- Potential barriers to the expected outcomes and impacts are insufficiently identified or are presented at a general level only.
- Proposed mitigation measures to address barriers are not specific enough.
- It is not sufficiently clear how the quantification of the expected outcomes and impacts were determined when appropriate.
In your stage 2 proposal, you have a chance to address or clarify these issues.
Please bear in mind that your full proposal will now be evaluated more in-depth and possibly by a new group of independent experts.
Please make sure that your full proposal is consistent with your short outline proposal. It may NOT differ substantially.
CALL UPDATE: PROPOSAL NUMBERS
Call HORIZON-CL2-2025-02-TWO-STAGE_stage1 has closed on 16/09/2025.
209 proposals have been submitted.
The breakdown per topic is:
HORIZON-CL2-2025-02-HERITAGE-02-two-stage : 161
HORIZON-CL2-2025-02-TRANSFO-04-two-stage : 48
Evaluation results are expected to be communicated in December 2025.
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.