Pillar Iii: Science Comes To Town 2029
HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions
Basic Information
- Identifier
- HORIZON-WIDERA-2027-05-ERA-03
- Programme
- Enhancing the European R&I system
- Programme Period
- 2021 - 2027
- Status
- Forthcoming (31094501)
- Opening Date
- December 8, 2026
- Deadline
- March 11, 2027
- Deadline Model
- single-stage
- Budget
- €3,000,000
- Min Grant Amount
- €3,000,000
- Max Grant Amount
- €3,000,000
- Expected Number of Grants
- 1
- Keywords
- HORIZON-WIDERA-2027-05-ERA-03HORIZON-WIDERA-2027-05
Description
The successful proposal will deliver on the impact “Increased alignment of research with society’s needs, expectations and values”. Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
- Strengthened capacity, networks and involvement of the participating cities in science communication and citizen engagement in science;
- More informed, evidence-based policymaking and increased public engagement through inclusive and participatory discussions and debates on science and R&I policy;
- Improved attractiveness of diverse careers in R&I for younger generations.
This topic supports a small group of cities in organising and hosting a joint 1-year programme “Science comes to town 2029”. The programme should have a robust concept and brand focusing on connecting citizens and science while involving all relevant stakeholders (e.g., researchers, research funders, policymakers, publishers, citizens, civil society organisations, and business community).
Various events and activities should be organised, highlighting the latest R&I developments and their contribution to society (including projects supported by national/regional/EU funds). Applicants should experiment with novel formats that are inclusive and participatory and engage diverse age and social groups at local, regional, and European levels. In project activities, particular attention should be paid to promoting inclusive gender equality and addressing gender-specific challenges. Special emphasis should be placed on exploring and supporting citizen science to promote both science education and multiple forms of public engagement with science.
In addition, the programme of activities should include the following two components:
- EUCYS (European Union Contest for Young Scientists): science competition, awarding prizes and awards, for 14- to 20-year-olds who are first prize winners of national science contests for school science projects.
- EU TalentOn (European Union Contest for Early Career Researchers): science competition, awarding prizes and awards, bringing together at least 100 early-career researchers, 21-35 of age, to work on scientific solutions to societal challenges.
The 2029 editions of EUCYS and EU TalentOn will take place in the third quarter of 2029, customarily in September[1].
Applicants are encouraged to establish synergies with the European Researchers’ Night and the Researchers at School initiative, funded by Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions[2]. Programmed activities should create a link with the preceding[3] and subsequent edition of “Science comes to town”, fostering cohesion and growth of the initiative.
The programme should take place in a minimum of 3 and maximum of 6 cities located in at least 3 different Members States and/or Associated Countries, with the majority located in Member States. The consortium can include organisations that can represent the host cities and/or join them in designing and implementing the project activities. Local partners that provide a connection to R&I should be included.
Applicants should provide commitment letters from the public authorities of each participating city, signed by the highest authorities (such as the mayor or equivalent city governance representative), demonstrating strong commitment for the activities included in the proposal. The proposal should clearly explain how the city will contribute to the initiative and outline its specific roles, resources, and support.
Proposals should demonstrate the consortium’s ability to mobilise substantial resources beyond the Union contribution, including monetary or in-kind sponsorships, to support and expand the planned activities. Applicants may choose to further increase the impact and added value by incorporating additional events and activities, financed by other resources, by engaging ‘satellite’ cities to reach more communities. The consortium will report on the implementation of the planned activities and events not covered by the grant but will not report or declare the related costs, in order to limit administrative effort.
Proposals should include the overall concept for the programmed activities, detailing the focus and scope of activities, the outreach strategy, and the contribution to the long-term vision for the cities, while specifying clearly:
a) events (including EUCYS and EU TalentOn) and activities (e.g., overall coordination and communication activities) that will be funded partially or fully by the Union contribution;
b) activities and events that will be financed by the participating cities, ‘satellite’ cities, sponsorship and other resources (i.e., activities not funded by the Union contribution).
Proposals should present a breakdown of all additional resources. Annexes should be used only for commitment letters, not for extra budget related details.
The consortium will submit a detailed draft programme of activities for approval by the granting authority, no later than three months prior to the official programme launch.
The financial support to third parties can only be provided in the form of prizes to the total amount of €70 000 for EUCYS and €100 000 for EU TalentOn.
The expected duration of the project is between 24 and 30 months.
[1] More information can be found on the contest websites (see also specific organisational aspects in the respective background notes), https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/funding/funding-opportunities/eucys_en; https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/funding/funding-opportunities/eu-talenton_en.
[2] https://marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/actions/msca-citizens.
[3] See “Science comes to town 2028” in WIDERA work programme 2026-2027.
Destination & Scope
The guiding policy framework of this destination is the Communication "A New ERA for Research and Innovation"[1], the Council Recommendation on the Pact for Research and Innovation in Europe (Pact for R&I)[2], and the European Research Area (ERA) Policy Agenda (2025-2027)[3]. The funded actions will strengthen the ERA by promoting the freedom of movement of researchers, scientific knowledge, and technology and by providing new evidence for better-informed policymaking. More details on the ERA policy framework are in the introduction to the WIDERA work programme 2026-2027.
The EU Member States, Associated Countries, R&I stakeholders, and the Commission work together to implement the ERA. This process is steered by the ERA Policy Agenda, which identifies specific ERA Actions (time-limited initiatives) and Structural Policies (long-term policies) designed to tackle concrete challenges faced by R&I communities in Europe. This work programme is designed to support this process. The funded actions will build knowledge and capacities at the level of institutions and ecosystems to adopt reforms and practices in line with the ERA Policy Agenda, thereby contributing to the implementation of the ERA.
The destination will be implemented in synergy with the European Higher Education Area and the European Education Area, especially in relation to R&I careers and institutional changes in universities and research organisations. Several call topics and other actions will also contribute to the implementation of the European framework for research careers[4].
The destination includes two calls with 13 topics in total as well as other actions, targeting a wide range of R&I stakeholders, e.g., universities, research performing and funding organisations, research evaluation agencies, networks of researchers, publishers, industry and start-ups, policymakers, local authorities, and public bodies.
The effective contribution of social sciences and humanities (SSH) disciplines is encouraged under this destination, including the involvement of SSH experts, institutions, and the inclusion of relevant SSH expertise, to enhance the societal impact of project activities.
The ERA Platform showcases results from Horizon Europe-funded projects, making them available to a wide range of stakeholders to facilitate progress in ERA policy areas. Applicants are encouraged to consider these results as well as propose new tools, resources, and visual material that can be featured on the platform.
All topics in the 2026 and 2027 ERA calls are organised around four pillars, designed to enable the funded projects to strengthen R&I capacities across four complementary dimensions while addressing selected ERA Actions and Structural Policies. The table below summarises this approach, making it easier for applicants to choose their preferred policy area and type of activity. Each call topic title refers to its corresponding pillar.
2026 and 2027 ERA calls: pillar structure
| Pillar I: Institutional changes for ERA | Pillar II: Ecosystems for ERA |
| Type: coordination and support actions Focus: capacity building and support to foster adoption of ERA policies/practices within institutions. Activity types: providing tools, resources, training, services, and policy advice. Policy areas:
| Type: coordination and support actions Focus: building and reinforcing networks and partnerships to foster broad uptake of ERA policies/practices. Activity types: exchanging knowledge and practice, networking and cooperative actions. Policy areas:
|
| Pillar III: Citizens and science in ERA | Pillar IV: New knowledge for ERA |
| Type: coordination and support actions Focus: connecting R&I with citizens and other stakeholders. Activity types: implementing and promoting participatory approaches, such as citizen engagement and citizen science. Policy areas:
| Type: research and innovation actions Focus: creating new knowledge that supports design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and practices. Activity types: conducting analyses, developing and testing new methods and practices. Policy areas:
|
Proposals under this destination should set out a credible pathway to one or several of the following expected impacts:
- Effective and sustainable structural institutional changes aligned with the ERA priorities;
- Sustainable ecosystems established around the ERA priorities through enhanced cooperation, coordination and alignment;
- Increased trust in science and alignment of R&I with society’s needs;
- Strengthened evidence base for advancing the implementation of the ERA;
- Increased reproducibility, trustworthiness and transparency of scientific research;
- A more open, equitable and inclusive research and innovation ecosystem;
- A research ethics and integrity ecosystem continually enhanced with robust methodologies that encourage benefit sharing and prevent ethics dumping;
- Systemic reform of research assessment through the recognition of the diverse outputs, practices, and activities which maximise the quality and impact of research;
- Improved research careers and mobility, based on the European framework for research careers, fostering knowledge flows and career interoperability across sectors and countries;
- Stronger translation of R&I results into society and economy;
- Enhanced gender equality and inclusiveness, leading to research excellence and more innovative, socially relevant, and economically impactful outcomes;
- Increased uptake, effectiveness and impact of environmentally sustainable research;
- More resilient and future-proof R&I policies and long-term strategies with effectively integrated strategic intelligence and strengthened foresight communities;
- A more strategic, coherent, and evidence-based approach towards cooperation with China in the area of science, technology, and innovation.
[1] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:52020DC0628&from=EN.
[2] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32021H2122.
[3] https://european-research-area.ec.europa.eu/era-policy-agenda-2025-2027.
[4] Council Recommendation of 18 December 2023 on a European framework to attract and retain research, innovation and entrepreneurial talents in Europe, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/C/2023/1640/oj.
Eligibility & Conditions
General conditions
1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout
2. Eligible Countries
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
The participating city that the proposal designates as host for EUCYS 2029 must provide as part of the proposal the commitment from its respective National EUCYS Organiser to run the 2029 competition as part of the project (EUCYS National Organiser must either participate as a beneficiary or associated partner, or provide a commitment letter).
Applications must be submitted by a consortium including participation, as beneficiaries, of at least three independent legal entities: Each established in a different Member State or Associated Country; and two of which are established in a Member State.
described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion
described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.
5a. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds
are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes.
5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes
are 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
described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.
6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants
Subcontracting is not restricted to a limited part of the action.
Beneficiaries may provide financial support to third parties. The financial support to third parties can only be provided in the form of prizes. The maximum amount to be granted to each third party is EUR 60 000.
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 CSA)
Evaluation form templates — will be used with the necessary adaptations
Standard evaluation form (HE CSA)
Guidance
Model Grant Agreements (MGA)
Call-specific instructions
Additional documents:
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 15. General Annexes
HE Framework Programme 2021/695
HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764
EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509
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 Pillar Iii: Science Comes To Town 2029
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