Research infrastructure services advancing frontier knowledge

The HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-SERV-03 grant opportunity from Horizon Europe aims to provide transnational access to research infrastructure services across specific scientific domains, particularly in environment and physical sciences. Eligible applicants include research institutions or consortia operating major research infrastructures like ESFRI Landmarks or ERICs. The grant is categorized as a monetary funding type, specifically a grant under Horizon Europe’s Research and Innovation Actions. Proposals are required to involve at least one ESFRI Landmark or ERIC.

Geographically, the grant focuses primarily on EU member states and associated countries, although researchers from countries like Australia, Brazil, Canada, and others may also be eligible under specific conditions. The grant supports projects at the research and development stages, emphasizing existing infrastructure services and excluding funding for new instrumentation or long-term R&D.

Funding amounts are not explicitly stated but are typically in the range of €1 million to €5 million per project. The application process is a single-stage open call, with a deadline for submission on September 18, 2025. Funding covers 80% of eligible costs, indicating that co-funding of 20% is necessary.

The overarching goal of this grant is to enhance access to specialized research infrastructures, foster collaboration among research communities, and support sustainability and training in scientific research methodologies. The opportunity emphasizes cross-border collaboration and addressing scientific challenges through shared resources within the EU research ecosystem.

The Horizon Europe Research Infrastructures 2025 call (HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01) aims to provide transnational and virtual access to research infrastructure services across various scientific domains. The call encompasses several specific topics, each with its own budget, scope, and expected outcomes. The overall goal is to enhance research capabilities, foster collaboration, and train a new generation of researchers.

General Conditions:

1. Admissibility Conditions:
 - Proposals are limited to 100 pages due to the need to provide information on research infrastructures.
 - Layout guidelines are in Part B of the Application Form in the Submission System and Annexes A and E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.

2. Eligible Countries:
 - Specified in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
 - Some non-EU/non-Associated Countries have provisions for funding participants in Horizon Europe projects, detailed in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.

3. Other Eligible Conditions:
 - Access provision activities must be included in the proposal, following the "Specific features for Research Infrastructures" section.
 - Legal entities from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, India, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Switzerland, and USA are eligible for funding if they provide access to their research infrastructures to researchers from Member States and Associated Countries.

4. Financial and Operational Capacity and Exclusion:
 - Addressed in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.

5a. Evaluation and Award: Award Criteria, Scoring, and Thresholds:
 - Grants are awarded to ensure a balanced portfolio across different areas, based on ranking and attainment of thresholds.
 - Criteria are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes.

5b. Evaluation and Award: Submission and Evaluation Processes:
 - Additional aspects considered for the 'Excellence' criterion:
 - The extent to which access activities offer access to state-of-the-art infrastructures and high-quality services.
 - The project's contribution to facilitating access procedures and improving services.
 - 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:
 - Timeline details are in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.

6. Legal and Financial Set-Up of the Grants:
 - The funding rate is 80% of eligible costs.
 - Eligible costs may be unit costs for transnational and virtual access, as defined in Annex 2a of the Horizon Europe Model Grant Agreement.
 - Legal and financial aspects are 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 forms are available in the Submission System:
 - Standard application form (HE RIA, IA)
 - Standard application form (HE CSA)
- Evaluation form templates:
 - Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA)
 - Standard evaluation form (HE CSA)
- Guidance:
 - HE Programme Guide
- Model Grant Agreements (MGA):
 - HE MGA
 - HE Unit MGA
 - Lump Sum MGA
 - Operating Grants MGA
 - Framework Partnership Agreement FPA
- Call-specific instructions:
 - Detailed budget table (HE LS)
 - Information on financial support to third parties (HE)
 - Information on clinical studies (HE)
 - Guidance: "Lump sums - what do I need to know?"

Additional Documents:

- HE Main Work Programme 2025 – 1. General Introduction
- HE Main Work Programme 2025 – 3. Research Infrastructures
- HE Main Work Programme 2025 – 14. General Annexes
- HE Programme Guide
- 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
- Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions
- Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement

Budget Overview:

The call includes various topics with different budgets and grant sizes. All topics have a single-stage submission process, with an opening date of May 6, 2025, and a deadline of September 18, 2025.

Topic Name Action Type Budget (EUR) Indicative Grant Size (EUR) Indicative Number of Grants
HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-DEV-01 HORIZON-CSA 10,000,000 1,000,000 - 1,500,000 8
HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-DEV-02 HORIZON-CSA 16,500,000 1,000,000 - 1,500,000 11
HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-DEV-03 HORIZON-RIA 30,000,000 3,000,000 - 4,000,000 8
HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-DEV-04 HORIZON-CSA 3,000,000 1,500,000 - 3,000,000 1
HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-DEV-05 HORIZON-CSA 4,500,000 1,000,000 - 1,500,000 3
HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-EOSC-01 HORIZON-RIA 30,000,000 6,000,000 - 8,000,000 4
HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-EOSC-02 HORIZON-RIA 16,000,000 5,000,000 - 8,000,000 2
HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-EOSC-03 HORIZON-RIA 15,000,000 7,500,000 - 15,000,000 2
HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-EOSC-04 HORIZON-CSA 8,000,000 5,000,000 - 8,000,000 1
HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-EOSC-05 HORIZON-RIA 37,500,000 7,500,000 - 10,000,000 4
HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-SERV-01 HORIZON-RIA 30,000,000 around 10,000,000 3
HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-SERV-02 HORIZON-RIA 20,000,000 around 5,000,000 4
HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-SERV-03 HORIZON-RIA 20,000,000 around 10,000,000 2
HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-SERV-04 HORIZON-RIA 20,000,000 around 5,000,000 5
HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-TECH-01 HORIZON-RIA 25,000,000 around 5,000,000 5
HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-TECH-02 HORIZON-RIA 45,000,000 around 10,000,000 4
HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-TECH-03 HORIZON-RIA 30,000,000 7,000,000 - 10,000,000 4
HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-TECH-04 HORIZON-RIA 40,000,000 8,000,000 - 10,000,000 4

Partner Search:

- The Funding & Tenders Portal allows registered users to publish partner requests for collaboration.

Submission:

- The Electronic Submission Service can be accessed via the submission button, selecting the appropriate action type and model grant agreement.

Support:

- Online Manual: Procedures from submission to grant management.
- Horizon Europe Programme Guide: Structure, budget, and political priorities.
- Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ: Answers to common questions.
- Research Enquiry Service: Questions about European research.
- National Contact Points (NCPs): Guidance and assistance.
- Enterprise Europe Network: Advice for businesses, especially SMEs.
- IT Helpdesk: Technical support for the portal.
- European IPR Helpdesk: Intellectual property issues.
- CEN-CENELEC/ETSI Research Helpdesks: Standardisation in project proposals.
- European Charter for Researchers: Principles and requirements for researchers.
- Partner Search: Assistance in finding partner organizations.

The Horizon Europe Research Infrastructures 2025 call is a significant opportunity for research institutions and organizations to secure funding for projects that enhance access to and improve research infrastructures across Europe and associated countries. It supports a wide range of activities, from providing transnational access to facilities and data to developing new services and training the next generation of researchers. By addressing key areas such as environmental science, physical sciences, engineering, and data management, this call aims to drive scientific excellence and foster collaboration across various disciplines. The call is structured around several specific topics, each with its own budget and focus, allowing applicants to target their proposals to align with their expertise and the needs of the research community. The emphasis on sustainability, FAIR data principles, and the involvement of ESFRI Landmarks and ERICs ensures that funded projects will have a lasting impact on the European research landscape.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types for this opportunity include legal entities such as research infrastructures of European interest, ESFRI Landmarks, European Research Infrastructure Consortia (ERICs), legal entities hosting ERIC facilities, and, under specific conditions, legal entities from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, India, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Switzerland, and USA. The call is targeted towards entities that can provide access to research infrastructures.

Funding Type: The funding type is primarily a grant, specifically a HORIZON Research and Innovation Action (HORIZON-RIA) and HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions (HORIZON-CSA) under the Horizon Europe program. The grants are budget-based.

Consortium Requirement: The opportunity appears to require a consortium, as it emphasizes the involvement of a network of interdisciplinary research infrastructures and encourages synergies and complementarities. Proposals should involve, as beneficiaries, affiliated entities, third parties, or external providers of purchased services, the necessary interdisciplinary set of research infrastructures.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The primary geographic eligibility focuses on EU Member States and Associated Countries. However, legal entities from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, India, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Switzerland, and USA are exceptionally eligible for funding under specific conditions. The opportunity also mentions Widening countries, indicating a focus on promoting participation from these regions.

Target Sector: The target sector is research infrastructures, with a focus on providing access to these infrastructures for curiosity-driven research across various scientific domains. Specific areas mentioned include environment (atmospheric chemistry and dynamics) and physical sciences and engineering (hadron physics). The program also targets data management, interoperability, and connection to the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC).

Mentioned Countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, India, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Switzerland, USA, EU Member States, Associated Countries, Widening countries.

Project Stage: The project stage is focused on providing access to existing research infrastructure services, with some support for improvement and optimization of these services. The opportunity explicitly excludes support for longer-term R&D for new instrumentation, tools, methods, and advanced digital solutions, suggesting a focus on the validation, demonstration, and potentially scale-up of existing infrastructure capabilities.

Funding Amount: The funding amounts vary depending on the specific topic within the call, ranging from 1,000,000 EUR to 15,000,000 EUR for Coordination and Support Actions (CSA) and from 3,000,000 EUR to 15,000,000 EUR for Research and Innovation Actions (RIA). Some topics have an "around" value, such as around 5,000,000 EUR or around 10,000,000 EUR.

Application Type: The application type is an open call with a single-stage submission process.

Nature of Support: The beneficiaries will receive money in the form of grants to support their activities. The eligible costs may take the form of unit costs for trans-national and virtual access to research infrastructures.

Application Stages: The application process is a single-stage process.

Success Rates: The success rates are not explicitly mentioned in the provided text. However, the indicative number of grants for each topic is provided, which can be used to estimate the potential success rate based on the number of applications received.

Co-funding Requirement: Co-funding is required, as the funding rate is 80% of the eligible costs, implying that the remaining 20% must be covered by the applicant or other sources.

Summary: This Horizon Europe call aims to enhance access to research infrastructures for researchers across various scientific domains. It supports projects that provide transnational and virtual access to integrated and customized research infrastructure services. The call targets a wide range of scientific areas, including environmental science (atmospheric chemistry and dynamics) and physical sciences and engineering (hadron physics). Eligible applicants include research infrastructures of European interest, ESFRI Landmarks, and ERICs, as well as entities from specific third countries under certain conditions. The funding mechanism is primarily through Research and Innovation Actions (RIA) and Coordination and Support Actions (CSA), with a funding rate of 80% of eligible costs. Projects should focus on providing access to existing services, improving and optimizing these services, and ensuring data management and interoperability. The call emphasizes the importance of linking actions to pan-European research infrastructures and encourages outreach to research communities in Widening countries. The application process is a single-stage submission, and proposals should adhere to the guidelines and principles of the European Charter for Access to Research Infrastructures. The overall goal is to facilitate breakthrough research, train a new generation of researchers, and foster cross-disciplinary collaboration through improved access to and utilization of research infrastructure resources.