Selection of hosting sites and fellows for EFSA's European Food Risk Assessment Fellowship (EU-FORA) Programme

EFSA’s EU-FORA 2027 call EUBA-EFSA is a restricted single-stage direct grant to select hosting sites, sending organisations and mid-career fellows for 12-month learning-by-doing fellowships, opening 4 November 2026 with submission deadline 24 February 2027. The total indicative budget is €825,000 with a fixed lump-sum grant of €55,000 per fellow (EFSA expects to fund about 15 fellowships); grants are paid to the hosting site as coordinator and depend on satisfactory deliverables and mandatory complementary training. Eligible applicants are consortia of exactly two Article 36 competent organisations established in two different eligible countries (EU Member States, Norway, Iceland), with the hosting site responsible for the work programme and supervision while the sending organisation retains employment of the fellow.

Call at a glance

Essential facts

Footnotes

1. 1Applicants must check they and their partner are listed as Article 36 competent organisations before applying. The list is maintained by EFSA and available at the link provided above.

Basic call facts

Who can apply and consortium structure

Eligibility is restricted to competent organisations designated by EU Member States under Article 36 of Regulation (EC) 178/2002 and Commission Regulation (EC) 2230/2004. Eligible applicant organisations must be listed on EFSA’s Article 36 competent organisations list at the time of submission. Proposals must be submitted by a consortium of exactly two competent organisations from two different countries among EU Member States, Norway or Iceland: one acting as the fellow hosting site (applicant and consortium leader) and the other as the fellow sending organisation (partner). The hosting site will sign the grant agreement with EFSA as coordinator and will be responsible for delivering the work programme and training the fellow. The sending organisation nominates the fellow and remains the fellow’s employer during the fellowship.

What the grant supports and the form of funding

This is an action grant in the form of financing not linked to costs (fixed pre-defined lump sum per award). The grant is intended to support a 12-month learning-by-doing fellowship (EU-FORA) combining a placement at the hosting site and mandatory complementary training delivered by an EFSA-contracted training provider. The grant amount per awarded fellow/consortium is a flat sum of €55,000. The grant covers the consortium’s costs related to releasing the fellow from regular duties, expenses linked to the fellow’s physical placement, supervision and mentoring efforts, administrative costs and other activities described in the work programme. EFSA pays the grant to the coordinator (hosting site) which is responsible for transferring the agreed portion to the sending organisation according to the consortium’s internal arrangements.

Topics, activities and project maturity

The fellowship work programmes must address activities within EFSA’s scientific remit on food and feed safety and risk assessment. Hosting sites should demonstrate strong capacity and experience in one or more activities relevant to food safety risk assessment. Appendices A and B of the call list specific topics of considerable interest and broader scientific interests; selection of a listed topic is not mandatory but EFSA reserves two award slots for the two Appendix A topics provided threshold scores are met. Typical thematic areas include microbiological risk assessment, chemical contaminants, risk assessment methods and harmonisation, novel foods and nutrition, toxicokinetics, One Health pathogens, exposure assessment, data and modelling, emerging technologies and AI applications in risk assessment.

Funding scope, support provided and training

Application, evaluation and award process

Submission must be done electronically via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal submission service. Single-stage deadline model. Two-factor authentication is mandatory for Portal access. Evaluation is organised in sequential verification steps: admissibility (submission formalities and page limits), eligibility (Article 36 list and other eligibility rules), exclusion checks, selection criteria (financial and operational capacity, professional capacity, CVs and selection templates), and award criteria scoring. The evaluation is managed by an EFSA Evaluation Committee. EFSA reserves the right to establish a reserve list valid for six months and to invite ranked applicants to adapt proposals prior to award under Article 203(5) EU FR.

Application materials, templates and expected annexes

Applicants must submit a set of standard annexes and templates as published with the call. These are mandatory parts of the electronic submission and are used for admissibility, eligibility, selection and award evaluation.

Templates are provided in the EU Funding & Tenders Portal Submission Service under Part B templates. Deliverables and reports must be submitted in English. Some documents (e.g. Administrative Declaration, Declarations on Honour, Annex 5 and Annex 6) are explicitly requested as single PDF uploads in the submission tool. See Call document section 3 for full submission modalities and the Data Sheet for budget fields required in Part A.

Administrative, legal and financial points applicants must note

Selection and fellow-related operational rules

Fellow selection is the responsibility of the fellow sending organisation in agreement with the hosting site. Fellows must be mid-career professionals with 3 to 15 years prior relevant experience, hold at minimum three-year university degree, and have at least B2 level English. Fellows must remain employees of their sending organisation for the fellowship duration, which is 12 months. Fellowship participation is disallowed for candidates who previously participated in EU-FORA. Supervisors at hosting sites must dedicate on average at least 8 hours per week to the fellows (minimum 2 hours/week from the hosting site supervisor directly). Attendance to the induction and modular trainings is mandatory and logistics/travel for these trainings are arranged and paid by the EFSA-appointed training contractor.

Evaluation process details and application stages

Key deadlines, timetable and deliverables

Budget and payments

The Data Sheet and draft grant agreement specify payment modalities. EFSA will pay the coordinator. The grant amount of €55,000 per fellow is a lump sum payable in accordance with the draft grant agreement: pre-financing and final payment of the balance subject to acceptance of deliverables. The grant is payable to the hosting site coordinator, who is responsible for transferring the agreed portion to the fellow sending organisation without delay. EFSA will not require evidence of actual costs for the financing not linked to costs form.

Success rates and competition

EFSA indicates an intention to award approximately 15 fellow positions from an overall topic budget of €825,000. The exact success rate depends on the number and quality of eligible applications submitted by competent organisations. Applicants should assume the call will be competitive and ensure strong alignment with award criteria, clear work programmes, robust supervision plans and demonstrable capacity-building impact.

Key risks, exclusions and important restrictions

Administrative and IT requirements for submission

All proposals must be submitted via the Funding & Tenders Portal submission service. Two-factor authentication (EU Login second factor) is mandatory for all Portal users since 30 June 2026. Applicants must register their organisations and contact persons in the Participant Register (PIC) and ensure Legal Entity validation and LEAR appointment details are up to date. Use the Portal Online Manual and IT Helpdesk for technical support.

Eligible Applicant Types

Funding Type

Grant (action grant) in the form of financing not linked to costs (lump sum per awarded fellow).

Consortium Requirement

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility)

Eligible applicants must be established in EU Member States, Norway or Iceland and be on the Article 36 list of competent organisations. Hosting site and sending organisation must be from two different eligible countries.

Target Sector

Mentioned Countries

Project Stage

Funding Amount

Application Type

Open single-stage call (competitive open call) using the Funding & Tenders Portal electronic submission system. Applicants must select the EUBA Type of Action and the EUBA Type of MGA model in the Portal.

Nature of Support

Direct monetary grant (lump sum) to the hosting site coordinator plus mandatory non-monetary training services provided centrally by EFSA-contracted training provider (included in the programme and paid by EFSA).

Application Stages

Success Rates

EFSA intends to select around 15 fellows. The success rate is the ratio of awards to eligible proposals and therefore cannot be predetermined from published information. Applicants should expect a competitive selection among Article 36 competent organisations and prepare proposals that meet or exceed award thresholds.

Co-funding Requirement

No co-financing required from applicants. The grant is financing not linked to costs; applicants are not required to provide a cash co-financing contribution. The fellow’s employer (sending organisation) remains responsible for paying the fellow’s salary and continuing employment status during the fellowship; the EFSA lump sum is intended to compensate for the costs borne by consortium partners.

Templates

Submission templates and mandatory annexes are provided in the EU Funding & Tenders Portal Submission Service under Part B templates. Mandatory upload documents include: Annex 2 Administrative Declaration; Annex 3 Declaration on Honour on Exclusion Criteria; Annex 4 Declaration on Honour on Selection Criteria; Annex 5 Selection criteria template and the fellow’s CV; Annex 6 Award criteria template (detailed work programme, learning objectives and supervision plan). The draft grant agreement is available as Annex 1. Applicants should follow the precise structure and page limits indicated in the call document and the portal.

All templates, the draft grant agreement and guidance materials are available in the call documents. Applicants must read and follow the instructions in section 3 of the call for proposals for submission modalities and the Data Sheet for budget and payment fields in Part A of the portal.

How to prepare a competitive application

Contact, support and help

For help related to this call contact EFSA at EFSAprocurement@efsa.europa.eu for call-specific clarifications. For technical issues with the Funding & Tenders Portal use the Portal IT Helpdesk and Online Manual. Use the Topic Q&A in the Portal for call-specific public clarifications. Two-factor authentication guidance is provided in the Portal help pages and the EU Login documentation.

Comprehensive summary

This call seeks consortia of two competent organisations designated under Article 36 to act as hosting sites and fellow sending organisations for EFSA’s EU-FORA fellowship. Each consortium will implement a 12-month learning-by-doing fellowship for a mid-career professional proposed by the sending organisation and trained under a work programme implemented by the hosting site and complemented by mandatory EU-wide modular training. The award is a lump-sum grant of €55,000 per fellow paid to the hosting site coordinator and includes access to centrally organised training delivered by an EFSA contractor. The call is competitive, single-stage, open only to Article 36 competent organisations from EU Member States and Norway and Iceland. Proposals are evaluated through sequential admissibility, eligibility, exclusion, selection and award stages against defined templates and thresholds. Applicants must submit detailed work programmes, supervision plans, selection and CV documents using the Annex templates in the Funding & Tenders Portal. EFSA expects to fund around 15 fellows from an indicative topic budget of €825,000, but reserves discretion on the final number of awarded positions. Successful consortia will implement placements and training in alignment with EFSA priorities and contribute to capacity-building and harmonisation of food risk assessment across Europe.

Footnotes

1. 1Full call for proposals and guide for applicants (Grant Call for Proposals and Guide for Applicants EUBA-EFSA) and annexes are available at EFSA and EU Funding & Tenders Portal: efsa.europa.eu and ec.europa.eu

Opportunity identification

The opportunity is EFSA’s European Food Risk Assessment Fellowship Programme call for selecting hosting sites, fellow sending organisations and fellows. It is a restricted, single-stage direct grant call under the EU Bodies and Agencies programme, reference EUBA-EFSA. The authoritative Funding and Tenders Portal entry and the EFSA call document should be read together because the portal provides the submission record while the call document contains the detailed eligibility, award and implementation rules 1.

The call is designed to strengthen European capacity for food and feed safety risk assessment through a 12-month learning-by-doing fellowship. Each funded application must create a partnership between one hosting organisation that designs and delivers the training work programme and one sending organisation that employs and nominates the fellow.

Key facts

Purpose and strategic rationale

EU-FORA aims to increase the pool of food safety risk assessment experts in Europe, strengthen participation by Member State organisations, promote exchange of expertise and best practices, and support a common European culture for risk assessment. The programme contributes to EFSA’s objective of ensuring preparedness for future risk analysis needs.

The fellowship focuses on food and feed safety activities within EFSA’s remit. It is intended primarily for mid-career professionals who have relevant scientific or food safety experience but limited experience in formal food safety risk assessment. The programme combines practical work, structured supervision, complementary training and cross-border knowledge exchange.

Who can apply

Applications must be submitted by a consortium of exactly two eligible organisations. The hosting site is the applicant and consortium leader. The fellow sending organisation is the second consortium member and the organisation in which the fellow is employed or has an eligible working relationship.

Both organisations must be included, on the submission deadline, in EFSA’s list of competent organisations designated by Member States under Article 36 of Regulation (EC) 178/2002 and Commission Regulation (EC) 2230/2004. Organisations should verify their status on the current EFSA Article 36 list before preparing an application.

The two organisations must be established in two different eligible countries. Eligible locations are EU Member States, Norway and Iceland. The call is therefore not open to organisations from other countries, private entities that are not on the Article 36 list, or individual fellows applying without an eligible organisational consortium.

The hosting site must have the scientific capacity and practical resources to design and implement the fellow’s work programme. The sending organisation must employ or otherwise maintain an eligible fellow throughout the fellowship and must release the fellow from normal duties so that the programme can be completed.

Consortium and participation rules

Eligibility requirements for the fellow

The fellow must be a staff member of, or have a qualifying working relationship with, the eligible sending organisation. The fellow must have worked for that organisation on a permanent or contractual basis for at least 12 months before the start of the fellowship and must remain connected to the organisation throughout the 12-month programme.

The fellow must hold at least three years of completed university-level education in a field relevant to EFSA’s remit. The fellow must have a good command of English at a minimum B2 level under the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

The fellow must have between three and fifteen years of experience in scientific work or tasks related to food safety before the fellowship. The application must clearly document the dates, full-time or part-time status, tasks and responsibilities for each experience relied upon.

The fellow remains an employee of the sending organisation. The sending organisation must continue paying the fellow’s salary, maintain the fellow’s administrative status, release the fellow from regular duties and pay travel and accommodation expenses connected with the fellow’s physical placement at the hosting site, using the grant allocation agreed within the consortium.

Requirements for hosting sites and supervisors

The hosting organisation must demonstrate relevant, high-level scientific knowledge and experience in food or feed risk assessment. The evidence must normally cover at least the previous ten years through major projects, scientific outputs or publications connected with the proposed work programme.

The hosting site must appoint a supervisor for each fellow and identify a back-up supervisor. Each supervisor should have at least five years of professional experience in the fields covered by the proposed work programme. If English is the only common language between supervisor and fellow, the supervisor and back-up supervisor must be able to perform the supervisory role at least at B2 English level.

Supervision must cover the entire 12-month fellowship. At least eight hours per week must be dedicated to supervision and mentoring across the hosting and sending organisations, including at least two hours per week provided directly by the appointed hosting organisation supervisor.

Work programme and placement

The hosting site is responsible for designing and delivering the work programme. The programme must cover the fellow’s activities at both the hosting and sending organisations, define learning and training objectives, describe supervision arrangements and include monitoring and evaluation measures.

The fellow remains primarily at the sending organisation and spends at least three months at the hosting site. There is no prescribed maximum hosting-site stay, but a longer placement does not increase the grant and is not an evaluation advantage. The placement may be split into several periods if the total duration is at least three months and the arrangement supports learning and networking.

The work programme should be clearly relevant to EFSA’s risk assessment remit and should demonstrate how the fellow will develop practical capabilities, how knowledge will be transferred within both organisations and how the results will contribute to wider European risk assessment capacity.

Applicants may address topics in Appendix A or Appendix B of the call. Choosing one of these topics is not mandatory and does not automatically provide additional points. However, two award slots are reserved for the two Appendix A topics, provided that eligible proposals address at least two objectives of the selected topic and pass all applicable thresholds.

Appendix A priority topics

Examples of Appendix B themes

Mandatory complementary training

All fellows must attend seven weeks of complementary training organised by EFSA through a separate contractor. Attendance is mandatory, and both consortium organisations must ensure that the fellow is available for the scheduled sessions.

EFSA may change physical training to remote delivery where appropriate. The training contractor covers the fellow’s travel and subsistence costs associated with the complementary training. These costs are not to be charged separately by the hosting or sending organisation to EFSA.

Funding and financing model

The total call budget is €825,000. EFSA intends to fund 15 fellow positions at a maximum of €55,000 per grant agreement. EFSA may award fewer than 15 grants if the quality of proposals is insufficient and may award more than 15 if additional budget becomes available and more proposals pass the assessment.

The €55,000 amount is a fixed grant contribution for one fellow. It is intended to support the sending organisation’s costs associated with releasing and maintaining the fellow, the fellow’s travel and accommodation for the hosting-site placement, hosting-site supervision and mentoring, and administrative costs incurred by both organisations.

The grant is paid to the hosting site as coordinator. The hosting site must transfer the agreed share to the sending organisation without unjustified delay. EFSA does not prescribe the internal division of the €55,000 between the two beneficiaries, and the division should be agreed in advance in the consortium arrangement.

The grant is financing not linked to actual costs. Applicants do not submit an estimated cost budget, timesheets or evidence of actual costs for the purpose of calculating the grant. There is no co-financing requirement for this grant form. Payment depends on satisfactory completion of the fellowship work programme and submission and approval of the required deliverables.

The grant is not intended to finance tasks performed before signature of the grant agreement. Applicants should not start the entrusted fellowship activities before the grant agreement enters into force unless the applicable grant rules expressly permit this and the need is properly justified.

Evaluation and award criteria

EFSA evaluates proposals sequentially. The process checks submission requirements, eligibility, exclusion criteria, financial capacity, professional and operational capacity, and finally the award criteria. Failure at any stage can lead to exclusion from further assessment.

The work programme criterion assesses clarity, feasibility, relevance to EFSA and the activities of both organisations, the quality and coherence of the learning pathway, and the relevance of the programme to risk assessment processes, methods and scientific activities.

The impact criterion assesses whether the fellowship addresses knowledge and skills gaps, strengthens the consortium’s ability to train staff, creates lasting knowledge transfer and contributes to the wider European risk assessment system.

The supervision criterion assesses continuity and quality of scientific mentoring, communication between the two organisations, progress monitoring, feedback and adaptation arrangements, integration into the hosting organisation and access to relevant scientific networks.

Only proposals meeting the minimum score for every individual criterion and the overall score of 55 points are ranked for award. Ranking is subject to the limits on fellows per hosting site, hosting country and repeated organisation pairs. In the event of equal scores, criterion 1 is considered first, followed by criterion 2.

Required application documents

Applicants must be registered in the EU Participant Register and must have a Participant Identification Code. EFSA or the EU validation services may request evidence of legal existence, legal status, financial capacity or authorised representation during the procedure.

Applications may be submitted in any official EU language, but English is strongly preferable because it is EFSA’s working language and can facilitate evaluation. Supporting documents such as curricula vitae should be accompanied by reliable English translations where they are not in English.

Deliverables, reporting and payment conditions

The pre-financing payment and balance are governed by the draft grant agreement. The balance is linked to acceptance of the relevant deliverables and completion of the work programme. EFSA may recover an appropriate proportion of the grant if a fellow drops out, particularly where the drop-out occurs after the second month, subject to the circumstances and any replacement arrangements accepted by EFSA.

If a fellow drops out before or during the first two months, the consortium must provide written justification. EFSA may permit a replacement fellow who meets the eligibility criteria, but the work programme and total EFSA contribution remain unchanged. Serious illness, family bereavement or other substantiated extenuating circumstances may affect the recovery decision.

Legal and contractual structure

The grant agreement is signed between EFSA and the hosting site as coordinator. The sending organisation does not sign the grant agreement directly but signs an accession or mandate document authorising the hosting site to act on its behalf.

The hosting site and sending organisation become joint beneficiaries and are jointly and severally responsible for technical implementation. The hosting site must manage communications with EFSA, submit deliverables, receive payments, monitor implementation and transfer the agreed funds to the sending organisation.

Subcontracting is not permitted under this call. If implementation contracts for goods or services are needed, beneficiaries must apply appropriate value-for-money or lowest-price procedures, avoid conflicts of interest and retain procurement documentation. Contracting authorities must also comply with applicable national public procurement rules.

The draft grant agreement, rather than the summary portal text, governs the detailed legal, payment, reporting, visibility, audit, data protection and liability conditions. Applicants should raise any proposed comments on the draft agreement through the clarification process before the clarification deadline.

Artificial intelligence requirements

Applicants must state whether generative artificial intelligence or other AI systems were used to prepare the proposal. If AI will be used during implementation, the proposal must explain its purpose, the relevant task or deliverable, expected added value, associated risks, mitigation measures, human oversight and quality validation.

AI use must comply with the applicable EU Artificial Intelligence Act and data protection rules. Prohibited AI practices are not allowed. A beneficiary wishing to introduce a new AI system or model that was not described in the approved methodology must first notify EFSA and obtain written agreement before using it.

Any deliverable produced with the assistance of generative AI must transparently acknowledge that use and confirm human oversight and validation. Evaluators will assess whether any proposed AI component is scientifically robust, appropriate for the task and controlled through reliable quality assurance.

Important compliance restrictions

Application timetable and practical preparation

Applicants should begin by confirming Article 36 status for both organisations, selecting a fellow who meets every experience and employment condition, appointing supervisors and a back-up supervisor, agreeing the internal distribution of the fixed grant, and defining a realistic cross-border placement plan.

The proposal should present a complete 12-month learning pathway rather than only a short hosting-site project. It should connect scientific tasks to measurable learning outcomes, explain supervision and communication between both organisations, address knowledge transfer after the fellowship and include a credible plan for mandatory training attendance.

The hosting organisation should identify any country-specific labour, health and safety, confidentiality, data protection or professional conduct requirements affecting the fellow’s placement. The fellow is not an employee of the hosting site, remains employed by the sending organisation and must comply with the host organisation’s applicable rules while present there.

Overall assessment

This is a highly targeted capacity-building grant rather than a conventional research grant. Its strongest applicants will be Article 36 organisations able to demonstrate substantial risk assessment expertise, a well-defined cross-border consortium, an eligible mid-career fellow, a practical 12-month learning-by-doing plan and credible arrangements for supervision and institutional knowledge transfer.

The fixed €55,000 contribution is attractive because it does not require cost-based financial reporting or co-financing, but it must cover the agreed financial needs of both organisations and is conditional on delivery. Applicants should therefore negotiate the internal allocation carefully, budget conservatively for the fellow’s placement and travel, and recognise that a longer hosting placement does not produce additional funding.

The principal risks are ineligibility of either organisation, failure to evidence the fellow’s employment and experience, weak work programme coherence, inadequate supervision capacity, failure to meet the minimum scoring thresholds, country or hosting-site allocation limits, and incomplete delivery of the fellowship or reporting obligations.

Official sources

The official Funding and Tenders Portal topic page is the primary source for the submission record, deadline, portal conditions and call documents. The EFSA call for proposals and guide for applicants is the controlling detailed source for eligibility, scoring, grant structure, deliverables and implementation requirements 1.

FN:1

Footnotes

1. 1Official Funding and Tenders Portal topic page: EU Funding and Tenders Portal topic EUBA-EFSA-2027-ENREL-01. Detailed EFSA call document: EFSA EU-FORA 2027 call for proposals.