Sustainable Gender Equality Champions

The EU Award for Gender Equality Champions is a recognition prize under the Horizon Europe program that seeks to promote gender equality in academic and research organizations. This initiative aims to encourage institutions to implement inclusive Gender Equality Plans (GEPs) and create a community of champions to inspire further efforts in gender equality.

Eligible applicants include universities, higher education institutions, and both public and private research organizations located in EU Member States or associated countries. Organizations that have previously won in the same category are not eligible to apply again. The funding type is a monetary prize, with each winner receiving €100,000, amounting to a total budget of €400,000 allocated for both the 2024 and 2025 editions.

The competition allows for single applicants only, and each organization can apply to only one of three categories: Sustainable Gender Equality Champions, Newcomer Gender Equality Champions, and Inclusive Gender Equality Champions. The Sustainable category requires applicants to show a long-term commitment to GEP implementation, while the Newcomer category focuses on institutions that have recently completed their first GEP. The Inclusive category rewards GEPs that address intersections of gender and other social categories such as race, disability, and sexual orientation.

The call for applications opens on May 7, 2025, with a submission deadline of June 18, 2025. The application process consists of a single-stage submission where participants must demonstrate their achievements in implementing GEPs with measurable outcomes. The prize does not require co-funding and is aimed at rewarding significant and sustained achievements in gender equality.

Overall, the grant seeks to enhance public awareness of gender equality issues in academia and research, motivate organizations to adopt and implement effective GEPs, and ultimately foster systemic change toward inclusivity within the European Research Area. The award serves as a tool for meeting Horizon Europe's requirement for institutions to maintain GEPs and aligns with broader European strategies for education and research.

The EU Award for Gender Equality Champions is a recognition prize scheme designed to boost and complement the requirement for higher education establishments, research organizations, and public bodies applying to Horizon Europe to have a Gender Equality Plan (GEP) in place. It serves as a tool for advancing inclusive gender equality plans and policies within the framework of the new European Research Area (ERA) Policy Agenda. The award also enables the transformation agenda for universities set forth in the new ERA, in synergy with the European Education Area (EEA) and the European Higher Education Area (EHEA, Bologna process), and aligns with the Communication on a European Strategy for Universities adopted on 18 January 2022.

The prizes aim to increase public awareness of the importance of addressing gender equality in academic and research organizations through institutional change, incentivize a high degree of commitment to implementing inclusive GEPs, and create a community of champions inspiring other academic and research organizations to become gender equality champions. The expected outcomes include enabling the development of a European community of academic and research champions in institutional transformation towards inclusive gender equality and strengthening the inclusiveness and connectivity objectives under the new European Research Area.

The prize will be awarded to four academic or research organizations. Contestants can apply to one of three prize categories:

1. Sustainable Gender Equality Champions: Organizations that can demonstrate a significant and sustained record of activity and a high level of achievement through the implementation of their GEP(s).

2. Newcomer Gender Equality Champions: Organizations that have recently finalized the implementation of their first GEP and can demonstrate the most progress achieved through its implementation.

3. Inclusive Gender Equality Champions: Organizations that have developed the most innovative inclusive GEP, addressing intersections between gender and at least two other social categories such as racial or ethnic origin, social origin, sexual orientation and gender identity (LGBTIQ), or disability, and can demonstrate concrete results obtained through its implementation.

Each prize winner will receive EUR 0.1 million, totaling EUR 0.4 million from the 2024 budget and EUR 0.4 million from the 2025 budget. Contestants can only apply to one of the three prize categories. In addition to the complete application, contestants may be asked for further documents (for legal entity validation, bank account validation, ethics review, declaration of honour, etc.) or a short video message on their achievements in the chosen prize category. This video will be used for communication purposes only.

The call for proposals is the EU Award for Gender Equality Champions (2025 edition) (HORIZON-WIDERA-2025-GENDER-Prize) under the Horizon Europe (HORIZON) program. The type of action is HORIZON-RPr (HORIZON Recognition Prize), and the type of Model Grant Agreement (MGA) is HORIZON Prize [HORIZON-PR]. The call is open for submission with a single-stage deadline model. The opening date is 07 May 2025, and the deadline date is 18 June 2025, 17:00:00 Brussels time.

General conditions for admissibility, eligible countries, other eligible conditions, financial and operational capacity and exclusion, evaluation and award criteria, submission and evaluation processes, indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement, and legal and financial set-up of the grants are described in the Rules of Contest for this prize. Specific conditions are also described in the Rules of Contest for this prize.

Call documents include the Rules of Contest, application and evaluation forms, and the Model Grant Agreement (MGA). Application form templates are available in the Submission System. Additional documents include:

HE Main Work Programme 2023–2025 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2025 – 11. Widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2025 – 13. General Annexes
HE Programme Guide
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
Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions
Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement

The budget overview indicates a budget of EUR 400,000 for the year 2025. The opening date is 2025-05-07, and the deadline is 2025-06-18.

There are 15 partner search announcements available. LEARs, Account Administrators, or self-registrants can publish partner requests for open and forthcoming topics, as well as any user having an active public Person profile.

To access the Electronic Submission Service, applicants should click on the submission button next to the type of action and the type of model grant agreement that corresponds to their proposal. Applicants will be asked to confirm their choice, as it cannot be changed in the submission system. Upon confirmation, they will be linked to the correct entry point. To access existing draft proposals for this topic, applicants can log in to the Funding & Tenders Portal and select the My Proposals page of the My Area section.

Applicants are advised to read carefully all provisions before preparing their application. The Online Manual serves as a guide on the procedures from proposal submission to managing the grant. The Horizon Europe Programme Guide contains detailed guidance on the structure, budget, and political priorities of Horizon Europe. The Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ provides answers to frequently asked questions on submission of proposals, evaluation, and grant management. The Research Enquiry Service can be used to ask questions about any aspect of European research in general and the EU Research Framework Programmes in particular. National Contact Points (NCPs) offer guidance, practical information, and assistance on participation in Horizon Europe. The Enterprise Europe Network can be contacted for advice to businesses, with a special focus on SMEs. The IT Helpdesk can be contacted for questions such as forgotten passwords, access rights and roles, and technical aspects of submission of proposals. The European IPR Helpdesk assists with intellectual property issues. The CEN-CENELEC Research Helpdesk and ETSI Research Helpdesk advise on how to tackle standardisation in the project proposal. The European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for their recruitment outline the general principles and requirements specifying the roles, responsibilities, and entitlements of researchers, employers, and funders of researchers. Partner Search helps find a partner organization for the proposal.

In summary, this EU funding opportunity, the EU Award for Gender Equality Champions, aims to recognize and reward academic and research organizations that have demonstrated a commitment to gender equality through the implementation of Gender Equality Plans (GEPs). The prize is designed to promote institutional change, incentivize inclusivity, and foster a community of gender equality champions within the European Research Area. Organizations can compete in one of three categories: Sustainable Gender Equality Champions, Newcomer Gender Equality Champions, or Inclusive Gender Equality Champions. Each winner will receive EUR 0.1 million, with a total of EUR 0.4 million allocated from both the 2024 and 2025 budgets. The application process involves submitting a proposal through the Funding & Tenders Portal, adhering to the guidelines outlined in the Rules of Contest and other relevant documents. This initiative seeks to advance gender equality in research and academia, aligning with broader European strategies for education and research.

Eligible Applicant Types: Academic or research organisations are eligible to apply. Public bodies applying to Horizon Europe must have a Gender Equality Plan (GEP) in place.

Funding Type: This is a recognition prize scheme.

Consortium Requirement: Single. Contestants can only apply to one of the three prize categories.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The geographic eligibility is not explicitly stated, but given that it falls under Horizon Europe and the European Research Area, it is likely open to entities within the EU and associated countries. The documentation mentions National Contact Points (NCPs) also exist in many non-EU and non-associated countries ('third-countries'), suggesting some level of international participation might be possible, though likely with a focus on EU and associated countries.

Target Sector: This program targets the gender equality sector, specifically within academic and research organizations. It focuses on institutional change, implementation of inclusive Gender Equality Plans (GEPs), and promoting gender equality policies.

Mentioned Countries: No specific countries are mentioned, but the European Education Area (EEA) and the European Higher Education Area (EHEA, Bologna process) are referenced, indicating a focus on European countries participating in these areas. The mention of "third-countries" implies that some non-EU countries may be involved.

Project Stage: The program recognizes existing achievements. The expected maturity of the project is implementation and demonstration of results. The prize is awarded to organizations that can demonstrate a significant and sustained record of activity and a high level of achievement through the implementation of their GEP(s).

Funding Amount: Each prize winner will receive EUR 0.1 million. A total of EUR 0.4 million is allocated from the 2024 budget and EUR 0.4 million from the 2025 budget.

Application Type: Open call. The submission session is available as of May 7, 2025, and the deadline is June 18, 2025.

Nature of Support: Money. The beneficiaries will receive a monetary prize.

Application Stages: 1. Admissibility Conditions, 2. Eligible Countries, 3. Other Eligible Conditions, 4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion, 5a. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds, 5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes, 5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement, 6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants. It appears to be a single-stage application process.

Success Rates: The indicative number of grants is not specified in the provided text.

Co-funding Requirement: The text does not explicitly mention a co-funding requirement.

Summary:

The EU Award for Gender Equality Champions is a Horizon Europe recognition prize aimed at promoting gender equality within academic and research organizations. The prize seeks to increase public awareness, incentivize commitment to inclusive Gender Equality Plans (GEPs), and foster a community of gender equality champions. The prize is open to academic and research organizations that can demonstrate achievements in implementing GEPs. There are three prize categories: Sustainable Gender Equality Champions, Newcomer Gender Equality Champions, and Inclusive Gender Equality Champions. Each winner will receive EUR 0.1 million, with a total of EUR 0.4 million allocated from both the 2024 and 2025 budgets. The application process is a single-stage open call with a deadline of June 18, 2025. Applicants must submit their proposals through the Funding & Tenders Portal. The award serves as a booster to the Horizon Europe requirement for higher education establishments, research organizations, and public bodies to have GEPs in place, and it supports the European Research Area (ERA) Policy Agenda. The initiative also aligns with the transformation agenda for universities within the new ERA, the European Education Area (EEA), and the European Higher Education Area (EHEA).