Understanding the nature and the extent of the effects of PFAS on biodiversity and ecosystem services

Deadline:14 January 2027 (single-stage submission).

Who can apply:Multi‑partner consortia (universities, research organisations, public bodies, NGOs, industry and SMEs). Proposals must include social sciences and humanities expertise for valuation and policy uptake; international cooperation is encouraged.

Call title:Transformative change towards a nature-positive economy and society. Topic identifier: HORIZON-NATURE. Type of action: HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions (RIA) using lump sum funding under Horizon Europe. Planned opening date: 2026-10-13. Submission procedure: single-stage. Deadline: 14 January 2027 (17:00 Brussels local time is the general rule for Horizon). Expected number of grants: 2. Expected EU contribution per selected project: around €5.70 million (min and max contribution listed as €5,700,000). Overall indicative budget for this topic line in 2026: €11.45 million. The Topic is part of the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026-2027, Horizontal Activities, Call HORIZON-NATURE-2027-01.

Primary objectives and expected outcomes:Improve mechanistic understanding of PFAS effects on biodiversity, ecosystems and ecosystem services; provide evaluations of the extent of those effects; better identify research needs and knowledge gaps; produce knowledge usable by policymakers for biodiversity and environmental protection, human health protection and socio-economic cost-benefit analysis for PFAS policy measures 1.

Scope summary:The topic targets research to generate robust field-based and/or combined controlled-field evidence on effects of PFAS and PFAS breakdown products across species, populations and ecosystems, including long-term and multi-generational effects. Proposals must evaluate temporal and spatial scales of effects, investigate bioaccumulation and biomagnification (including tissue-specific distributions and trophic transfer), consider co-exposure with other contaminants, and address chronic long-term exposure under realistic environmental variability. Applicants must prioritise and justify the PFAS substances or groups they will study (examples given: short vs long chain PFAS, fluoropolymers, F-gases, ultrashort PFAS such as trifluoroacetic acids), and select relevant environmental media (soil, freshwaters, sea, air, rain, seafoam, polar areas, etc.). The topic emphasises inclusion of organisms and habitats that have been understudied to date (examples: apex predators, wild aquatic and terrestrial plants including those used for phytoremediation, soil organisms, plankton and low trophic species, fragile or endangered habitats). The cost of ecosystem services loss due to PFAS should be estimated using robust biophysical approaches and, where relevant, economic valuation methods capable of informing policy. Proposals should explore ecosurveillance approaches, identify indicator species for monitoring contamination and recovery after remediation, produce FAIR data (FAIR-by-design where possible), consider possibilities offered by the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) for data access, involve Social Sciences and Humanities expertise for valuation and policy uptake, encourage international cooperation, and commit to cluster activities with other funded projects (common dissemination, common data management and policy strategy, joint workshops/trainings and cooperation with the EC Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity).

Eligible applicant types:Horizon Europe RIA rules apply. Typical eligible beneficiary legal entity types include universities and other higher education establishments, research institutes, public bodies, NGOs, nonprofits, large enterprises and SMEs (including startups), and other legal entities established in EU Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries. Legal entities from certain non-associated third countries may participate; Annexes and the Programme Guide explain country-specific eligibility and whether participants from specific third countries are automatically eligible for funding. Specific topic conditions reference General Annexes A, B, C, D, E, F and G for eligibility, admissibility, evaluation and MGA terms. This topic requires multidisciplinary consortia with effective SSH (social sciences and humanities) contribution.

Consortium requirement:single-stage submission. The topic is open to consortia (multiple beneficiaries) as typical for RIA actions; proposals are expected to be collaborative and interdisciplinary. The call text indicates industry, research organisations and SSH partners should be involved where relevant. No single-beneficiary restriction is specified; however, RIA normally expects multiple partners to cover the research tasks and impact activities.

Funding type and financial modalities:Primary funding mechanism: grant in the form of lump sum contributions under Horizon Europe. Expected EU contribution per project: Around €5,700,000. Number of grants expected: 2 for this topic. Eligible costs will be covered via lump sum as defined by the Decision on lump sums for Horizon Europe actions. Proposals must use the application form in the Submission System and follow lump sum rules and guidance.

Beneficiary geographic eligibility:Primarily entities established in EU Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries, in line with Horizon Europe rules. Some non-EU/non-associated countries may be automatically eligible or may have specific national funding arrangements; consult Horizon Europe Programme Guide and General Annexes for country-specific eligibility and national contact points. International cooperation is encouraged (i.e. participation from third countries is possible subject to the Programme Guide and relevant Annex provisions).

Countries explicitly mentioned in the topic text and related documents:European Union (EU) is explicitly the primary region. No specific Member States are singled out in the topic text. The scope mentions polar areas and the ocean as environmental media but does not list additional countries.

Target sectors / thematic areas:biodiversity, environment, ecology, environmental toxicology, ecotoxicology, soil protection and soil biodiversity, aquatic ecosystems and marine environments, natural resources and environmental economics, ecosystem services valuation, environmental surveillance and monitoring, and related social sciences and humanities supporting valuation and policy uptake. The topic also links to water resilience, soil strategy, zero pollution ambition and biodiversity strategy for 2030. Cross-cutting priorities include FAIR data, EOSC and SSH integration.

Project stage and maturity expectations:The topic is research-driven; projects should combine observational/field research, controlled experimental work and methodological development. This is primarily at research, development and demonstration stages for improved assessment methods and ecosurveillance prototypes rather than technology TRL progression. Emphasis is on generating policy-relevant evidence, valuation metrics and monitoring approaches that can be used by decision-makers. Deliverables should include mechanistic ecological evidence, assessments of extent and scale, ecosystem services valuation outputs, identification of indicator species, data management plans ensuring FAIR principles, and policy uptake recommendations.

Funding amount and budget breakdown (topic-level):Indicative budget for topic HORIZON-NATURE: €11.45 million across the topic line. Expected EU contribution per selected project: approximately €5.70 million. Number of expected grants: 2. See budget table in the Work Programme for the 2026 budget mapping.

Application type and submission:Open call via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal, single-stage. Use the application form provided in the Submission System (Part A and Part B). Proposals should respect Part B page limits and layout as described in the application form and the Work Programme General Annexes. For this call the standard page limits in Part B apply; applicants should consult the Application Form in the Submission System and the relevant General Annexes for details. The topic text explicitly requests inclusion of SSH expertise, FAIR data and cluster networking activities in a dedicated work package with sufficient budget.

Templates and specific form notes:Use the standard Horizon Europe application form (HE RIA). Examples and standard templates are in the Reference Documents page on the Funding & Tenders Portal (Standard application form HE RIA IA, Standard evaluation form HE RIA IA, Guidance, Lump Sums - what do I need to know?, Model Grant Agreement Lump Sum). The Work Programme notes that proposal page limits and layout are described in Part B of the Application Form in the Submission System; applicants must use that form. For lump sum actions, detailed budget justification is not supplied in the same way as for actual costs, but applicants must describe the work, deliverables and milestones and use the detailed budget table for lump sum actions as required by the Submission System.

Application stages and evaluation:single-stage; proposers submit full proposals which will be evaluated against standard Horizon Europe award criteria (Excellence, Impact, Implementation) using the standard evaluation forms for HE RIA/IA. The Work Programme references the standard evaluation procedures in General Annex D and the standard evaluation templates. Selected projects are expected to join a cluster and carry out joint activities; participation in cluster actions and cooperation with the EC Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity are required post-award.

Application stages (count) and success rate information:Number of application stages: 1 (single-stage full proposal submission). Success rates: not explicitly provided in the topic text. Topic-level expected number of grants is 2; the number of submissions and resulting success rate are not specified and depend on competition. No historical success rate for this specific topic is available in the topic text.

Co-funding and funding conditions:The action will be funded via lump sum contributions. Under lump sum arrangements applicants request a lump sum and, if selected, receive the lump sum defined in the Grant Agreement for completed work packages when the corresponding deliverables/milestones are accepted during project reviews. The topic-specific documentation and the Decision authorising lump sums for Horizon Europe define eligible activities and lump sum rules. The call text does not require additional co-funding from beneficiaries beyond the normal Horizon Europe arrangements; standard rules on financial capacity and eligible costs under lump sums apply. Applicants should consult General Annex G and the Lump Sum decision for details and the Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual for administrative guidance.

Nature of support:monetary grant in the form of a lump sum covering eligible project work packages and associated deliverables. In addition to direct funding, the call expects non-monetary support through cluster activities (common dissemination, joint data and policy strategies, workshops, training, cooperation with EC Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity) and access to networks and policy interfaces. Projects are required to produce FAIR datasets and policy-relevant outputs to support uptake.

Key strengths for successful proposals:clearly justified selection of target PFAS substances and environmental media; robust combination of field and controlled studies; multi-disciplinary consortia including SSH expertise for valuation and policy uptake; demonstrable FAIR-by-design data pipelines and commitment to EOSC where appropriate; concrete ecosurveillance or monitoring approaches and identification/validation of indicator species; rigorous approaches to bioaccumulation, tissue-specific effects and trophic transfer; quantified estimation of ecosystem services loss using robust biophysical and economic valuation methods; demonstrable policy relevance and a clear plan for uptake by policy-makers (including interaction with the Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity); sufficient and realistic work package budget allocation for clustering and joint activities; thorough data management strategy and a clear clustering work package.

Application form templates and guidance:Use the application form available in the Submission System on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. Relevant reference documents include: Standard application form (HE RIA IA), Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA), Lump Sum MGA, Decision authorising lump sums under Horizon Europe, HE Programme Guide, Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual, Model Grant Agreements and General Annexes. The Work Programme indicates page limits and layout are described in Part B of the Application Form in the Submission System. Examples of standard application forms and additional guidance documents can be downloaded from the Reference Documents section of the Portal.

Success rates:The topic states an expected number of grants (2) but does not publish an expected number of proposals nor a predicted success rate. Success depends on competition, quality against award criteria (Excellence, Impact, Implementation), relevance to the topic scope, and achieving thresholds in evaluation. Evaluation follows standard Horizon Europe procedures as set out in General Annex D and the standard evaluation templates.

Key links and references:Topic details and full call text are available on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal topic page Topic page. The European Commission background study on PFAS costs and impacts referenced in the topic is available on the Commission environment pages and provides supporting evidence on knowledge gaps and societal cost estimates. Applicants should consult the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026-2027 Part 14 Horizontal Activities for the full context and associated topics.

Eligible Applicant Types:Universities and higher education establishments, research institutes, public bodies, NGOs and environmental associations, non-profit organisations, large enterprises, SMEs and startups, and other legal entities established in eligible countries in the EU and Horizon Europe Associated Countries. SSH institutions and experts are explicitly required contributors. Specific eligibility conditions follow Horizon Europe General Annexes (Annex A and B).

Funding Type:Grant via Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Action (RIA) using lump sum contributions (Lump Sum MGA and Decision).

Consortium Requirement:Consortium is expected (multi-partner, interdisciplinary) though Horizon RIA rules allow different compositions; the topic expects collaborative consortia including SSH experts and data management capacity. Single-stage submission of full proposals.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility):EU Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries as primary eligible participants. International cooperation with third countries is encouraged subject to Programme Guide and General Annex rules; some non-associated countries may have national arrangements for funding participation.

Target Sector:Biodiversity, environment and ecology, environmental toxicology and ecotoxicology, soil and aquatic ecosystems, ecosystem services valuation, environmental monitoring and surveillance, social sciences and humanities for valuation and policy uptake, and data management/EOSC-related activities.

Mentioned Countries:The topic text and supporting materials reference the European Union as the geographic focus. No individual Member States are singled out in the topic; polar areas and oceans are mentioned as environmental media rather than countries.

Project Stage:Research, development and demonstration of monitoring/assessment approaches; field studies and controlled experiments; methodological development for ecosystem services valuation and ecosurveillance.

Funding Amount:Indicative EU contribution per project around €5.70 million; expected grants: 2; topic-level indicative budget €11.45 million for 2026 mapping.

Application Type:Open call through the EU Funding & Tenders Portal; single-stage full proposal submission (single-stage).

Nature of Support:Monetary grant in the form of lump sum payments; combined with expected non-monetary benefits through clustering, policy engagement and EOSC data sharing.

Application Stages:1 (single-stage submission and evaluation).

Success Rates:Not specified. Topic indicates 2 expected grants; competition-dependent and no historical success rate provided in the topic text.

Co-funding Requirement:Not explicitly required beyond the normal obligations under Horizon Europe lump sum grants. Projects will receive lump sums for completed work packages. Applicants should consult General Annexes and the Lump Sum Decision for details on financial arrangements and declarations. National co-funding arrangements for entities from specific third countries may apply as noted in the Programme Guide.

Templates:Use the Submission System application form Part A and Part B (Standard application form HE RIA IA). Part B contains sections for Excellence, Impact and Implementation, work package descriptions, deliverables, milestones, Gantt, risk management, ethics, data management plan and exploitation/dissemination. The Work Programme and Reference Documents page provide downloadable standard forms, evaluation forms and guidance. Applicants must include a dedicated work package for cluster activities and allocate sufficient budget for it. The page limits and layout are those in Part B of the Submission System application form; for other topics the Work Programme may set exceptions (check topic page).