Uptake of FAIR data management practices and of EOSC by research communities and research infrastructures (EOSC Partnership)

The EU funding opportunity HORIZON-INFRA-2026-01-EOSC-01, titled "Uptake of FAIR Data Management Practices and EOSC by Research Communities and Research Infrastructures," is part of the Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Action under the Research Infrastructures 2026 program. The initiative aims to promote the adoption of open science and enhance research data management practices in alignment with the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles while supporting the development of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) Federation.

The funding call is set to open on March 10, 2026, with a submission deadline of June 16, 2026. The total budget allocated for this call amounts to EUR 40 million, with an expectation to issue a single large grant to a consortium of eligible applicants. A minimum of EUR 29 million is earmarked to fund open science projects through a cascading grant mechanism, which provides financial support to third-party beneficiaries.

Eligible applicants include research infrastructures, universities, scientific service providers, and other organizations actively involved in the EOSC Federation, including those from EU member states and Associated Countries. Non-EU/non-Associated Countries may be eligible under specific conditions detailed in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.

The call emphasizes two main objectives: to accelerate the adoption of FAIR practices through open science projects that address high-impact research questions and to support the integration of thematic research and research infrastructure communities into the EOSC Federation. Projects are expected to demonstrate sustainable outcomes that further the goals of the EOSC, while actively encouraging collaboration across various research domains and addressing the needs of underrepresented communities.

The announced funding will be distributed as grants, ranging from EUR 100,000 to EUR 250,000 for individual projects, with a cap of EUR 750,000 for any single recipient. The program is characterized by a single-stage open call process, where applicants will submit complete proposals without preliminary expressions of interest.

Success rate data is not explicitly provided, but historical trends within Horizon Europe indicate rates around 10-15%. There is no specific co-funding requirement outlined for this funding opportunity, although applicants should be prepared for potential co-funding in line with Horizon Europe's typical practices.

Overall, this Horizon Europe call represents a significant investment in advancing open science practices and enhancing research data management capabilities throughout Europe. Successful applicants will need to align their proposals with the EOSC standards and policies, ensuring the integration and sustainability of their outcomes within the broader EOSC framework. The initiative is part of the European partnership for EOSC, underscoring its relevance to fostering collaboration and strengthening the European research ecosystem.

The EU funding opportunity HORIZON-INFRA-2026-01-EOSC-01, titled "Uptake of FAIR data management practices and of EOSC by research communities and research infrastructures (EOSC Partnership)", is a Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Action (HORIZON-RIA) call under the Research Infrastructures 2026 program (HORIZON-INFRA-2026-01). It aims to increase the adoption of open science and research data management practices in line with the FAIR principles and support the development of a user-focused and science-driven EOSC Federation. The call has a single-stage deadline model, with a planned opening date of March 10, 2026, and a deadline of June 16, 2026, at 17:00:00 Brussels time. The total budget for this topic is EUR 40,000,000, with an indicative number of 1 grant.

The expected outcomes of this funding opportunity are:

Increased adoption of open science and research data management practices in line with the FAIR principles by researchers and across research infrastructures (RIs) in Europe.
Increased uptake of the EOSC Federation by researchers through the long-term sustainable provision in the Federation of scientific services and high-quality, FAIR research data, and their integration in scientific workflows addressing current gaps and needs of research communities.
Research communities, as well as ESFRI and other European research infrastructures increase their alignment with EOSC standards and policies, and their capacity to integrate in the EOSC Federation.

The scope of this topic involves two main activities:

1. Accelerate FAIR adoption and the contribution to and use of EOSC resources by multiple research communities through open science projects. This activity will be implemented through open calls that provide grants to third parties for open science projects through a cascading grant mechanism. The open calls should encourage cross-RI and/or cross-domain collaborations, including for data access, use, and reuse. Open science projects should address questions of high scientific impact, adopting best practices for FAIR data and service management and demonstrating their benefits. Activities may include developing, annotating, curating, and making FAIR high-value datasets; developing direct pipelines to integrate large-scale experimental data in repositories federated in EOSC; operationalising data access for AI-based applications; reusing existing datasets; enhancing existing and developing new vocabularies, data standards, metadata mappings, and crosswalks; developing software, tools, and services; or supporting open science community building. These projects should cover a broad range of academic and/or industrial research communities and scientific disciplines, including those less represented in the EOSC Federation, and should make use of resources available in the EOSC Federation and adopt existing EOSC policies and standards where possible. Projects should strive to ensure the sustained integration, deployment, and operation of relevant outcomes in the EOSC Federation beyond the projects’ duration. At least EUR 29 million of the EU contribution to this topic should be used in this activity. The financial support to third parties for the open science projects must be provided in the form of grants that should be between EUR 100,000 and 250,000 per grant for a duration of 12 to 24 months. The consortium shall put in place adequate measures to support the integration of the open science projects’ results into the EOSC Federation, including mentoring, training, and other activities providing effective linkage to the EOSC Federation and EOSC Nodes.

2. Support the integration of thematic research and RI communities in the EOSC Federation. This includes coordinating, aligning, and networking existing community-based competence centres on FAIR and open science practices developed within the EOSC ecosystem; developing training programs, modules, and material on FAIR and open science practices tailored to the specific needs of different thematic research communities, including feedback mechanisms; developing frameworks for the provision and continuous evolution of high-impact services and data repositories onboarded to the EOSC Federation, fostering interoperability and integration of data and resources from diverse scientific domains and promoting their sharing through the EOSC Federation; establishing mechanisms for the integration and long-term sustainable provision of all relevant outcomes into the EOSC Federation, as well as for continuous feedback and adaptation, ensuring evolving requirements of researchers and RIs are met within the EOSC ecosystem; and engaging underrepresented thematic research and RI communities to increase their integration in EOSC.

Proposals are expected to cooperate and align with activities of the EOSC Partnership and to coordinate with relevant initiatives and projects, including actions awarded under topics HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-EOSC-01, HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-EOSC-02 and HORIZON-INFRA-2027-01-EOSC-01. This may include the upgrade, deployment and adoption where appropriate of existing community-endorsed pilot, tools, services and standards developed by past and ongoing INFRAEOSC projects. To this extent, proposals should provide for dedicated activities and earmark appropriate resources.

The integration of the gender dimension (sex and gender analysis) in research and innovation content is not a mandatory requirement. This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership for the European Open Science Cloud.

The general conditions for this call include:

1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout are described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes and Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System.
2. Eligible Countries are 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 are described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion are 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. For the ‘Impact’ criterion, the following aspects will also be taken into account: The extent to which the proposed work incorporates the necessary coordination efforts and resources with other relevant projects and the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) governance structure in the context of the EOSC Partnership.
5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.
6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants: Beneficiaries may provide financial support to third parties in the form of grants. The maximum amount to be granted to each third party is EUR 750,000. The selection of the third parties to be supported will be based on an external independent peer review of their proposed work. Research infrastructures which are beneficiaries/affiliated entities of the consortium awarded may exceptionally also be recipients of financial support to third parties. Proposals must explain how they will ensure that such beneficiaries/affiliated entities are not involved in the drafting and selection procedure of the calls, and explain measures, in order to avoid conflicts of interest and equal treatment of applicants and to maintain confidentiality. The open calls should respect the conditions laid out in Section B of the General Annexes, including transparency, equal treatment, conflict of interest and confidentiality. Beneficiaries will be subject to the following additional access rights: Each beneficiary must grant royalty-free access to its results to the EOSC Association for monitoring and developing policies and strategies for the European Open Science Cloud. Each beneficiary must also provide directly to the EOSC Association the information the beneficiary deems necessary for monitoring and developing policies and strategies for the European Open Science Cloud. Beneficiaries and supported third parties must deposit the digital results generated in the action in a trusted repository federated in EOSC in compliance with EOSC requirements. These are described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Specific conditions are described in the specific topic of the Work Programme.

Application and evaluation forms and model grant agreement (MGA) information:

Application form templates are available in the Submission System, including the Standard application form (HE RIA, IA) and Standard application form (HE CSA).
Evaluation form templates will be used with the necessary adaptations, including the Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA) and Standard evaluation form (HE CSA).
Guidance is available in the HE Programme Guide.
Model Grant Agreements (MGA) include HE MGA, Lump Sum MGA, and Framework Partnership Agreement FPA.
Call-specific instructions, a detailed budget table (HE LS), information on financial support to third parties (HE), information on clinical studies (HE), and guidance: "Lump sums - what do I need to know?" are available.

Additional documents include:

HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 3. Research Infrastructures
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 15. 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

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For support, applicants are advised to read all provisions carefully before preparing their application. The Online Manual is a guide on the procedures from proposal submission to managing the grant. The Horizon Europe Programme Guide contains detailed guidance to 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 answer questions about any aspect of European research in general and the EU Research Framework Programmes in particular. National Contact Points (NCPs) can provide guidance, practical information, and assistance on participation in Horizon Europe. The Enterprise Europe Network can advise businesses with a special focus on SMEs. The IT Helpdesk can answer questions such as forgotten passwords, access rights and roles, and technical aspects of submission of proposals. The European IPR Helpdesk assists on intellectual property issues. 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 outlines the roles, responsibilities, and entitlements of researchers, employers, and funders of researchers. Partner Search helps find a partner organisation for the proposal.

In summary, this Horizon Europe call aims to foster open science practices and the integration of research communities and infrastructures into the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). It involves two main activities: accelerating the adoption of FAIR principles through open science projects and supporting the integration of thematic research and RI communities into the EOSC Federation. The call provides significant funding, with at least EUR 29 million dedicated to supporting third-party open science projects. Successful proposals will need to demonstrate a clear plan for coordinating with the EOSC Partnership, engaging underrepresented communities, and ensuring the long-term sustainability of project outcomes within the EOSC ecosystem. The call encourages cross-RI and cross-domain collaborations and emphasizes the importance of FAIR data management practices.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types are research infrastructures (RIs), Science Clusters, and other organizations that have been active participants in building the EOSC Federation. The call aims to engage a broad range of academic and/or industrial research communities and scientific disciplines, including those less represented in the EOSC Federation. Non-EU/non-Associated Countries may also be eligible for funding if they have made specific provisions, as detailed in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.

Funding Type: The primary funding mechanism is a grant. The action also involves cascading grants, where beneficiaries provide financial support to third parties in the form of grants.

Consortium Requirement: The opportunity requires a consortium of multiple applicants.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The geographic eligibility includes EU member states and associated countries. 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.

Target Sector: The program targets the following sectors: open science, research data management, ICT, and innovation. It is specifically focused on increasing the adoption of FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) data principles and supporting the development of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) Federation.

Mentioned Countries: The opportunity explicitly mentions EU member states and associated countries. It also refers to non-EU/non-Associated Countries that have made specific provisions for funding participants in Horizon Europe projects.

Project Stage: The project stage targets activities that accelerate FAIR adoption, contribute to and use EOSC resources, support the integration of thematic research and RI communities in the EOSC Federation, and establish mechanisms for long-term sustainable provision of outcomes into the EOSC Federation. This suggests a focus on development, implementation, and integration stages.

Funding Amount: The overall budget for the HORIZON-INFRA-2026-01-EOSC-01 topic is EUR 40,000,000. Within this, at least EUR 29 million should be used to fund open science projects through open calls, with individual grants ranging from EUR 100,000 to EUR 250,000 per project. The maximum amount to be granted to each third party is EUR 750,000. Other topics have different budget ranges, for example, HORIZON-INFRA-2026-TECH-01-01 has a budget of EUR 110,000,000 with contributions ranging from EUR 5,000,000 to EUR 10,000,000.

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

Nature of Support: Beneficiaries will receive money in the form of grants. Additionally, they will receive non-monetary services such as mentoring and training to support the integration of project results into the EOSC Federation.

Application Stages: The application process consists of a single stage.

Success Rates: The success rates are not explicitly mentioned, but the indicative number of grants for each topic provides some insight. For example, HORIZON-INFRA-2026-01-EOSC-01 aims to award 1 grant with a budget of EUR 40,000,000, while HORIZON-INFRA-2026-TECH-01-01 aims to award 11 grants with a budget of EUR 110,000,000.

Co-funding Requirement: The information does not explicitly state a co-funding requirement from the applicant.

Summary: This Horizon Europe call, specifically the HORIZON-INFRA-2026-01-EOSC-01 topic, aims to promote open science and FAIR data management practices across Europe, with a focus on the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) Federation. It provides funding for projects that accelerate the adoption of FAIR principles, enhance the use of EOSC resources, and integrate research communities into the EOSC ecosystem. Eligible applicants include research infrastructures, science clusters, and other organizations actively involved in building the EOSC Federation. The call operates through a single-stage open call process, where consortia can apply for grants. A significant portion of the funding is dedicated to cascading grants, supporting third-party open science projects. The call also emphasizes the importance of aligning with EOSC standards and policies, fostering interoperability, and ensuring the long-term sustainability of project outcomes within the EOSC Federation. This initiative is part of the broader Horizon Europe program and the co-programmed European Partnership for the European Open Science Cloud, aiming to create a user-focused and science-driven EOSC Federation.