LIFE
The European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) will present a series of virtual information sessions on the LIFE 2026 Calls for proposals during the EU LIFE 2026 info days from 28 to 30 April. The programme and all useful information can be found here. The Info Days also aim to explain how to prepare an application and what makes an excellent proposal.
These live sessions will guide potential applicants through the new Calls for proposals and the priority topics for 2026 under the four LIFE sub-programmes:
- Nature and biodiversity;
- Circular economy and quality of life;
- Climate change mitigation and adaptation;
- Clean energy transition.
More detailed information on the LIFE Programme is available on the CINEA Website
Open Calls
https://cinea.ec.europa.eu/life-calls-proposals-2026_en
The LIFE Calls for proposals 2026 will be published on the Funding & Tenders portal on 21 April 2026.
The Calls will subsequently be presented at the EU LIFE info days, planned from 28 to 30 April 2026. Registrations will open on 2 March.
BE READY
BE READY: European Partnership for Pandemic Preparedness (BE READY) has officially launched its first Joint Transnational Call titled: “advancing knowledge on host–pathogen dynamics to better tackle emerging infectious diseases.” – 120 million from HE to strengthen research on emerging pathogens and accelerate the development of vaccines, therapies, and diagnostics, aiming to build an integrated European research and innovation ecosystem within the Union’s health security framework to anticipate and respond to future pandemic threats.
The BE READY Joint Transnational Call offers €16.4 million for transnational, collaborative, and interdisciplinary research on emerging and re-emerging pathogens with pandemic potential, focusing on priority viral families (Coronaviridae, Filoviridae, Flaviviridae, Orthomyxoviridae) or the “Pathogen X” approach. Projects, lasting up to 36 months, must involve consortia of at least three partners from three eligible countries and integrate sex, gender, and diversity
LINK Joint Transnational Calls – BE READY PLUS
Open Calls
BE READY Joint Transnational Call 2026: Advancing knowledge of host and pathogens dynamics to better combat emerging diseases.
LINK: https://beready4pandemics.eu/joint-transnational-calls/
Deadline for pre-proposal submission – 13 April 2026
Deadline full proposals – 20 August 2026
BrainHealth JTC2026
EP BrainHealth – European Partnership for Brain Health
The European Partnership for Brain Health (EP BrainHealth) is a major initiative involving over 55 partners from more than 30 countries across Europe and beyond, co-funded by the European Commission. Launched in January 2026, it is one of the largest collaborative efforts in brain research worldwide.
Open Calls
EP BrainHealth Call 1
Biological, social and environmental factors that impact the trajectory of brain health across the lifespan in the field of neurological, mental and sensory disorders
EP BrainHealth Call 2
Biological, social and environmental factors that impact the trajectory of brain health across the lifespan in the field of neurodegeneration
Strengthening brain health research – EP BrainHealth
Deadline for pre-proposal submission – March 10, 2026
Deadline full proposals – June 30, 2026
EUP AH&W
The submission tool of the European Partnership on Animal Health and Welfare
Open Calls
Second transnational call within the framework of the European Partnership Animal Health and Welfare
LINK: EUPAHW: Call 2 PP
Deadline for pre-proposal submission – March 30, 2026
Cluster 6 - Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment
These calls help deliver sustainable food systems, protect biodiversity, and drive circular bioeconomy approaches. Spanning agriculture, ecosystems, and natural resources, this cluster offers rich opportunities for researchers and innovators building a greener, more resource-efficient Europe.
Focus: Ensuring sustainability and resilience of food systems and ecosystems.
Key areas:
- Biodiversity and ecosystem services
- Sustainable agriculture, forestry, and fisheries
- Circular bioeconomy
- Food systems and security
- Water and soil management
Open Calls
Cluster 1 - Health
These calls will support ambitious, collaborative projects that tackle Europe’s most pressing health challenges. With a wide range of topics across key Destinations, there’s a wealth of opportunities for researchers, innovators, and stakeholders across the health ecosystem. Whether your work addresses prevention, diagnosis, treatment, or healthcare delivery, there’s a Horizon Europe opportunity for you.
Explore the Full List of Cluster 1 – Health Topics:
- Staying healthy in a rapidly changing society
- Living and working in a health-promoting environment
- Tackling diseases and reducing disease burden
- Developing and using new tools, technologies and digital solutions for a healthy society
- Maintaining an innovative, sustainable, and competitive EU health industry
- Ensuring equal access to innovative, sustainable, and high-quality healthcare
These topics reflect Europe’s commitment to a more resilient, equitable, and digitally empowered healthcare system.
Open Calls
| Topics | Type | Budget (EUR million) 2026 |
Budget
(EUR million) 2027 |
Projects expected to be funded | Deadline |
| HORIZON-HLTH-2026-02DISEASE-12: European Partnership on Rare Diseases (ERDERA) (Phase 2) | COFUND | 48.70 | 42.60 | 1 | 15 Sep 2026 |
Mission Cancer
Horizon Europe Missions are a new programming approach under Pillar II – Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness, designed with a horizontal, inter-cluster structure. They tackle major social and environmental challenges through bold, measurable objectives to be achieved within clear timelines. By mobilizing researchers, businesses, policymakers, and citizens, the Missions aim to accelerate innovation and deliver tangible benefits in areas such as climate adaptation, cancer, oceans, soil health, and climate-neutral cities.
Mission Cancer
The goal of the Mission on Cancer is to improve the lives of more than 3 million people by 2030, through prevention, cure and for those affected by cancer including their families, to live longer and better.
The four Cancer Mission objectives are:
✔ Understand;
✔ Prevent what is preventable;
✔ Optimise diagnosis and treatment;
✔ Support quality of life.
Its five transversal priorities are: ensure equitable access in all aforementioned areas, innovation, childhood cancer, personalised medicine and citizen engagement.
Open Calls
EIC - European Innovation Council
EIC Pathfinder is part of the European Innovation Council (EIC), designed to fund early-stage, high-risk / high-gain research that can pave the way to breakthrough technologies.
Within Pathfinder, the Open call is the “bottom-up” strand: it welcomes proposals in any field of science, technology or application, without predefined thematic priorities.
Open Calls
| Topic | Budget (EUR million) |
Budget/ project |
Number of projects expected to be funded | Deadline |
| Pathfinder CHALLENGES | 96 | 4 | 24 | 28 October 2026 |
The 2026 Challenges Call includes three cutting-edge thematic strands that seek to push the frontiers of science and enable transformative technology development:
- II.2.1 Advanced Materials for Miniaturised Energy Harvesting Systems — This topic invites proposals to develop novel materials and device architectures that can efficiently scavenge ambient energy at microscale. The ambition is to enable self-powered miniaturised systems (e.g. IoT devices, sensors, wearable electronics) through breakthroughs in material properties, integration strategies, and energy conversion techniques.
- II.2.2 Biotechnology for Healthy Ageing — This theme focuses on leveraging biotechnology, bioengineering and life-science innovations to promote longer, healthier lifespans. It aims to address biological aging processes, preventative diagnostics, regenerative therapies, and interventions that maintain functional resilience over time.
- II.2.3 DeepRAP: Deep Reasoning, Abstraction & Planning towards Trustworthy Cognitive AI Systems — Under this call, the goal is to advance the methodological foundations of AI by combining deep learning with symbolic reasoning, abstraction, planning and verification. The ambition is to build more trustworthy, interpretable, and robust cognitive systems that can operate reliably in complex, uncertain environments.
EIC Pathfinder targets work in the earliest Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs), typically TRL 1 to TRL 4 — i.e. from basic research up to proof-of-concept / lab validation.