Calls for Project Proposals

The Green ERA-Hub (GEH) represents initiatives in the field of agri-food and biotechnology. Among the main aims, the GEH builds on previous achievements and further enhance cross-sectoral collaboration between agri-food and biotechnology ERA-Nets by identifying common research and innovation priorities and addressing them in joint transnational funding of collaborative research projects. The 2025 Joint International Call is developed and funded by partners of the GEH in collaboration with the “Wheat Initiative” (WI).

The Call funds the following call topics (for details, please see the Call Announcement and especially Annex I Funders regulations):

• Topic A: Plant breeding for improved resilience & health of crops, environment, and soil.
• Topic B: Biotechnological applications to improve the utilisation of biomass.

In Germany, the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR)/ Projektträger Jülich (PtJ) are responsible. German applicants have to refer to the National Announcement (“Nationale Bekanntmachung”) where all national requirements and legal aspects for funding are defined (Homepage - Bekanntmachung - BMFTR) and they are strongly recommended to contact their Funder Contact Persons before submitting a proposal. The maximum funding per projects of 500,000 € relates to the maximum funding of all German applicants within one consortium.

The call follows a two-stage application procedure: pre-proposals (stage 1) and full proposals (stage 2). The deadline for submitting pre-proposals will expire on 28 November 2025. There will be a webinar for applicants on 15 October 2025, 9:30 CEST. A registration is necessary. The presented slides will be available for download after the webinar.
GEH: Further information on the call (EN)
BMFTR: Further information on the call (DE)

QuantERA II ERA-NET Cofund in Quantum Technologies (QT) is a consortium of national and regional research funding organisations in Europe supporting research in QT. The funding organisations of QuantERA jointly support European multilateral research projects with the potential to initiate or foster new lines of QT through collaborations exploring advanced multidisciplinary science and/or cutting-edge engineering.

The submitted proposals are expected to be aligned with one of the two QuantERA Call 2025 topics:

• German Research Foundation (DFG): Quantum Phenomena and Resources (QPR) – with the goal of laying the foundations for the QT of the future;
• Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR)/ Projektträger VDI TZ: Applied Quantum Science (AQS) – aimed at leveraging established quantum effects and concepts from quantum science, translating them into technological applications and developing new products.

All projects aligned with one of the two Call 2025 topics are expected to address one or more of the following areas:

• Quantum communication,
• Quantum computing,
• Quantum simulation,
• Quantum sensing and metrology,
• General quantum science.

Each applicant has to check the project idea with the respective national contact point as early as possible in the proposal phase, at the latest before submitting any applications. In Germany, DFG and BMFTR/ Projektträger VDI TZ are responsible:

• The DFG will fund only projects addressing the topic of Quantum Phenomena and Resources (QPR). With the exception of the duty to collaborate, the regular eligibility rules for funding from the DFG apply. The different specifics of submitting proposals to the DFG are described in the annex of the Call Announcement. For example, for each project, one copy of the proposal, the financial form, necessary offers for scientific equipment and accompanying documentation has to be submitted via the DFG’s elan portal.
• BMFTR/ VDI TZ will only fund projects addressing the topic of Applied Quantum Science (AQS). Mandatory registration: German applicants are required to contact and to register with the responsible BMFTR funding agency (Projektträger VDI TZ) prior to the submission of a project proposal they are involved in. Compulsory industry involvement: Due to the application orientation of the AQS topic, the involvement of at least one company (from Germany or another EEA country) in the project is compulsory. Obligatory exploitation plan: In section 2.2 proposal must contain a concrete, appropriately detailed plan (who? what? when?) for the subsequent innovation steps, the technical application and the future commercial utilisation of the results in the EEA. Please note that in this context, the term application does not imply the utilisation of the results for merely scientific purposes. Demonstrating additional benefit: To be eligible for BMFTR funding, project proposals must demonstrate an additional benefit due to the transnational cooperation. Funding limits: The requested BMFTR funding must amount to at least 120 k€ per German partner over the entire duration of a project. Moreover, at least 50% of the total eligible costs/ expenses on the part of the German participant(s) in a project must be personnel costs/ expenses.

A one-stage submission and evaluation procedure will be applied. The deadline for submitting proposals will expire on 05 December 2025, 17.00 CET. An online webinar was hosted on 08 October 2025.
QuantERA: Further information on the call (EN)
DFG: Further information on the call (EN)
BMFTR: Further information on the call (DE)

Der Europäische Forschungsrat (European Research Council, ERC) fördert mit ERC Consolidator Grants bereits unabhängig arbeitende Principal Investigators (PIs), die ihre Karriere verstetigen möchten (7-12 Jahre nach Erlangung des Doktortitels). ERC Consolidator Grants finanzieren Projekte mit bis zu 2,0 Mio. Euro über eine Laufzeit von max. fünf Jahren.

Bei ERC-Förderungen werden ausdrücklich keine Themen vorgegeben ("Bottom up"-Prinzip). Anträge von allen Fächern und Disziplinen sind willkommen. Wissenschaftliche Exzellenz sowohl des Projekts als auch des Principal Investigators ist das alleinige Auswahlkriterium. Das Antragsverfahren ist einstufig angelegt, das Auswahlverfahren besteht aus zwei Stufen.

Um die Erfolgsaussichten der Antragstellenden zu erhöhen, sind an der Universität Göttingen Beratungs- und Antragswege etabliert worden, die sich in der Vergangenheit bewährt haben. Die Beratung übernehmen die Mitarbeiter*innen des EU-Hochschulbüros der Abteilung Forschung und Transfer. Damit diese ihren größtmöglichen Nutzen entfalten kann, möchten wir Sie ermutigen, sich drei Monate vor Ende der jeweiligen Einreichungsfrist mit dem EU-Hochschulbüro in Verbindung zu setzen. Der zeitliche Vorlauf ist notwendig, da Abstimmungen zwischen dem Antragstellenden, dem jeweiligen Dekanat, der Zentralverwaltung und dem Präsidium erfolgen müssen, um u.a. den Zugang zu Räumlichkeiten (z.B. Laborflächen) und Personalfragen zu klären sowie eine fundierte Budgetkalkulation für die gesamte Projektlaufzeit zu gewährleisten (z.B. Abschreibungen Equipment, Audits). Um alle Antragstellenden bei der Strukturierung des zeitlichen Ablaufs bis zur Antragsfrist zu unterstützen, hat das EU-Hochschulbüro interne Fristen formuliert, die als Empfehlung dienen.
Weitere Informationen zur Ausschreibung (EN)
Weitere Informationen zum ERC Consolidator Grant (EN)
Weitere Informationen zum ERC Consolidator Grant (DE)

Die EU-Kommission hat das Horizon Europe-Arbeitsprogramm 2025 veröffentlicht u.a. zur Förderung von Projektanträgen im Cluster 5 - Climate, Energy and Mobility. Folgende Destinations mit mehreren Ausschreibungen sowie Themen wurden veröffentlicht:

• Climate sciences and responses for the transformation towards climate neutrality
• Sustainable, secure and competitive energy supply
• Efficient, sustainable and inclusive energy use
• Clean and competitive solutions for all transport modes
• Safe, Resilient Transport and Smart Mobility services for passengers and goods

Die Einreichung der Projektanträge erfolgt entweder in ein- oder zweistufigen Verfahren.
Arbeitsprogramm 2025 (EN)
Weitere Informationen zu den Ausschreibungsthemen (EN)
Weitere Informationen der KoWi (DE)
Weitere Informationen des BMBF (DE)

The first co-funded Call of the EU Partnership Agriculture of Data (AgData) is open for the submission of proposals addressing "EU-wide data-driven solutions to real problems". The aim of AgData is to enhance climate, environmental and socio-economic sustainability and productivity of agriculture, and increase the capacity for policy monitoring and evaluation through exploiting the potential offered by Earth Observation, other environmental and agricultural data, and using newly developed digital and data technologies in Europe to support the parallel digital and green transitions.

The following call topics will be funded by German funding organisations:

• Topic 1 (BMFTR) - Data technologies and data management focused on identification, access, storage,integration and processing of FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) data, tackling the diversity of relevant data to achieve i) interoperability, ii) data sharing in data marketplaces and data cooperatives and iii) enable application of AI techniques to develop robust AI models for the sector.
• Topic 2 (BMFTR, BLE) - Data-based solutions for sustainable agriculture intended to strengthen capacities to adapt to climate change, enhancing functionality, performance assessment and decision making.

German applicants are strongly recommended to contact their Funder Contact Persons before submitting a proposal and to refer to the National Announcement (“Nationale Bekanntmachung”) where all national requirements and legal aspects for funding are defined. Requesting funding from BMFTR and BMLEH in the same project is not eligible. The project duration will be minimum 24 months to maximum 36 months.

The Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) will fund only topic 1 and topic 2. Proposals including livestock/ animal breeding or husbandry cannot be funded, even if they address topic 1 or 2. The indicative budget is 2,000,000 €. The maximum funding per projects of 400,000 € (Partner) or 500,000 € (Coordinator) relates to the maximum funding of all German applicants within one consortium.

The BUNDESANSTALT FÜR LANDWIRTSCHAFT UND ERNÄHRUNG (BLE) will fund only topic 2. The indicative budget is 750,000 €, the maximum funding per project is 250,000 €.

The deadline for short proposals is 21 January 2026, 12:00h CET (noon). The deadline for full proposal submission is 21 July 2026, 12:00h CEST (noon). There will be a webinar for applicants on 26 November 2025, 9:30 CET. A registration for the webinar is necessary.
AgData: Further information on the call (EN)

COST ist eine durch Horizon Europe (2021-2027) geförderte zwischenstaatliche Initiative zur europäischen Vernetzung, die allen wissenschaftlichen Disziplinen offen steht. COST Actions finanzieren u.a. die Organisation von Veranstaltungen, Training Schools, Publikationen und Short Scientific Exchanges. COST fördert nicht die Forschungsmaßnahmen selbst.

Die geförderten Netzwerke haben eine Laufzeit von vier Jahren. Das Besondere bereits bewilligter COST Actions liegt in der laufenden Aufnahme neuer Mitglieder. Sie können die COST-Datenbank der bereits bewilligten COST Actions nach für Sie relevanten Stichworten durchsuchen.

COST Actions bieten verschiedene Vorteile für Forschende wie z.B.:

• Sie erleichtern Kontakte zu europäischen Partnern, woraus sich gemeinsame Vorhaben im Bereich Forschung und Innovation entwickeln können wie u.a. Publikationen oder Projektanträge.
• Sie bieten vielfältige Möglichkeiten der Karriereentwicklung, was insbesondere für junge Wissenschaftler*innen nützlich sein kann.

Das Antragsverfahren für neue COST Actions ist themenoffen (Bottom-up-Prinzip) und einstufig angelegt.
Weitere Informationen zu COST (EN)
Weitere Informationen zu COST (DE)