Australian universities fast-tracked Horizon Europe association in hope of shaping FP10

Australia hurried to finalise its association to Horizon Europe so the country could be closer to the decision-making process for the next iteration of the programme, which starts in 2028, according to Vicki Thomson, chief executive of the Group of Eight university group. 

“Having a seat at the table as an associate country gives us a front row seat into the next iteration of Horizon Europe,” she told Science|Business. “Not being at that table was really not an option, not in the context that we're living in now.” 

After just a few months of negotiation, the European Commission announced in June that Australia will become the 23rd country to associate to Horizon Europe. From January 2027, its researchers can apply to some areas of the programme on the same basis as their peers in Europe.

As reported by Times Higher Education, the Group of Eight is paying A$20 million (€12 million), half of the expected €24 million joining fee. The other half will be covered by the Australian government. 

This access will last for just one year, then a fresh association agreement will be needed for the tenth Framework Programme (FP10), which will also be called Horizon Europe.

Countries associated to Horizon Europe enjoy full financial participation but lack formal voting rights in programme decision-making. Australia’s influence will therefore rely entirely on soft lobbying through expert groups, strategic alliances and national research consortia. 

Now that Australian universities are in, Thomson said she would lobby to increase the size of the next Horizon Europe budget, but also push for priorities that are important to Australian universities. First among these is allowing Horizon Europe to fund research into dual-use technologies, which can be used for both civilian and military purposes.

“We are very strongly engaged in defence-related research, and while that's not part of Horizon Europe at the moment, we are hoping it could be,” she said.

Dual-use research has traditionally been excluded from Horizon Europe. This is likely to change in the next iteration of the programme, with the European Innovation Council (EIC) already moving in this direction. However, the EIC is funded by Horizon Europe’s Pillar 3, which funds innovation and scale-ups, and Australia’s association agreement only covers Pillar 2, which attempts to tackle global challenges through consortia of research institutions. 

The Commission has pushed to allow dual-use research in all pillars of the FP10, but that decision is still subject to negotiations with the European Council and the European Parliament.

As an example of the dual-use research from Australian universities that she would like to see funded through Horizon Europe, Thomson mentioned a type of carbon fibre undergarment that helps female soldiers alleviate discomfort in the field. “When we talk about defence research, we're not talking only about the things that explode,” she said. 

Australian government hesitant

The short months of negotiation with the Commission followed years of lobbying to get the Australian government on board. It was only when the Group of Eight offered to pay half of the association fee, “the stars aligned,” Thomson said.

“If [paying half the association fee] helped the Australian government, who have many different competing funding priorities, to get over the line, our universities, which are the big research-intensive universities, thought that was a very good investment for us to make,” she added. 

A spokesperson for Australian science minister Tim Ayres would not comment on the government’s reluctance to join Horizon Europe, nor the role played by the Group of Eight investment. Instead, they told Science|Business that “Horizon Europe gives Australian researchers and industry access to partnerships and resources to tackle some of Australia’s greatest challenges.” It would also boost Australia’s standing in the Indo-Pacific, they said.

There is no guarantee in the agreement that the Group of Eight will make back its investment in joining Horizon Europe, but Thomson was confident. “We would expect to [get our money back]. It's the world's largest research fund,” she said. 

Part of the motivation to associate, she said, also came from difficulties collaborating with European companies with a presence in Australia, such as Siemens, Volvo and Rheinmetall. 

“The European companies we talk to are all engaged in Horizon Europe with partners in Europe, but they couldn't be involved with us because we weren't able to access the funding in the same way,” she said.

US funding cuts

The aligning stars that led to Australia’s association agreement did not all hang in European skies. The geopolitical situation as a whole had played a role, Thomson said. 

The Group of Eight had wanted to follow Indo-Pacific partners such as New Zealand, South Korea and Japan in associating to Horizon Europe. At the same time, the country had been wary of collaborating with Chinese partners on its dual-use technologies and was now looking for closer relationships with “like-minded countries,” she said.

A big factor had also been the US government’s sudden and significant cuts to science funding. “The National Science Foundation cut across our universities quite dramatically and quite quickly without explanation, and I think all universities, not just Australian universities, were impacted by that,” she said. 

“I do think it made us think that we need to collaborate a little bit more with our EU partners, and here was this opportunity,” she went on. 

A presence in Brussels

For European researchers looking to collaborate, Australia brings expertise in many areas. Aside from its dual-use research, Thomson pointed to research on rare earth mineral extraction, quantum technologies, and research into health, medicine and vaccine development, as well as research on the energy transition and on climate change mitigation.

Being restricted to Pillar Two of Horizon Europe is not an issue. “We have to crawl before we can walk, and I don't think we can underestimate the complexity of joining Horizon Europe,” she said. 

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The Group of Eight now has six months to learn the complexities of EU science funding before Australian researchers start to join research consortia. To do this, it is drawing on member universities that already have a presence in Europe. And soon, Thomson said, they plan to hire people in Brussels. 

“The Australian government has been upfront with us that it wants very quick wins,” she said. “We will have access to funding from 1 January 2027, and our government has said that it expects us to have applications ready to go by then.”