Bigger, less prescriptive calls find favour, but fears remain of low success rates, peer-review challenges and paperwork burdens
Photo credits: Flynt / BigStock
Horizon Europe starts its final two years this week, during which the European Commission will prepare for a shift towards bigger, more innovation-driven but less prescriptive programming in its next iteration of the research programme.
The research community is on board with the inevitable shift in priorities and is treating the next two years as a test for the changes awaiting in 2028, when the tenth Framework Programme (FP10), also known as Horizon Europe, begins.
“Less prescriptive calls are a welcome change and a prelude for what's to come in FP10,” says Joep Roet, deputy director of Neth-ER, which represents the Dutch research sector in Brussels. “The Commission is clearly using the last [work programme] to test the waters.”
The changes in 2026-27 are significant. The entire work programme has shrunk by 33% and the number of topics is down 35%, compared with…
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