European Partnership Water4All Call 2023
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19.09.2023
27 November 2023
Deadline for submitting the pre-proposal, a Statement of Commitment duly signed by the Researcher in Charge (partner and/or coordinators) and by the legal representant of the Portuguese Proposing Institution. The Statement of Commitment must be sent to the call National Contact Point.
5 October 2023
An Information Webinar for applicants will be held on October 5th, 2023 13h30 (CEST) - Register here
In 2023 the European Partnership Water4All - Water Security for the Planet launched the 2nd call for transnational research and/or innovation projects.
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The Water4All Partnership -Water Security for the Planet- is a funding programme for scientific research in freshwater. It aims to tackle water challenges to face climate change, help to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and boost the EU’s competitiveness and growth. It is co-funded by the European Union (EU) within the frame of the Horizon Europe programme.
This Joint Transnational will support R&I projects to improve water security in the long term. In line with the strategic objectives of Water4All, the results should contribute to the implementation of evidence-based, global, EU and national water management policies and strategies, including the Green Deal, the Water Framework Directive (WFD), Just Transition and the Water Action Agenda for UN Sustainable Development Goals. The proposals submitted should show cognisance of appropriate legislation and policy frameworks at national and international levels that are meant to alleviate global change impacts on aquatic ecosystem services. The context for the general call topics is described in Theme II of the Water4All Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA), “Water for ecosystems and biodiversity”. Likewise, Themes VI and VII in the SRIA on “International cooperation” and “Governance”, respectively, must be considered as they are cross-cutting issues to all other themes. Applicants are encouraged to check links in the SRIA between ecosystem services and themes, subthemes, drivers and enablers. This comprehensive approach must be reflected in the proposals.
The general theme of this Water4All Call is related with “Ecosystem Services”, with aquatic ecosystems as the focus, including inland surface water, groundwater, transitional and coastal water, and having water security on top of the objectives.
The proposals submitted under this Water4All 2023 Call are required to address at least one of the following topics:
- Topic 1. Mapping, monitoring, and assessment for a better understanding of ecosystem services in a context of changes, from local to global change.
- Topic 2. Understanding and predicting multiple pressures (including anthropogenic pressures) - impact – response relationships in ecosystem services through advanced methods and techniques.
- Topic 3. New tools and solutions for a better integration of ecosystem services into the management of water resources.
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The following are individual or co-promotion beneficiaries:
a) Non-entrepreneurial entities of the R&I system, namely:
- Higher education institutions, their institutes and R&D units;
- State or international laboratories with head office in Portugal;
- Non-profit private institutions whose main object is R&D activity;
- Other non-profit public and private institutions developing or participating in scientific research activities.
b) Companies of any type and under any legal form.
The information contained in this section does not exempt you from consulting Article 3 of the "Regulation of projects financed exclusively by national funds". See call documents.
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The Water4All Call 2023 will have a two-stage call for proposals: the pre-proposal submission stage (stage 1) and the full proposal submission stage (stage 2). Only the pre-proposals submitted in stage 1 and selected by the Call Steering Committee (consisting of the national/regional funding agencies of the call) based on the ranking list prepared by the expert panel will be invited to proceed to the stage 2 and submit full proposal.
The Water4All Call 2023 will fund projects submitted by transnational consortia. Applicants may only apply for funding to their respective national/regional funding agencies of the call (consult the document “Call Text”, in the “Call Documents” area, to know the funding agencies of the Water4All Call 2023) and each funding agency will only fund projects submitted by team(s) from their countries/regions that are part of transnational consortia.
Please access the “Call Text” to consult the general eligibility criteria, the rules applicable to the size and composition of consortia and the rules of eligibility to consult the specific eligibility conditions of each funding agency.
- Consult the “Call Documents” area.
- Consult the national and/or regional rules of the countries participating in the consortium (including the Portuguese) in the document "Call Text”.
- The consortium coordinator must submit the pre-proposal template in the submission system (see “Important links”).
- Complete and submit, within 10 working days after the deadline for submitting the pre-proposal, a Statement of Commitment duly signed by the Researcher in Charge (partner and/or coordinators) and by the legal representant of the Portuguese Proposing Institution. The Statement of Commitment must be sent to the call National Contact Point.
PLEASE MIND:
- Only Portuguese Proposing Institution that are part of a transnational consortium and applying for FCT funding should complete and submit a Statement of Commitment (in pre-proposal stage only).
- The stamp or seal of the Portuguese Proposing Institution and, if applicable, of the R&D unit, will not be required in a digitally signed Statement of Commitment, provided that it is signed, in the Autenticação.gov application, with professional attributes that identify the functions performed by the signatory.
The information contained on this page constitutes only a summary of the joint call information and does not exempt the candidates from carefully reading all the joint call documents available on this page and on the call website (see “Important links”). Likewise, the information contained in this page refers only to the participation of FCT in this call, unless if/when expressly indicated. In the event of participation of other Portuguese funding agencies in the call, the applicants should consult the agencies information channels.
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Eligibility
The eligibility check of proposals is carried out at both stages of the call (pre-proposal submission stage and full proposal submission stage):
- National/Regional Funding Agencies check national eligibility of pre-proposals and full proposals, ensuring compliance with the formal requirements in the applicable national/regional regulations (see “FCT’s regulation”, “Financial Execution Rules” and "FCT’s funding and rules of eligibility” in the “Call Documents” area).
- Transnational eligibility check of pre-proposals and full proposals will be performed by the Call Secretariat, according to the transnational eligibility criteria presented in the “Call Text” in the “Call Documents” area.
- For a proposal to be declared eligible it must fulfil both the national and transnational criteria.
Evaluation
The call includes two evaluation phases: a pre-proposal evaluation stage and a full proposal evaluation stage.
Proposals will be evaluated according to the evaluation criteria described in the "Call Text" in the "Call Documents" area.
The Call Steering Committee (CSC) will decide which 1) pre-proposals to invite to submit a full proposal and 2) proposals to recommend for funding, depending on the stage of the call. For this purpose, the CSC will strictly follow the order of the ranking list established by the Expert Panel according to the available budget.
The final formal funding decision will be taken by each Funding Agency afterward, following its national/regional procedure.
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- FCT financial commitment for the call: 500.000,00 €
- Maximum requested funding for a consortium with Portuguese coordination: 200.000,00 €
- Maximum requested funding for a consortium with Portuguese participation: 150.000,00 €
PLEASE MIND:
- Portuguese institutions funding must follow FCT's “Regulation on projects funded solely by national funds” (see “FCT’s regulations” in the "Call Documents" area), as well as “Financial Execution Rules” (also available in the "Call Documents" area).
- If more than one Portuguese applicant participating in the same consortium applies for funding by FCT, the combined funding demanded by all the Portuguese applicants may not exceed the maximum financial threshold for projects with a Portuguese Main Applicant (200 000,00 €) or Project Applicant (150 000,00 €). Portuguese Main Applicants and/or Project Applicants in the same consortium will therefore have to share the funding that will be granted by FCT.
- FCT participates in the Joint Transnational Call (JTC), Early Career Reserchers (ECR) and Knowledge Hub (KH) modalities. For more information regarding general and national/regional eligibility requirements and funding criteria, please consult the Call Announcement and Nacional/Regional Regulations.
- The dedication (FTE) in transnational projects is not considered for the 100% (FTE) dedication to national projects.
- Under the terms of number 2 of Article 7 of the Regulation on projects funded solely by national funds, payments made directly or indirectly to companies through the Proposing Institution cannot exceed 50% of the total cost of the company’s participation.
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