🏛 EU_PORTAL · 📍 EU
€2,000,000
10/2/2027
13/4/2027
Horizon Europe
European Partnership for Pandemic Preparedness (Phase 2)
Expected Outcome:
This topic aims at supporting activities that are enabling or contributing to one or several expected impacts of destination “Tackling diseases and reducing disease burden”. Proposals under this topic should aim to deliver results that are directed at, tailored towards and contributing to all the following expected outcomes:
Scope:
This topic targets an action under Article 24(2) HE Regulation aiming to add additional activities to existing grant agreements, together with additional partners (if relevant) that would deliver on those activities. The award of a grant to continue the partnership in accordance with this call should be based on a proposal submitted by the coordinator of the consortium funded under topic HORIZON-HLTH-2024-DISEASE-12-01: “European Partnership for Pandemic Preparedness” and the additional activities (which may include additional partners) to be funded by the grant, such as the close coordination with the Clinical Trial Coordination Mechanism (CT-CM)[1], should be subject to an evaluation. The partnership should be firmly anchored within the framework of the European Health Union package[2] and ensure synergies with the European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) and other relevant Commission services. The partnership’s activities are expected to be key enablers of the EU Global Health Strategy[3]. Taking into account that the present action is a continuation of the topic HORIZON-HLTH-2024-DISEASE-12-01: “European Partnership for Pandemic Preparedness” and foresees an amendment to an existing grant agreement, the proposal should present the additional activities (including additional partners) to be covered by the award primarily in terms of grant agreement revisions. The existing action, the “Be Ready Now - European Partnership for Pandemic Preparedness” (BE READY NOW) can only reasonably be enhanced and enlarged on the basis of the existing consortium[4], as the co-funded framework established cannot simply be replaced without significant disruption, given the top-quality, long-term expertise and wide coverage of the beneficiaries comprising this consortium.
The partnership should contribute to the actions proposed in the Joint Communication on the European Preparedness Union Strategy (JOIN(2025) 130 final[5]) which recognises the essential contribution of research and innovation to allow “continuously adapted, optimised and state-of-the-art responses to crisis”. It should also contribute to the “Strategy for European Life Sciences”[6]. Synergies with EU programmes such as EU4Health Programme (2021-2027)[7] or the Digital Europe Programme[8] are encouraged.
The co-funded Partnership for Pandemic Preparedness should enable improved coordination and cooperation on national and European levels (and contributing globally), building on the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA)[9] established in the first phase of the partnership. The partnership’s implementation is grounded in coordinating and jointly funding transnational research, combined with a strong focus on integrative ‘in-house’ activities, ultimately reinforcing the readiness of Europe’s research ecosystem. As a continuation of an existing action, the proposal should present the additional activities (including additional partners) to be covered by the award primarily in terms of grant agreement revisions.
The partnership should cover the full scope of preparedness research, ranging from basic and pre-clinical research, to clinical, public health, social sciences and implementation research. The partnership will consider the interplay between environmental, ecological and climatic factors and the emergence and spread of health threats and will adopt a One Health approach to better understand and mitigate the risks of emerging infectious diseases.
Of particular interest is the consolidation and further development of the ever-warm clinical research network, comprising both observational and interventional studies, ensuring continuous clinical research activity across diverse sites, and with the in-built capacity to rapidly respond to public health emergencies. In this regard, the partnership should ensure that provisions are in place for the close coordination with the CT-CM, which i) should facilitate providing scientific advice on the clinical research needs in preparedness and response to public health emergencies, and ii) promote a coordinated approach to the national and EU funding of identified clinical research needs.
The partnership should strengthen the European Research Area by supporting excellence in innovative research and capacity building, widening the engagement of countries not yet involved. As a demonstration of its added value, the partnership should be able to attract the engagement of a broad range of stakeholders beyond European health authorities and research funders, such as private and philanthropic actors and innovators.
The participation of start-ups, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)[10] is encouraged with the aim of strengthening their scientific and technological foundations, enhancing their innovation potential, and exploring possibilities for commercial exploitation.
The relevant European research infrastructures[11] in the area of health should be exploited for available services, expertise and digital tools for dataset creation, standardisation, data discovery, secure access, management, visualization, harmonization, analysis and other functions as appropriate.
When defining calls for proposals in the context of jointly funded transnational research, the partnership should consider sex and identity-related differences. If relevant, it also needs to consider the effective contribution of social sciences and humanities (SSH) disciplines and the involvement of SSH experts, institutions as well as the inclusion of relevant SSH expertise, to produce meaningful and significant effects enhancing the societal impact of the related research activities. The support and involvement of citizens and civil society should be considered.
The partnership will consolidate a suitable health research data ecosystem aligned with the European Health Data Space (EHDS)[12], and the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC)[13] supporting the harmonisation and standardisation as well as the federated access of FAIR[14] research data in the context of pandemic preparedness and response. The partnership’s work should comply with the appropriate ethical, regulatory and legal frameworks, and should ensure the timely translation of research outcomes into effective clinical and public health policy and innovation.
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The total indicative budget for the topic is EUR 63 million committed in annual instalments over the two years, 2026 and 2027 (EUR 30 million from the 2026 budget and EUR 33 million from the 2027 budget).
[3] EU Global Health Strategy: Better Health for All in a Changing World - European Commission: https://health.ec.europa.eu/publications/eu-global-health-strategy-better-health-all-changing-world_en
[4] Consortium which was awarded the grant under topic HORIZON-HLTH-2024-DISEASE-12-01: “European Partnership for Pandemic Preparedness”.
[5] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:52025JC0130
[6] https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/strategy/strategy-research-and-innovation/jobs-and-economy/towards-strategy-european-life-sciences_en; https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_1686
[7] https://health.ec.europa.eu/funding/eu4health-programme-2021-2027-vision-healthier-european-union_en, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32021R0522
[8] https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/activities/digital-programme
[9] https://beready4pandemics.eu/sria
[10] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32003H0361
[11] The catalogue of European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) research infrastructures portfolio can be browsed on the ESFRI website: https://ri-portfolio.esfri.eu
[14] See definition of FAIR data in the introduction to this Work Programme part.
Eligible countries are described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.
The proposal must be submitted by the coordinator of the consortium funded under topic HORIZON-HLTH-2024-DISEASE-12-01: “European Partnership for Pandemic Preparedness”. This eligibility condition is without prejudice to the possibility to include additional partners.
In recognition of the opening of the US National Institutes of Health’s programmes to European researchers, any legal entity established in the United States of America is eligible to receive Union funding. Because the US contribution will be considered for the calculation of the EU contribution to the partnership, the concerned consortium of research funders from eligible EU Members States and Associated Countries must expressly agree to this participation.
Subject to restrictions for the protection of European communication networks.
Other eligibility conditions are described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
Financial and operational capacity and exclusion are described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.
The evaluation will take into account the existing context and the scope of the initial evaluation as relevant, and related obligations enshrined in the grant agreement.
If the proposal is successful, the next stage of the procedure will be grant agreement amendment preparations.
If the outcome of amendment preparations is an award decision, the coordinator of the consortium funded under topic HORIZON-HLTH-2024-DISEASE-12-01: “European Partnership for Pandemic Preparedness” will be invited to submit an amendment to the grant agreement, on behalf of the beneficiaries.
Award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes.
The thresholds for each criterion will be 4 (Excellence), 4 (Impact) and 4 (Implementation). The cumulative threshold will be 12.
Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual.
Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.
This action is intended to be implemented in the form of an amendment of the grant agreement concluded pursuant to Article 24(2) of the Horizon Europe Regulation.
For the additional activities covered by this action:
The granting authority may, up to 4 years after the end of the action, object to a transfer of ownership or to the exclusive licensing of results, as set out in the specific provision of Annex 5.
Legal and financial set-up of the grants are described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.
Specific conditions are described in the specific topic of the Work Programme.
Application and evaluation form templates
Standard application form (HE COFUND top-up) - the application form specific to this call is available in the Submission System
Standard evaluation form (HE COFUND) - will be used with the necessary adaptations
Guidance
Model Grant Agreement (MGA)
Call-specific instructions
Information on clinical studies (HE)
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 4. Health
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 15. General Annexes
HE Framework Programme 2021/695
HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764
EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509
Decision authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme
Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment
EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual
Online Manual is your guide on the procedures from proposal submission to managing your grant.
Horizon Europe Programme Guide contains the detailed guidance to the structure, budget and political priorities of Horizon Europe.
Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ – find the answers to most frequently asked questions on submission of proposals, evaluation and grant management.
Research Enquiry Service – ask questions about any aspect of European research in general and the EU Research Framework Programmes in particular.
National Contact Points (NCPs) – get guidance, practical information and assistance on participation in Horizon Europe. There are also NCPs in many non-EU and non-associated countries (‘third-countries’).
Enterprise Europe Network – contact your EEN national contact for advice to businesses with special focus on SMEs. The support includes guidance on the EU research funding.
IT Helpdesk – contact the Funding & Tenders Portal IT helpdesk for questions such as forgotten passwords, access rights and roles, technical aspects of submission of proposals, etc.
European IPR Helpdesk assists you on intellectual property issues.
CEN-CENELEC Research Helpdesk and ETSI Research Helpdesk – the European Standards Organisations advise you how to tackle standardisation in your project proposal.
The European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for their recruitment – consult the general principles and requirements specifying the roles, responsibilities and entitlements of researchers, employers and funders of researchers.
Partner Search help you find a partner organisation for your proposal.