Four calls for proposals are open for research in secure societies

Applicants competing for EU research funding in the area of secure societies can now submit their proposals on disaster-resilience, fighting against crime and terrorism, on border and external security and digital security. The calls for research proposals in these fields, funded under the Horizon 2020 programme, will be open until 27 August 2015.

What kind of research will be funded?

The call H2020-DRS-2015: Disaster-resilience: safeguarding and securing society, including adapting to climate change, is divided into 12 different topics. It is designed for actions to reduce the loss of human life, environmental, economic and material damage from natural and man-made disasters, including extreme weather events, crime and terrorism threats. The available budget is €82.330 million.

The call H2020-FCT-2015: Fight against crime and terrorism is divided into eight topics, aiming both at avoiding incidents and to mitigate against their potential consequences. This requires new technologies and capabilities for fighting and preventing crime (including cyber-crime), combatting illegal trafficking and terrorism (including cyber-terrorism), and preventing radicalisation to help avoid aviation related threats. The available call budget is €42.16 million.

The call H2020-BES-2015: Border Security and External Security is divided into 11 topics and targets the development of both technologies and capabilities to aid rapid identification, with the aim of improving border security; and new technologies, capabilities and solutions to support the Union's external security policies in civilian tasks. The available call budget is €42.17 million.

The call H2020-DS-2015-1 Digital security: cyber security, privacy and trust is divided into four topics, aiming at Securing and increasing the trust in the digital society. The available call budget is €50,21 million.

The total budget for these 35 topics open in the four calls amounts to €216,87 million.

How to apply for funding?

The calls are open until 27 August 2015, 17.00 Brussels time. Applicants must submit their proposals electronically, following the link from the call page on the Participant Portal.

How will the grants be awarded?

Evaluation of the research proposals is expected to start in September 2015, with the results announced in January 2016. The successful candidates are likely to receive their initial funding by May 2016.

Applications are assessed by panels of independent experts who evaluate each proposal against the criteria set out in the Horizon 2020 Work Programme.

More about the Secure Societies challenge

The Secure Societies research action aims at protecting the freedom and security of Europe and its citizens. Its specific objective is to foster secure European societies in a context of unprecedented transformation and growing global interdependencies and threats, while strengthening the European culture of freedom and justice.

The indicative budget of the programme will reach € 1 694 million.