The UK agreed a deal to associate to Horizon Europe on 7 September 2023.
UK researchers can now apply for Horizon Europe funding, certain that all successful UK applicants will be covered through the UK’s association (or through the guarantee) for the remainder of the programme.
All calls in Work Programme 2024 will be covered by association, and the UK guarantee scheme will be extended to cover all calls under Work Programme 2023.
The ’Horizon Europe guarantee’ scheme provides funding to researchers and innovators who were unable to receive their Horizon Europe funding while the UK was in the process of associating.
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is delivering the funding through its grant systems on behalf of the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT).
Who can apply
To be eligible you must:
- be based in the UK
- have been successful at applying for a Horizon Europe grant during the Work Programme 2021, 2022 or 2023
- have been included on the initial grant proposal as a ‘beneficiary’ with an assigned budget
For ‘multi-beneficiary grants’, the coordinator and the European Commission must have signed your grant agreement before you complete the application process.
For ‘mono-beneficiary grants’, the offer of funding from the Commission must have been withdrawn or you must include a letter stating that you have terminated the ‘grant agreement preparation’ process with the Commission.
How to apply for guarantee funding
Follow the specific guidance given in the section for your type of grant.
Guidance and supporting documents are available for:
- European Research Council (ERC) grants
- Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) grants
- European Institute of Innovation and Technology Knowledge and Innovation Communities (EIT-KICs)
- all other eligible Horizon Europe grants
If needed for your grant type, you will also find a ‘conversion tool template’ to download and use.
Before applying, you should also check the general UKRI guidance for the Horizon Europe guarantee scheme and UK association to Horizon Europe and the UK Horizon Europe guarantee.
There is also specific Researchfish reporting guidance for ERC and MSCA guarantee grants.
Mixed appropriation calls
The association agreement with the European Commission means that all calls within Work Programme 2024 will be covered by our association agreement and the guarantee will cover all eligible calls under Work Programme 2023.
However, there are a set of mixed appropriation calls under Work Programme 2023 that draw from both the 2023 and 2024 budgets. Because these calls are partially funded from the 2024 budget, the EU have confirmed that for a subset of these calls where UK entities have been successful they are eligible for EU funding (and therefore they will not be covered by the UK’s Horizon guarantee).
UK entities are eligible to receive EU funding for the following funding calls:
- HORIZON-EUROHPC-JU-2023-INTER-02-01
- HORIZON-INFRA-2023-DEV-01-03
- HORIZON-WIDERA-2023-ACCESS01-01-two-stage
- HORIZON-CL5-2023-D3-01-18 Clean Energy Transition Co-funded Partnership
- HORIZON-CL6-2023-FARM2FORK-01-2 European partnership on animal health and welfare
- HORIZON-CL5-2023-D2-01-08: Driving Urban Transition
- HORIZON-CL6-2023-CLIMATE-01-1 Additional activities for the European Partnership Water Security for the Planet (Water4All)
- HORIZON-EIE-2023-INNOVSMES-01 Eurostars
- HORIZON-EIE-2023-CONNECT-03-01 Interconnected Innovation Ecosystem
Change of status to receive EU funding
The EU have confirmed that for these mixed appropriation calls, UK entities will be switched from Associated Partners to Beneficiary or be written in directly as beneficiaries from 2024 and therefore be eligible to receive EU funding.
The process can take place in two steps:
- Step 1: entities from the UK to remain as Associate Partners at the time of signature of the grant agreement
- Step 2: entities from the UK involved as Associated Partners are switched to Beneficiaries via an amendment to the on-going grant agreement, and the maximum grant amount will be increased with the budget of the entity established in the UK which will be funded with budget 2024 only
There are two possible processes for the switch from Associated Partner to Beneficiary:
- a) the process for this switch of status may happen automatically and be initiated by the EC project coordinator
- b) if this process does not occur automatically, the UK entity should request a change of status via a letter to the EC project coordinator
ERC and MSCA grants moving to the new Funding Service
Funding applications for future Horizon Europe Guarantee opportunities which were hosted on Je-S (ERC and MSCA grant types) are being managed through UKRI’s new Funding Service from 13 May 2024.
The UKRI Funding Service is being gradually developed, with new functionality being released all the time. We will increase awards processing through the Funding Service over the coming months. Currently, applications being processed through the new Funding Service will continue to have offer letters issued via Je-S.
All non-ERC and non-MSCA grant types currently hosted on the Innovation Funding Service (IFS) will continue to be hosted on IFS.