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Topic updates
19 September 2025
PROPOSAL NUMBERS
Call HORIZON-JU-GH-EDCTP3-2025-03-two-stage has closed on 03.09.2025.
11 proposals have been submitted.
The breakdown per topic is:
HORIZON-JU-GH-EDCTP3-2025-03-NETWORKS-01-two-stage: 11
Evaluation results are expected to be communicated in January 2026.
10 July 2025
EVALUATION RESULTS (STAGE 1)
Published: 10/01/25
Deadline: 20/03/25
Available budget: EUR 53.000.000
In accordance with the call conditions, the evaluation of the first-stage proposals was made looking only at the criteria 'Excellence' and 'Impact'. The threshold for both criteria was 4. The overall threshold (applying to the sum of the two individual scores) was set for each topic/type of action with separate call-budget-split at a level that allowed the total requested budget of proposals admitted to stage 2 be as close as possible to 3 times the available budget (and not below 2.5 times the budget):
The results of the evaluation for each topic are as follows:
|
|
HORIZON-JU-GH-EDCTP3-2025-03-NETWORKS-01-two-stage |
|
Number of proposals submitted (including proposals transferred from or to other calls) |
20 |
|
Number of inadmissible proposals |
0 |
|
Number of ineligible proposals |
5 |
|
Number of above-threshold proposals |
6 |
|
Total budget requested for above-threshold proposals |
141.900.000,00 € |
Summary of observer report:
The evaluations were in the estimation of both observers impartial, fair and equitable. No issues of confidentiality were seen to arise.
This was, in particular, enabled by a careful selection of experts and recorders as well as ensuring that any experts or recorders with a COI were excluded from the discussions of the proposal in question. The use of the SEP platform for all aspects of the reports (IER, CR and QC) also reinforced the confidentiality of the evaluation.
No issues of non-conformity were observed and the evaluation followed all the applicable rules. The eligibility of proposals was determined by the Unit prior to the assignment of experts to proposals. Any issues of proposals being not being “in scope” were discussed by the experts during the consensus meetings.
We recently informed the applicants about the evaluation results for their proposals on 01/07/2025.
For questions, please contact applicants@global-health-edctp3.europa.eu
GENERALISED FEEDBACK for successful applicants after STAGE 1
In order to best ensure equal treatment, successful stage 1 applicants do not receive the evaluation summary reports (ESRs) for their proposals.
Join the networking platform and find the right partners and co-funders to maximise the chances of your proposal at the second stage. Discover more and register.
Please bear in mind that your full proposal will now be evaluated more in-depth and possibly by a new group of outside experts.
Please make sure that your full proposal is consistent with your short outline proposal. It may NOT differ substantially. The project must stay the same.
25 April 2025
Call HORIZON-JU-GH-EDCTP3-2025-03-two-stage_stage1 has closed on the 20/03/2025.
20 proposals have been submitted.
Evaluation results are expected to be communicated in July 2025.
TOPIC ID: HORIZON-JU-GH-EDCTP3-2025-03-NETWORKS-01-two-stage
Type of grant: Call for proposals
General information
Programme: Horizon Europe (HORIZON)
Call: Global collaborative action for strengthening the Regional Networks of Excellence and Epidemic Preparedness Consortia (HORIZON-JU-GH-EDCTP3-2025-03-two-stage)
Type of action: HORIZON-JU-CSA HORIZON JU Coordination and Support Actions
Type of MGA: HORIZON Lump Sum Grant [HORIZON-AG-LS]
Status: Forthcoming
Deadline model: two-stage
Planned Opening Date: 30 January 2025
Deadline dates:
20 March 2025 17:00 (Brussels time)
02 September 2025 17:00 (Brussels time)
Topic description
Expected Impact:
Expected impact
The actions funded under this topic should contribute to increased international cooperation among researchers and funders, catalyse research synergies, and leverage resources and investments in order to achieve the strengthening of the Regional Networks of Excellence and Epidemic Preparedness Consortia. Proposals are expected to leverage and include the effective in-kind and/or financial contribution of contributing partners, in order to produce meaningful and significant effects enhancing the impact of therelated research activities.
Applicant consortium
The contributions from contributing partners should correspond to the amounts they have committed in the letter of endorsement requesting to become a contributing partner (Article 9 Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085). Their contributions can consist of financial contributions and/or in-kind contributions. Applicant contributing partners must submit the endorsement letter for approval by the Global Health EDCTP3 Governing Board before the deadline for submission of the second-stage applications. It is recommended that the draft letter is submitted to the Global Health EDCTP3 Programme Office sufficiently ahead of deadline for submission of proposals to allow the review[1].
In case of in-kind contribution (even combined with financial contribution), contributing partners become a part of the applicant consortium and participate in the project, as appropriate i.e. as beneficiaries orAffiliated entities in the meaning of Article 8 of the Horizon Europe model grant agreement.
[1] The Global Health Programme Office will ask the applicant contributing partner to revise the letter in case it significantly departs from the template letter published on the Global Health EDCTP3 JU website or is missing any compulsory elements. The preliminary assessment by the Programme Office does not consider the merits of the application. The final decision as to acceptance or rejection of a new contributing partner rests with the Global Health EDCTP3 JU Governing Board
Expected Outcome:
Background
The burden of recent outbreaks of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), Mpox, Cholera along with the recent COVID-19 pandemic has been tremendous in terms of lives lost. Attempts were made during the epidemic to develop and evaluate vaccines, treatments, and diagnostics for EVD, but these were hampered by weak systems and capacity was not in place to carry out these activities on a very rapid timescale.
The earlier EDCTP Programmes have made important long-term investments towards the African clinical trials ecosystem through the regional networks of excellence, the epidemic preparedness and other related collaborative clinical research activities. The EDCTP consortia for Epidemic Preparedness were ready to carry out research response in several outbreaks across countries that were hosting the projects. It is vital that capacity is strengthened and further developed to undertake rapid evaluation of interventions in clinical trials when future outbreaks occur of emerging or re-emerging diseases. In parallel, strengthening surveillance systems to detect such outbreaks at an early stage, and strengthening laboratory systems to rapidly confirm diagnoses, are of high priority. Assembling background clinical and epidemiological data now on diseases that are currently prevalent and have epidemic potential, will facilitate the planning of clinical trials of new interventions, such as vaccines and treatments, as these are developed.
There are significant clinical research disparities and a very heterogeneous clinical research landscape for conducting clinical trials in SSA across African researchers, institutions, countries and sub-regions.Fostering research collaborations is a means of addressing this challenge through investing in a joint pathway towards a stronger and sustainable SSA clinical research landscape. It is important to invest in efforts that will enable effective management of infectious diseases with epidemic potential using evidence- based preventive methods, prompt laboratory diagnosis, timely treatment, protection of healthcare workers and at the same time ensuring geographical containment.
Alignment and coordination with key players in the field is important to ensure complementarity of investments. Building on EDCTP2 investments and in collaboration with key global health partners (GF, PEPFAR, CEPI, Africa CDC), the Global Health EDCTP3 aims to strengthen the pre-established Networks of Excellence and Epidemic Preparedness Networks, through disease specific networks nodes (such as TB, HIV/AIDS, Malaria and NTDs depending on disease epidemiology and the networks' regional priorities), and horizontal functions weaved in the current health security architecture coordinated by the Africa CDC.
Expected Outcome
The purpose of this topic is to provide funding to restructured EDCTP Regional Networks tailored to the evolving regional clinical trials landscape and learnings from COVID-19, as well as other regional disease threats, towards achieving the pre-defined deliverables set out in this call.
Building on EDCTP2 investments, proposals under this topic should aim to deliver results that are directed, tailored towards, and contributing to the following expected outcomes. Proposals need to address all the following outcomes:
[1] Guidance for best practices for clinical trials (who.int)
Scope:
Scope
Proposals must address three of the following areas:
1) Expertise
2) Training, mentorship and support to senior researchers
3) Partnerships
4) Infrastructure
Proposals submitted against this topic are expected to leverage financial and/or in-kind contribution from contributing partners. Proposals should define the activities of their project in its entirety, including details of the component(s) for which Global Health EDCTP3 JU funding is requested and the component(s) that are to be financed by contributing partners.
Proposals should include consortia with strong representation from institutions and researchers across sub- Saharan African countries, demonstrating a broad regional distribution in the SSA region, including involvement of new institutions and Franco/Lusophone countries, and considering previous EDCTP 1 and 2 investments and current EDCTP3 call. Applicants are also reminded of the expectation of reaching out to organisations in countries with high burden of disease with relatively lower research capacities, for which appropriate funding allocations should be proposed. Collaboration with other international research groups with relevant experience and participation in networking and joint activities, as relevant, is strongly encouraged.
FAIR data principles and open access of publications are required in line with the Model Grant Agreement [3] when relevant.
[1] Public Health Capacity - Africa | Capacity4dev
[2] Guidance for best practices for clinical trials (who.int)
[3] general-mga_horizon-euratom_en.pdf (europa.eu)
described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.
Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System.
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 conditions are described in General Annex B except for the specific conditions for the Global Health EDCTP3 JU funding as regards entities eligible for funding and consortium composition, the specific rule for countries where the coordinator may be established and the obligation to designate a scientific project leader as below.
Specific conditions replacing the relevant sections in General Annex B to the Horizon Europe Work Programmes.
A. Entities eligible for funding
This section applies to both Research and Innovation Actions (RIA) and Coordination and Support Actions (CSA).
To become a beneficiary, legal entities must be eligible for funding. To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:
Legal entities which are established in countries not listed above will be eligible for funding if provided for in the specific call/topic conditions, or if their participation is considered essential for implementing the action by the granting authority.
Entities established in low- and middle-income countries that are not members of the EDCTP Association and listed in the Horizon Europe List of Participating Countries on the Funding & Tenders Portal [4] are not eligible for funding unless the specific country in which the entity is established, is associated to Horizon Europe or if the participation of the entity is considered essential for implementing the action by the granting authority.
B. Consortium composition
Unless otherwise provided for in the specific call conditions, for all actions, due to the policy objectives of the Global Health EDCTP3 JU, legal entities forming a consortium are eligible to participate in actions under the programme provided that the consortium includes as beneficiaries:
This condition applies to both Research and Innovation Actions (RIA) and Coordination and SupportActions (CSA).
For the two CSA topics, i.e. topic HORIZON-JU-GH-EDCTP3-2025-02-FELLOW-01-two-stage and topic HORIZON-JU-GH-EDCTP3-2025-03-NETWORKS-01-two-stage - according to which the EDCTP Association is obligatorily part of the consortium as coordinator, the EDCTP Association must not be counted as one of the three independent legal entities necessary to ensure the eligibility of the consortium composition.
Specific cases:
Affiliated entities — Affiliated entities are eligible for funding if they are established in one of the countries listed above, or in a country identified in the specific call/topic conditions.
Associated partners — Entities not eligible for funding and therefore not able to participate as beneficiaries or affiliated entities (i.e. entities which participate in the action without signing the grant agreement, and without the right to charge costs or claim contributions) are allowed, subject to any conditions regarding associated partners set out in the specific call conditions.
International organisations – International European research organisations are eligible to receive funding. Other international organisations are not eligible to receive funding unless their participation is considered essential for implementing the action by the granting authority. International organisations with headquarters in a Member State or associated country are eligible to receive funding when provided for in the specific call conditions.
Specific rules regarding legal entities that may be the coordinator of an indirect action
In accordance with Article 110(2) of the Council Regulation 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe[5], where entities established in a third country without an agreement to protect the financial interests of the Union participate with funding in an indirect action, the coordinator of the indirectaction must be established in a Member State or associated country, or South Africa.
Scientific project leader
If the coordinator is not established in a country in SSA (please see previous paragraph), the designation of a scientific project leader established in a SSA country member of the EDCTP Association with the roles as described below is mandatory. A work package on ‘scientific project leadership’ must be included in the proposals and budget needs to be provided for this activity. The scientific project leader oversees the project scientific governance and leadership. For this purpose, proposals must include a work package where the details of scientific project leadership are laid down. The scientific project leader should indicatively perform the following tasks:
Annex 1 to the grant agreement and the consortium agreement should address the relationship of the scientific project leader with the coordinator regarding their respective tasks, for example sharing of the information received from or sent to the Global Health EDCTP3 JU on all issues of interest for the proper scientific management of the action.
[1] The list is correct at the time of adoption of this work programme. Please see the Horizon Europe List of Participating Countries on the Funding & Tenders Portal for up-to-date information on the current list and on the position for Associated Countries: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/common/guidance/list-3rd-country-participation_horizon-euratom_en.pdf
[2] This designation is without prejudice to positions on status and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.
[3] The list is correct at the time of adoption of this work programme. For an update, please check the EDCTP Association website www.edctp.org
[4] Horizon Europe List of Participating Countries on the Funding & Tenders Portal https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/common/guidance/list-3rd-country-participation_horizon-euratom_en.pdf
[5] Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 of 19 November 2021 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe and repealing Regulations (EC) No 219/2007, (EU) No 557/2014, (EU) No 558/2014, (EU) No 559/2014, (EU) No 560/2014, (EU) No 561/2014 and (EU) No 642/2014. OJ L 427, 30.11.2021, p. 17–119; Regulation - 2021/2085 - EN - EUR-Lex (europa.eu).
All proposals submitted under this topic must include the EDCTP Association as a coordinator at the second stage of the proposals' submission. This requirement is justified by the financial and administrative expertise of the EDCTP Association on project management and its technical expertise in SSA, which are relevant in the context of this lump sum Model Grant Agreement pilot. This is relevant namely regarding distribution of payments and quality of the reporting and deliverables. In addition, the EDCTP Association has a unique expertise in terms of African and European collaboration and wide knowledge of the research context in sub-Saharan Africa. The eligible costs of the EDCTP Association in the actions funded under this topic may not be reimbursed by the JU and may be used as a basis for in-kind contributions to operational activities (IKOP). This in-kind contribution of the EDCTP Association will cover the coordination activities of the project. On the basis of the outcome of the first stage evaluation, the applicant consortia of the highest ranked short proposals (first stage) will be invited to contact the EDCTP Association in order to include it as coordinator in their full proposal (second stage) and obtain the estimated amount of the Association’s contribution as well as any other relevant information. First stage applicants should nevertheless include an entity acting as coordinator to submit the proposal. The EDCTP Association must not be counted as one of the three independent legal entities necessary to ensure the eligibility of the consortium composition, as requested in the Call conditions, "Specific conditions to Global Health EDCTP3 JU - B. Consortium composition".
described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.
are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes.
Specific conditions related to Scores and weighting
Replacing the scores and weighting section in General Annex D to the Horizon Europe Work Programmes as regards second stage of two-stage evaluations, for both Research and Innovation Actions (RIA) and Coordination and Support Actions (CSA)
Evaluation scores will be awarded for the criteria, and not for the different aspects listed in the table. For full applications, each criterion will be scored out of 5. The threshold for individual criteria 1 (Excellence) and 2 (Impact) will be 4 and for criterion 3 (Quality and Efficiency of the implementation) will be 3. The overall threshold, applying to the sum of the three individual scores, will be 12.
Proposals that pass the individual threshold and the overall threshold will be considered for funding, within the limits of the available call budget. Other proposals will be rejected.
Nota bene, for the first stage of the two-stage evaluation of both RIAs and CSAs, the scores and weightingas indicated in Annex D of the General Annexes of the Horizon Europe work programme 2023/2025 apply.
Additionally to the aspects of award criteria included in General Annex D, the following aspects are taken into consideration during the evaluation of second-stage proposals:
are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual.
described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.
The rules are described in General Annex G.The following exceptions apply: Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum as defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021 authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme – the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2021-2027) – and in actions under the Research and Training Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community (2021-2025). This decision is available on the Funding and Tenders Portal, in the reference documents section for Horizon Europe, under ‘Simplified costs decisions’ or through this link: ls-decision_he_en.pdf (europa.eu)
described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.
JU right to object to transfer/exclusive licensing
The Global Health EDCTP3 JU 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 of the Model Grant Agreement. In addition, in accordance with Article 24(3) of Council Regulation 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe [1]and the Model Grant Agreement, the right toobject applies also to participants that have not received funding from the JU.
[1]Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 of 19 November 2021 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe and repealing Regulations (EC) No 219/2007, (EU) No 557/2014, (EU) No 558/2014, (EU) No 559/2014, (EU) No 560/2014, (EU) No 561/2014 and (EU) No 642/2014; OJ L 427, 30.11.2021, p. 17.
Other requirements
For all projects under this topic, the designation of a scientific project leader with the roles as described in the introduction is mandatory. A work package on ‘scientific project leadership’ must be included in the proposals and budget needs to be provided for this activity.
Annual Work Programme 2025
Global Health EDCTP3 Calls for proposals
Application form templates — the application form specific to this call is available in the Submission System
Note: despite blind evaluation being mentioned in the standard application form for stage 1 proposals, available in the Funding and Tenders Portal (at the stage of adoption of this Work Programme), please note that this call is not part of the ‘blind evaluation pilot’, therefore no anonymisation is required for stage 1proposals of the two-stage calls.
Standard application form (HE CSA Stage 1)
Evaluation form templates — will be used with the necessary adaptations
Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA and CSA Stage 1)
Guidance
HE Programme Guide
Model Grant Agreements (MGA)
HE MGA
Lump Sum MGA
Operating Grants MGA
Framework Partnership Agreement FPA
Call-specific instructions
Detailed budget table (HE LS)
Information on financial support to third parties (HE)
Information on clinical studies (HE)
Guidance: "Lump sums - what do I need to know?"
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2025 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2025 – 4. Health
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2025 – 13. General Annexes
HE Programme Guide
HE Framework Programme 2021/695
HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764
EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509
Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment
EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual
Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions
Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement
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