EPICUR Seed Funding Scheme 2025 – Call for applications

Only researchers affiliated to the nine EPICUR partner universities can participate. Projects should have at least 3 partners from 3 different EPICUR countries. 

Each project should identify 1 main coordinator and 1 local coordinator.

The Seed Funding Scheme is aimed to foster scientific collaboration between EPICUR full partner universities (https://epicur.edu.eu/about-epicur/presentation-epicur/). External Higher Education Institutions cannot participate, but are welcome to join the consortium at a later stage. 

However other external non-HEI institutions, such as industry, start-ups, civil society, and governmental bodies, can take part in the project, but are not eligible to receive any funding. All external non-HEI institutions must finance their own participation/ activity in the project. 

Applicants can only be awarded funding from their own affiliated university. The final funding amount for each project will be allocated based on the results of the scientific evaluation score and the total budget available at each partner institution. 

The maximum amount that can be awarded to one project is 150.000EUR but it depends on the selected projects and the available institutional grants. 

Applicants can only be awarded funding from their own affiliated university. 

The total budget per EPICUR partner earmarked for the funding of all projects under the 2025 call is indicated in the call documents. Potential applicants should contact their affiliated university institutional contact concerning the maximum budget available from their institution per project application. 

The types of costs eligible depend on each benficiairy’s affliliated institution, and could include (not exhaustive): 

• Staff costs; 
• Travel costs; 
• Research costs; 
• Communication and dissemination.

Potential project applicants should contact their local institutional contacts for more information. 

The project lead is the researcher from the University who is leading the proposal. 

The project partners are the researchers from the Universities participating in the consortium. 

The main coordinator for the project within the partner institution is the researcher who is involved in the development of the research proposal. 

The local coordinator of the partner institution is usually the Head of the Research Institute/ Faculty of the University of the researchers applying to the EPICUR Seed Funding Scheme. They are requested to countersign the application to ensure that the local institution is aware of the grant request. 

The application documents must be submitted via the SEED FUNDING file link based at the University of Strasbourg: https://seafile.unistra.fr/u/d/60c6fbe182834c089986/. 

The project participants should be affiliated to a laboratory or department, with a contract lasting the duration of the project with the University. Project funding will normally be transferred to this unit and not to individual researchers or students. Concerning visiting fellows, please contact the institutional contact point for further details.  

The EPICUR Seed Funding Scheme is funded through institutional university budgets. Each university decides the amount of funding dedicated to the scheme based on internal available resources. Please contact the institutional contact point for further details.  

The alliance does not yet have a dedicated platform. Potential applicants should send a request to their institutional contact point indicating the type of partner contacts required.  

The EPICUR Alliance disposes of an online Teaching and Learning Centre (TLC) community of practice, where depending on your field of interest you may find contacts: 

https://learn.epicur.education/login.php?target=crs_1561&cmd=force_login&lang=en

Projects should carry a research and teaching element. More information can be found in the call document.  

External partners can contribute with specialised knowledge, networks, or practical experience that support the development and implementation of the project. External partners cannot receive any of the EPICUR funding, and must fund their participation themselves. Secondly, higher education institutions that are not a part of EPICUR cannot be an external partner. After the completion of the seed funding project, external educational institutions may be involved in further development and in applying for external funding. Suitable external partners could include NGOs, companies, public sector bodies, or cultural institutions relevant to the project’s objectives. 

All EPICUR partners involved in the project can receive funding from their own university, as long as it fits within the overall budget. For more details, please contact your university’s Epicur contact person.  

EPICUR welcomes application within all research fields and projects outside the scope of EPICURs priority areas are welcome. Scientific excellence and link to the EPICUR vision is important.  

EPICUR’s priority areas are:

• Sustainable transformation
• European values
• Global health
• Future intelligence

During the selection process universities might reduce the funding allocated slightly, if this means that more pjects can receive funding. However, we try to fund as many projects as possible with the full applied amount.  

The Scientific Coordinator should be affiliated to a laboratory or department, with a contract lasting the duration of the project with the University. Project funding will normally be transferred to this unit and not to individual researchers.  

Yes, both outcomes are requirements for the project application to be eligible.  Each project must at least submit their concrete plans for submitting an external funding application. A full proposal must be submitted no later than 12 months after completing the seed funding project.   

The projects will be evaluated on both research and learning, as follows: 

• Research quality: 30 points 
• Educational activity quality: 10 points  

The joint learning activity should be in line with the area of research of the project, in order to foster and develop closer collaboration among EPICUR’s academics. Impact is expected from the joint learning activity, such as the number of beneficiaries and learning outcomes.   

The joint learning activity should be in line with the area of research of the project, in order to foster and develop closer collaboration among EPICUR’s academics. Impact is expected from the joint learning activity, such as the number of beneficiaries and learning outcomes.   

Depending on the institution, different eligible costs can be covered by the funding. Each project is free to decide how the project costs will be distributed between the project partners and the different project teams. Please contact the institutional contact point for further details on eligible institutional costs.