EPICUR Seed Funding Scheme is a grant from the EPICUR European University Alliance that funds early-stage research collaboration projects between EPICUR partner universities across Europe. Designed to stimulate synergies between teaching and research, the Seed Funding Scheme helps build promising collaborative research projects that can grow into deeper partnerships and joint teaching programs.

Eligible applicants are faculty, researchers, and academic staff affiliated with EPICUR member universities who want to develop joint research initiatives with peers at partner institutions. Awards support the formation of inter-university research teams and the development of innovative, cutting-edge research at the intersection of EPICUR's transformation priorities. The 2025 call for applications is open to EPICUR consortium members.

EPICUR Seed Funding Scheme 2025 – Call for applications – EPICUR Alliance The core ambition of the EPICUR alliance is to transform education, research and transfer practices and opportunities across its member universities in order to develop original cutting-edge solutions and train new generations of European change makers able to shape a European society in transition and help overcome the daunting challenges.

In the pursuit of deeper research collaboration and future joint teaching between EPICUR members, the EPICUR Seed Funding Scheme has been devised as an instrument to stimulate synergies between teaching and research by offering a financial support mechanism to support the building of promising research collaboration projects between EPICUR partner universities.

The set-up of a joint scheme is seen by the alliance partners as a strategic investment. It initiates a collaborative coordinated effort to stimulate research partnerships and ensure a more efficient allocation of resources than if each university were to independently create incentives for collaboration within EPICUR. The Seed Funding call for proposals 2025 is launched by the nine partners of the EPICUR Alliance.

The EPICUR Seed Funding Scheme invites researchers affiliated to one of the EPICUR partner institutions to submit proposals for one-year joint research project grants with collegues from EPICUR unversities. The Seed Funding aims to facilitate the development of ideas for joint research cooperation and stimulate synergies between teaching and research.

The Seed Funding offers a financial support mechanism for the building of promising research collaboration projects between EPICUR partner universities. Proposals can focus on research in any scientific area. However, projects addressing EPICUR priority areas are strongly encouraged.

Funding and maximum grant amount Projects can request and be awarded up to a maximum of 150. 000 EUROS. Applicants can only be awarded funding from their own affiliated university.

Publication of the call Deadline for submission Evaluation Information on evaluation results Expected project start date 7 May 2025 4 September 2025 – 23:59 CET September-October 2025 December 2025 From December 2025 Please note that the Seed Funding Call document has been updated on the 10th of July 2025. Please dowlonad the new document, V1. 1.

🎥 Watch our Seed Funding Info Session held on 23 May. 2025 Seed Funding Call – Presentation Are there a minimum number of participants in a consortium? 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. Can External Higher Education Institutions participate in the consortium and receive grants from the Seed Funding Scheme?

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.

The EPICUR Seed Funding Scheme uses a virtual pot, how does this work? 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.

What is the maximum amount that can be awarded to one project? 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.

Is there a maximum amount that can be awarded to each project partner? 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. What types of costs are eligible? The types of costs eligible depend on each benficiairy’s affliliated institution, and could include (not exhaustive): Communication and dissemination.

Potential project applicants should contact their local institutional contacts for more information. What is the difference between project lead and project partner? 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. Who is the main coordinator for the project within the partner Institution? The main coordinator for the project within the partner institution is the researcher who is involved in the development of the research proposal.

Who is the local coordinator of the partner institution? 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.

Where do the application documents have to submitted? 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/. Can students/ researchers enrolled in the EPICUR partner universities for a short period (6/ 12 months, etc.) participate in the Seed Funding Scheme? 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. Why are the available budgets per institution so unequal?

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.

Is there a platform that you can use for finding partners? 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 Are SoTL/ Scholarship of Teaching and Learning-projects accepted? Projects should carry a research and teaching element.

More information can be found in the call document. What role could an external partner play in the context of the research project? 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. Can all participating institutions of a consortium apply and receive funding from their respective institutions? 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. What are the main areas of research that will be prioritised? 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 How does each participating institution decide to allocate its maximum funding? 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. Does the Scientific Coordinator have to be a professor, i.e. already a member of the teaching or research staff? Can it be a PhD candidate?

Or a young researcher with no current position or contract with the university? 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.

Do the projects have to include both the proposal for external funding and the joint learning activity? 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. Is the teaching activity also evaluated within the project? The projects will be evaluated on both research and learning, as follows: Research quality: 30 points Educational activity quality: 10 points Does the joint learning activity have to be linked to the research of the project?

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. Do all supervisors of the faculties have to be informed and involved in the project?

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. How many researchers can be funded from each institution for a single project?

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.

For general questions concerning the 2025 Seed Funding call, applicants should send an e-mail to epicur_seedfunding@epicur. edu. eu For any questions concerning one of the EPICUR partners’ participation conditions in the 2025 Seed Funding call, please contact the local EPICUR contact points: AMU – Katarzyna Jankowiak / katarzyna.

jankowiak@amu. edu. pl AUTh – Nikos Theodosiou / niktheod@civil.

auth. gr BOKU – Nicolas Fries / nicolas. fries@boku.

ac. at KIT – Michael Zacherle / Kirsten Rosa / epicur@kit. edu SDU – Ida Thostesen / epicur@sdu.

dk UFR – Charlotte Langowski / charlotte. langowski@zv. uni-freiburg.

de Unistra – Pascale Nachez / epicur@unistra. fr UvA – epicur_uva-BB@uva. nl EPICUR Seed Funding: Successful Projects Announced for 2025 L’accès ou le stockage technique est nécessaire dans la finalité d’intérêt légitime de stocker des préférences qui ne sont pas demandées par l’abonné ou l’internaute.

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