NEWS
Stay updated on the latest developments in plant science policy and EPSO activities!
The CBE Joint Undertaking allocates €215.5 million in its 2023 WP to advancing competitive circular bio-based industries in Europe across 18 topics.
Europe’s climate targets for 2030 and increasing Europe’s strategic autonomy are the twin objectives of the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) in the annual Work Programme for 2023 published recently. Approved projects from 18 topics will further circular and sustainable production in accordance with the European Green Deal.
An Info Day in Brussels is planned for 20 April 2023 and will also be available online. On the Info Day, the call for proposals will open with a deadline of 20 September 2023. Further details are provided in the link.
The call covers three broad areas of intervention: (i) innovation actions – flagship; (ii) innovation actions and (iii) research and innovation actions. Topics for submission will be published on the EU’s Funding and tenders portal.
Horizon Europe funds CBE JU with private investments supplementing each Euro of public funding committed.
Other partnerships that started already and are relevant to Plant Scientists include, for example, Biodiversity (the Biodversa+ call was published in 2022) under Horizon Europe cluster 6.
ERA4Health (https://era4health.eu/ ), a new European Partnership under Horizon Europe in cluster 1, has recently started its activity, launched the first calls and its website. On 13 January 2023, ERA4Health has published its second call for proposals: Increasing health equity through promoting healthy diets and physical activity (HealthEquity), relevant to plant scientists – e.g. our Working Group on Nutritional Security. The submission deadline will be 14 March 2023. An info webinar on the call will be organised on 26 January.
More partnerships relevant to EPSO members are in preparation, such as the European Partnership accelerating farming systems transition: agroecology living labs and research infrastructures, and European Partnership on Safe and Sustainable Food Systems for people, plant & climate.
Whenever new Horizon Europe Work Programmes and calls are published, EPSO updates its Horizon Europe Briefing document for members.
Link: EPSO updated Brief on Horizon Europe Work programmes 2023-24, updated 17.1.2023
Contact:
Karin Metzlaff, EPSO BE
The 19th European-wide seminar by the European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO) and aimed at the Plant Science community and its stakeholders. TTT: The seminar will be held online each third Thursday of the month at three (CET).
On 19th January 2023 at 15:00 (CET) we will present two talks exploring “Role of plants in carbon capture and mitigation of climate change”
Dr Thomas Parker, The James Hutton Institute, UK: “Going Underground: Understanding the Carbon Cycle Impacts of Tree Planting on Organic Soils”
Prof. Leena Järvi, University of Helsinki, Finland: “Improving our understanding on carbon sinks and storages of urban green areas by using different observation and modelling methods”
The seminars will be hosted on Zoom and last approximately 1.5 hours. Numbers will be limited to 300 attendees and therefore please register early if you would like to join. There will be ample opportunities to ask questions and join the debate. So please join us to support this new and exciting initiative for European Plant Science by following this link just prior to the start of the seminar.
EPSO members register in advance for this meeting. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYrfuyopjsoHtOdd28MqaNXCCfo1oMtOXJc
In the coming months we will be on the lookout for talented plant scientists among the EPSO membership to present their findings and perspectives to the EPSO seminar series. If we approach you to talk, we hope you will be happy to support the initiative. This is a fantastic opportunity for both eminent world leaders and talented up-and-coming early career researchers to present their research to an international audience and to network with potential collaborators. If you wish to suggest a theme for one of the spring seminars and / or nominate yourself or one of your colleagues to give a seminar, we most welcome your suggestions. Please contact Tim George ([email protected]) to provide your name and potential talk title.
We look forward to seeing you all for the 19th EPSO seminar on the 19th January 2023.
Tim George, Alan Schulman and Marie-Theres Hauser
EPSO Plant Science Seminar Series Organising Committee
Click here to read: Full EPSO news item
Contacts:
Tim George, Hutton / UK & EPSO Board
Alan Schulman, LUKE / FI & Adviser to EPSO Board
Marie-Theres Hauser BOKU / AT & EPSO Board
Calls for proposals for Horizon Europe 2023 are open! EPSO encourages its members to apply, especially to calls under the European Research Council (ERC) and Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) of Pillar I (Excellent Science), and Cluster 6 ‘Food, bioeconomy, natural resources, agriculture and environment’ of Pillar II (Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness).
EPSO published its updated EPSO briefing on Horizon Europe Work Programmes 2023-24 on the Members’ only Website* on 22.12.2022. It contains all the information plant scientists need in one document. It also provides additional researched information, useful tips and available final call texts published by the European Commission for 2023/24.
*Access to the Members’ only Website is restricted to EPSO active Members (not sleeping members, not external Personal Members) – please contact Sofia to get access.
Work Programmes covered in the briefing and open/opening for submission are:
Excellent Science
- ERC – European Research Council Work Programme 2023 & European Research Council Work Programme 2022
- ERC-2023-StG: opened 12.07.2022, closed on 25.10.2022
- ERC-2023-CoG: opened on 28.09.2022, closing 02.02.2023
- ERC-2023-SyG: opened 13.7.2022, closed on 8.11.2022
- ERC-2023-PoC: opened on 20.10.2022, closing 24.1., 20.4. and 14.9.2023
- ERC-2023-AdG: opened on 8.12.2022, closing 23.05.2023
- MSCA – Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action 2023-24
- MSCA-SE-2023: opening on 5.10.2023, closing 28.2.2024
- MSCA-SE-2024: opening on 10.10.2024, closing 5.3.2025
- MSCA-COFUND-2023: opening on 10.10.2023, closing 8.2.2024
- MSCA-COFUND-2024: opening on 8.10.2024, closing 6.2.2025
- MSCA-PF-2023: opening on 12.4.2023, closing on 13.9.2023
- MSCA-PF-2024: opening on 10.4.2024, closing on 11.9.2024
- MSCA-DN-2023: opening on 30.5.2023, closing on 28.11.2023
- MSCA-DN-2024: opening on 29.5.2024, closing on 27.11.2024
- INFRA – Research Infrastructures 2023-24
Global Challenges & European Industrial Competitiveness – Thematic clusters
- Cluster 1: Health
- Cluster 4: Digital, Industry and Space
- Cluster 5: Climate, Energy and Mobility
- Cluster 6: Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture & Environment 2023-24
- Cluster 6 Opening date 22.12.2022
- Cluster 6 Deadline single stage 28.3.2023; 2-stage: S1 28.3.2023, S2 26.9.2023
Missions
Innovative Europe
- EIC– European Innovation Council Work Programme 2023
- EIE – European Innovation Ecosystems
- EIT – European Institute of Innovation and Technology
Widening Participation and Strengthening the European Research Area 2023-2024
Further Work Programmes are available on the Funding & Tenders portal
Wishing you success with your proposals
Karin Metzlaff, John Fitzgibbon and Odd Arne Rognli
Contact: Karin Metzlaff
Yesterday afternoon’s official publication contains the WPs for Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), Research Infrastructures; Clusters 1-6; Missions; the European Innovation Ecosystems, and widening participation and strengthening the ERA.
The published Horizon Europe Work Programmes 2023-24 are the legally binding versions replacing the pre-published versions released last week. Horizon Europe Work Programme & call documents
Cluster 6 – most relevant to EPSO members – has a budget of c. €1.92 billion for 2023-24: Please find the Work Programme 2023-24 of cluster 6 (food, bioeconomy, agriculture etc.)
Depending on the call, single or two-stage application procedures are foreseen. The opening and closing dates of the 2023 calls are as follows:
- opening 22 December 2022, deadline depending on the call 23 March, 28 March or 12 April 2023
- 2nd deadline for two-stage procedures 26 September 2023
In some Cluster 6 calls for proposals, the “blind evaluation pilot” is implemented as part of a two-stage application procedure. Applicants submitting a pre-proposal for the topics marked in this way are not permitted to include the names, acronyms, logos, etc. of their institutions or names of persons involved in the proposal in part B. Details on the pilot can be found in the General Annexes to the work programme (parts E and F).
For 2023/2024, a larger share of the topics in the thematic clusters will be advertised with lump-sum funding for the first time and for which special conditions apply, including a higher page limit for proposals.
We strongly advise you to register for the cluster 6 EC information days on 13-14 December 2022.
Applications must be submitted via the Funding and Tenders portal for which prior registration is necessary.
The ERC WP 2023 was published in July: The ERC announced its Work Programme 2023 – around €2.2 billion supporting over a thousand top researchers across Europe. Calls have already opened and there are rolling deadlines.
EPSO will now update its Horizon Europe Briefing for our members which will be available in the coming weeks. Until then please use the hints in our Briefing for the 2021-22 WP on the Members’ only website.
Wishing you every success with your proposals,
Karin Metzlaff
Contacts:
Karin Metzlaff, EPSO
John Fitzgibbon, EPSO
In the submission to the DG SANTE public consultation on plants produced by NGTs, EPSO reiterated previous positions and pointed out that:
- In relation to NGTs, the current biosafety legislation is no longer fit for purpose and needs adaptation to scientific and technological progress.
- Since there is no difference between mutations produced using NGTs and classical mutagenesis, the same level of biosafety precautions should be applied.
- Sustainability should be managed on a system-level and not be used as a criterion solely and explicitly for NGT authorisation.
Read details in the full EPSO statement – the EPSO submission to the DG SANTE public consultation on the impact assessment of policy options regarding the legislation for plants produced by certain new genomic techniques (NGTs).
EPSO statement EC impact assessment of policy options on certain new genomic techniques, 2.12.2022
EPSO submission to the EC consultation towards impact assessment of policy options on certain NGTs, 21.7.2022 [EC LINK consultation].
EC: consultation towards the impact assessment of policy options on certain new genomic techniques (NGTs), 29.4.2022 EC LINK consultation.
Contacts:
Jens Sundström & Alan Schulman, EPSO Chairs WG Agricultural Technologies
Karin Metzlaff, EPSO Executive Director
The 18th Europe-wide seminar of the series supported by the European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO) and aimed at the Plant Science community and its stakeholders.
TTT: The seminar will be held online each third Thursday of the month at three (CET).
On 15th December 2022 at 15:00 (CET) we will present two talks exploring “Remote sensing for increased agricultural sustainability”.
Professor Jose Jimenez Berni, Institute of Agricultural Sustainability, Spain: “Crop management tools based on emerging remote and proximal sensing technologies”
Dr Jean-Pierre Cohan, Arvalis, France: “Sensors-based phenotyping to boost R&D processes in genetics and agronomy”
The seminars will be hosted on Zoom and last approximately 1.5 hours. Numbers will be limited to 300 attendees and therefore please register early if you would like to join. There will be ample opportunities to ask questions and join the debate. So please join us to support this new and exciting initiative for European Plant Science by following this link just prior to the start of the seminar.
EPSO members register in advance for this meeting:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcvf-2vrjgjGtUGh03VXYT3eUq3fcxKwszE
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
In the coming months we will be on the lookout for talented plant scientists among the EPSO membership to present their findings and perspectives to the EPSO seminar series. If we approach you to talk, we hope you will be happy to support the initiative. This is a fantastic opportunity for both eminent world leaders and talented up-and-coming early career researchers to present their research to an international audience and to network with potential collaborators. If you wish to suggest a theme for one of the spring seminars and / or nominate yourself or one of your colleagues to give a seminar, we most welcome your suggestions. Please contact Tim George ([email protected]) to provide your name and potential talk title.
We look forward to seeing you all for the 18th EPSO seminar on the 15th December 2022.
Tim George, Alan Schulman and Marie-Theres Hauser
EPSO Plant Science Seminar Series Organising Committee
Click here to read: Full EPSO news item
Contacts:
Tim George, Hutton / UK & EPSO Board
Alan Schulman, LUKE / FI & EPSO President
Marie-Theres Hauser BOKU / AT & EPSO Board