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Addressing biodiversity decline and promoting Nature-based Solutions in higher education
Funding Program | Horizon Europe - Cluster 6 - Destination 1: Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services | |
Call number | HORIZON-CL6-2023-BIODIV-01-8 | |
deadlines | Opening 22.12.2022 | Deadline 28.03.2023 17:00 |
Funding rate | 100% | |
Call budget | € 3,000,000.00 | |
Estimated EU contribution per project | € 3,000,000.00 | |
Link to the call | ec.europa.eu | |
Link to the submission | ec.europa.eu |
Call content
short description | Drawing on state-of-the-art science, including the results of EU-funded R&I projects on biodiversity and NBS (nature-based solutions), the selected project will develop and disseminate concrete guidance for higher education institutions. It will target vocational training, universities and technical schools, for greater involvement with citizens and professional organisations, to mainstream biodiversity and NBS into their learning, teaching and capacity building programmes. |
Call objectives | The European Green Deal communication puts forward a specific action for the Commission to prepare a European competence framework to help develop and assess knowledge, skills and attitudes on climate change and sustainable development. This competence framework should serve as a reference tool for the development and assessment of competences on environmental sustainability. Following the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030, the Commission proposed in 2022 a Council Recommendation on encouraging cooperation in learning for environmental sustainability, including biodiversity learning and teaching, which was accompanied by a competence framework. Education plays indeed an essential role in addressing environmental sustainability by raising awareness and instilling the key competences needed for changing personal behaviours and empowering people to act in their respective communities, especially in the current context of economic recovery, biodiversity crisis and climate change. Transdisciplinary collaboration is a fundamental prerequisite for mutual understanding of people working in different sectors when co-creating and co-implementing NBS. There is a need to go beyond tackling challenges individually and perceive the systemic complexity of challenges to be addressed by NBS, by working together across silos, sectors and epistemologies. This paradigm shift in education and skills development will contribute to the necessary transdisciplinary work for tackling both biodiversity and climate crises at different decision-making scales. The successful proposals should:
Proposals should address all of the above points. This topic requires the effective contribution of SSH disciplines (Social Sciences and Humanities) and the involvement of SSH experts, institutions as well as the inclusion of relevant SSH expertise, in order to produce meaningful and significant effects enhancing the societal impact of the related research activities. In particular, SSH should be involved in view of ensuring the understanding and inclusion of different values and perceptions of nature, biodiversity and NBS, as well as issues of knowledge creation, identity and culture shaping NBS co-creation and co-implementation. Proposals should include specific tasks and allocate sufficient resources to collaborate with other projects selected in any other relevant topic, by participating in joint activities, workshops, as well as common communication and dissemination. In particular, the project should build on the existing outputs and create synergies with the relevant projects in Erasmus+, the Horizon Europe Missions (notably “Restore Our Ocean and Waters by 2030” and "Adaptation to climate Change”), as well as the Horizon 2020 NBS project portfolio and its task forces. The project should also foresee synergies with HORIZON-CL6-2022-BIODIV-01-03: Network for nature: multi-stakeholder dialogue platform to promote nature-based solutions; with the HORIZON-CL6-2021-COMMUNITIES-01-06: Inside and outside: educational innovation with nature-based solutions; and HORIZON-CL5-2023-D1-01-10: Improving the evidence base regarding the impact of sustainability and climate change education and related learning outcomes. Applicants should plan the necessary budget to cover these activities without the prerequisite to define concrete common actions at this stage. Proposals should ensure that all evidence, information and project outputs are accessible through the Oppla portal (the EU repository for NBS). read more |
Expected results | This topic aims to contribute to education, skills development and awareness raising about biodiversity loss, and how this can be addressed, notably with Nature-based Solutions (NBS), in the higher education sector. This is fundamental to further implement and upscale NBS and to mainstreaming biodiversity, ecosystem services, including carbon sequestration, climate resilience and pollution reduction, and natural capital in the society and economy. Through education and NBS, the topic contributes to the transformative change necessary to tackle societal challenges, notably addressing the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030 and the EU climate adaptation strategy. Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
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Regions / countries for funding | EU Member States, Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT) Moldova (Moldova), Albania (Shqipëria), Armenia (Հայաստան), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosna i Hercegovina / Босна и Херцеговина), Faeroes (Føroyar / Færøerne), Georgia (საქართველო), Island (Ísland), Israel (ישראל / إِسْرَائِيل), Kosovo (Kosova/Kosovë / Косово), Montenegro (Црна Гора), Morocco (المغرب), North Macedonia (Северна Македонија), Norway (Norge), Serbia (Srbija/Сpбија), Tunisia (تونس /Tūnis), Türkiye, Ukraine (Україна), United Kingdom |
eligible entities | EU Body, Education and training institution, International organization, Natural Person, Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) / Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Other, Private institution, incl. private company (private for profit), Public Body (national, regional and local; incl. EGTCs), Research Institution incl. University, Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) |
Mandatory partnership | No |
Project Partnership | To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:
Applications may be submitted by one or more legal entities, which may be established in a Member State, Associated Country or, in exceptional cases and if provided for in the specific call conditions, in another third country. Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, including legal entities from non-associated third countries or international organisations (including international European research organisations) is eligible to participate (whether it is eligible for funding or not), provided that the conditions laid down in the Horizon Europe Regulation have been met, along with any other conditions laid down in the specific call topic. A ‘legal entity’ means any natural or legal person created and recognised as such under national law, EU law or international law, which has legal personality and which may, acting in its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations, or an entity without legal personality. Specific cases:
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Additional information
Topics |
Administration & Governance, Institutional Capacity & Cooperation, Agriculture & Forestry, Fishery, Food, Soil quality, Air Quality, Biodiversity & Environment, Climate & Climate Change, Water quality & management, Disaster Prevention, Resilience, Risk Management, Education & Training, Children & Youth, Media |
Relevance for EU Macro-Region | EUSAIR - EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, EUSALP - EU Strategy for the Alpine Space, EUSBSR - EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, EUSDR - EU Strategy for the Danube Region |
UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs) |
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Additional Information | All proposals must be submitted electronically via the Funders & Tenders Portal electronic submission system (accessible via the topic page in the Search Funding & Tenders section). Paper submissions are NOT possible. Proposals must be complete and contain all parts and mandatory annexes and supporting documents, e.g. plan for the exploitation and dissemination of the results including communication activities, etc. The application form will have two parts:
Annexes and supporting documents will be directly available in the submission system and must be uploaded as PDF files (or other formats allowed by the system). The limit for a full application (Part B) is 33 pages. Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum. |
Call documents | HE-Work Programme 2023-2024, Cluster 6, Destination 1 (kB) |
Contact | National Contact Points for Horizon Europe Website |
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