European UnionDeadline PassedNon-profit, Private Business, Research Institution, Public Institution, Other
Increasing environmental resilience through a better knowledge and management of the soil-water nexus
Horizon Europe Mission 'A Soil Deal for Europe' Work Programme 2025
Funding Amount
€6.0M - €6.0M
Deadline
30/09/2025
Eligible Organization Types
Non-profit, Private Business, Research Institution, Public Institution, Other
Trusted by
What is the Increasing environmental resilience through a better knowledge and management of the soil-water nexus Call?
Grant Description
Support research and innovation actions to understand and model soil-water interactions and the functional role of soil biodiversity in mitigating extreme events; develop and validate soil water holding capacity indicators and risk assessment models; assess and promote best practices for restoration, conservation and integrated management of the soil-water nexus; ensure open access, FAIR data and collaboration with the EU Soil Observatory and related initiatives.
Required Results for Successful Funding
Expected Outcomes
Funded projects will:
• Advance the Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’ objectives and support EU policies (Biodiversity Strategy 2030, Nature Restoration Law, Soil Strategy 2030, proposed Soil Monitoring and Resilience Directive, Water Framework Directive, Organic Production Action Plan).
• Enhance stakeholder (decision-maker and land manager) understanding of how soil-water interactions mitigate extreme events’ risks and virulence.
• Raise awareness of soil biodiversity’s influence on soil characteristics (water retention, permeability, saturation) critical to the soil-water nexus.
• Substantially increase environmental resilience to floods, droughts, wildfires and other soil health threats through validated restoration, conservation and integrated soil-water management practices.
• Deliver robust indicators, models and best practices that are open, interoperable and sustainable, ready for uptake by monitoring systems, policy frameworks and land managers across diverse EU regions.
• Advance the Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’ objectives and support EU policies (Biodiversity Strategy 2030, Nature Restoration Law, Soil Strategy 2030, proposed Soil Monitoring and Resilience Directive, Water Framework Directive, Organic Production Action Plan).
• Enhance stakeholder (decision-maker and land manager) understanding of how soil-water interactions mitigate extreme events’ risks and virulence.
• Raise awareness of soil biodiversity’s influence on soil characteristics (water retention, permeability, saturation) critical to the soil-water nexus.
• Substantially increase environmental resilience to floods, droughts, wildfires and other soil health threats through validated restoration, conservation and integrated soil-water management practices.
• Deliver robust indicators, models and best practices that are open, interoperable and sustainable, ready for uptake by monitoring systems, policy frameworks and land managers across diverse EU regions.
Funded areas
Scope Requirements
Proposals must:
• Address soil‐water interactions in the context of mitigating extreme events (droughts, floods, wildfires) and other soil health threats (erosion, contamination).
• Operate across different pedoclimatic regions and land‐use types (agricultural, natural, urban) in EU Member States and Associated Countries.
• Design experiments and modelling at watershed/landscape scale with sufficient replication and statistical rigor to ensure results are meaningful and generalisable.
• In agricultural contexts, explicitly compare impacts under conventional, agroecological and organic production systems.
• Integrate soil biodiversity functional roles into soil‐water dynamics assessment and risk models.
• Use remote sensing and digital technologies as appropriate for soil factor identification and monitoring.
• Demonstrate clear pathways to align with the operational objectives of the Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’, contributing to one or more long-term impacts of the Strategic Plan 2025-2027.
• Collaborate with existing Mission projects, support structures (Soil Wise, Mission Soil Platform), and the Mission Secretariat to avoid duplication and foster synergies.
• Engage end‐users and stakeholders throughout (multi‐actor approach): farmers, foresters, land managers, advisors, policymakers, NGOs, community groups and other relevant actors, ensuring co-creation from planning to exploitation.
• Plan for dissemination to end‐users via existing channels (e.g., EIP-AGRI practice abstracts) and innovation groups (EIP-AGRI Operational Groups or equivalent).
• Address soil‐water interactions in the context of mitigating extreme events (droughts, floods, wildfires) and other soil health threats (erosion, contamination).
• Operate across different pedoclimatic regions and land‐use types (agricultural, natural, urban) in EU Member States and Associated Countries.
• Design experiments and modelling at watershed/landscape scale with sufficient replication and statistical rigor to ensure results are meaningful and generalisable.
• In agricultural contexts, explicitly compare impacts under conventional, agroecological and organic production systems.
• Integrate soil biodiversity functional roles into soil‐water dynamics assessment and risk models.
• Use remote sensing and digital technologies as appropriate for soil factor identification and monitoring.
• Demonstrate clear pathways to align with the operational objectives of the Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’, contributing to one or more long-term impacts of the Strategic Plan 2025-2027.
• Collaborate with existing Mission projects, support structures (Soil Wise, Mission Soil Platform), and the Mission Secretariat to avoid duplication and foster synergies.
• Engage end‐users and stakeholders throughout (multi‐actor approach): farmers, foresters, land managers, advisors, policymakers, NGOs, community groups and other relevant actors, ensuring co-creation from planning to exploitation.
• Plan for dissemination to end‐users via existing channels (e.g., EIP-AGRI practice abstracts) and innovation groups (EIP-AGRI Operational Groups or equivalent).
Additional Conditions for Applicants
Special Conditions
- Grant format: HORIZON Research and Innovation Action (RIA) under a lump sum MGA, single‐stage submission.
• Eligible participants: entities from EU Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries per Annex B of the General Annexes; follow standard admissibility, eligibility, exclusion and evaluation criteria (Annexes A–F).
• Financial: lump sum contributions as defined in the 7 July 2021 Decision; detailed budget table and call‐specific instructions apply.
• Data management: all project data must be FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Re-usable), ideally FAIR-by-design, with real-time data feeds where possible.
• Model openness: ensure transparency beyond documentation, sharing code, assumptions, protocols and data in compliance with FAIR principles.
• Coordination: allocate resources for joint activities with Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’ clusters, the Mission Secretariat, EUSO and Soil Wise.
• Multi‐actor approach: describe how end-users inform objectives, how consortium composition balances scientific and practical expertise, methods for engagement, and how practical outputs will be co-owned and ready for practice.
• Dissemination: produce ‘practice abstracts’ in EIP-AGRI format and engage innovation groups; for non-CAP domains identify equivalent dissemination channels.
• Respect page limits and layout in Annexes A and E (General Annexes) and Part B of the Application Form.
• Eligible participants: entities from EU Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries per Annex B of the General Annexes; follow standard admissibility, eligibility, exclusion and evaluation criteria (Annexes A–F).
• Financial: lump sum contributions as defined in the 7 July 2021 Decision; detailed budget table and call‐specific instructions apply.
• Data management: all project data must be FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Re-usable), ideally FAIR-by-design, with real-time data feeds where possible.
• Model openness: ensure transparency beyond documentation, sharing code, assumptions, protocols and data in compliance with FAIR principles.
• Coordination: allocate resources for joint activities with Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’ clusters, the Mission Secretariat, EUSO and Soil Wise.
• Multi‐actor approach: describe how end-users inform objectives, how consortium composition balances scientific and practical expertise, methods for engagement, and how practical outputs will be co-owned and ready for practice.
• Dissemination: produce ‘practice abstracts’ in EIP-AGRI format and engage innovation groups; for non-CAP domains identify equivalent dissemination channels.
• Respect page limits and layout in Annexes A and E (General Annexes) and Part B of the Application Form.
Important dates
Open from: 06/05/2025
Deadline:30/09/2025
Application period has ended
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