FWO - FutureFoods: 2nd co-funded call for Transnational Research projects 2026

Research

What?

FutureFoodS is a cofunded Horizon Europe partnership, bringing together 86 partners from 29 countries to drive green and digital transitions with a focus on food post-harvest.
The vision of the FutureFoodS partnership is to collectively achieve environmentally friendly, socially secure and fair, economically viable, healthy and safe food systems in Europe by 2050.
The proposals submitted to this call should accelerate the transition towards more sustainable food systems - through Household Dietary Shifts, Trust and Transparency, and Innovations in Circular Food Processing Systems.

The topics of this second call are:

• Topic 1: Domestic food practices for enhancing sustainable and healthy diets: systemic work at the household level covering food safety, cultures, nutritional needs and consumer behaviour;
• Topic 2: Towards diverse, sustainable and circular food processing systems: improved processing/packaging, valorisation of by-products and side-streams, and compositions tailored to diverse consumer groups.
• Topic 3: Importance of trust and transparency: identify leverage points; assess tools, methods, metrics, indicators and quality signals (e.g. labelling) towards a more unified framework, co-created with system actors.

Exclusion: Please note that primary production like growing food (including seafood), agricultural production and other specific aspects related to it, as well as nutrition- and lifestyle-related diseases are not in focus in this partnership.

Funding will come via FWO through the fundamental (FO) or Strategic Basic Research (SBO) channel. The type and scope of the proposed research project will determine the choice of funding channel for the research performed within Flanders (more fundamental in nature, or more aimed at economical/societal valorisation). Non-compliance with the specific requirements per funding channel might lead to non-eligibility.

The FWO can support 2 projects for a 36 months duration, with an available maximum applicable budget of 350.000 EUR (overhead included) per project/consortium.
  

Who?

Research consortia must be comprised of a minimum of three partners from a minimum of three different countries being eligible and requesting funding from funding organisations participating in this call.

Universities and Universities of applied sciences, research institutes, non-profit legal entities, small and medium sized enterprises and large enterprises and public bodies, subject to the national/regional funding regulations and eligibility criteria. A partnering tool will be available on the submission tool homepage (https://futurefoods.ptj.de), in order to support applicants find suitable partners if needed.

Application?

The FWO requires pre-registration on a national/regional level as well by filling in an application form on the FWO e-portal before the deadline for submission of the pre-proposals (11 February, 2026 (13:00, CET). When you're logged on to the e-portal, you can find it under "Researcher".
It is strongly recommended to contact the FWO administration about your pre-registration at the latest one week before submission in order to verify admissibility.

For the fundamental funding channel the respective regulation applies. For the SBO channel the SBO regulation has to be taken into account: these imply projects with a primarily economic and/or societal finality, of which ‘valorisation’ is a key - and mandatory - aspect.

Given the pre-proposal already has to be OK in terms of budget, OBI has an internal deadline to check your proposal.
Internal deadline: 4 February 2026

In case the consortium includes more than one partner requesting funding from FWO, a single online form should be submitted containing all relevant information from the different Flemish partners.

June 1st, 2026: communication of the results and invitation for full proposal
Deadline submission full proposal: 27 July, 2026 (13:00, CEST)
Redress stage: First half of November 2026
Expected for End November 2026: communication of the funding decisions
December 2026 - April 2027: expected start of the project (subject to national procedures)

More information?

You can find more information, like the call text, the Guidelines for Applicants, the submission platform and the proposal application form on the FutureFoodsPartnership website.

Concerning the FWO regulations, you can consult the FWO website:
for the fundamental funding channel
for the SBO channel

Please contact research@uhasselt.be if you want to apply.

Deadline intern

04.02.2026, 11.02.2026

Contact Hasselt University?

E-mail sarah.szyr@uhasselt.be

Tel. +3211269052