BELSPO - S4Policy - policy-driven projects 2026

Research

Funding organisation:

POD Wetenschapsbeleid

What?

Belspo has opened a call for proposals open to all the Belgian scientific community (universities, colleges of higher education, Federal Scientific Institutions (FSI), other public research institutions (e.g. public non-profit research centres) and private non-profit research centres), in the frame of the Science 4 Policy research programme.

The Science 4 Policy programme (S4Policy in short) is an 8-year programme that aims at providing a scientific support to the decision-making process in the federal government and its administrations.

This call for proposals relates to the “policy-driven projects” of the S4Policy programme. These projects are submitted by the federal departments and call for a scientific support from the Belgian academic community. This support can take the form of knowledge that science can produce or expertise that the scientific community can communicate. The intention is to fund, for each policy-driven project, the best scientific team based
on a two-stage peer review followed by a selection stage based solely on the support to federal competences.

These policy-driven projects are based on a co-funding scheme where BELSPO funds max. 90% and the concerned department(s) a min. of 10%. The financial commitment of federal departments ensure that the project seek maximum impact and invite to a strong relation between scientists and federal administrations.

The projects are organised around the following topics that comply with the strategic goals of the federal government:

• Inclusion for persons with disabilities within Federal Governmental Organisations (max. budget: 450.000 EUR, duration: 36 months)
• Potential, competences, skills and capacity to learn, as an alternative to diploma & experience as criteria in hiring processes and career & salary development (max budget: 300.000 EUR, duration: 24 months)
• Government Resilience with regards to Operational Upkeep & Nature based Design (GROUND) (max. budget: 400.000, duration: 36 months)
• Analysis of the societal consequences of biodiversity loss (degradation) in Belgian soil (max. budget: 375.000 EUR, duration: 12 to 36 months)
• The competitiveness of Belgian SMEs in the transition to a decarbonised and circular economy (max. budget: 300.000 EUR, duration: 18 months)
• Economic Cost of Climate Change & benefits of alternative adaptation strategies for Public investment at sectoral level: Development of an Operational Assessment Framework at sectoral level and for the Belgian Defence sector (max. budget: 600.000 EUR, duration: 24 months)
• The decarbonisation of Belgian industry: long-term potential for negative greenhouse gas emissions through BECCS (max. budget: 100.000 EUR, duration: 12 months)
• Sustainable Raw Materials in Belgium: ESG risks assessment and priority actions for the circular economy (max. budget: 450.000 EUR, duration: 36 months)
• Data Infrastructure for Monitoring Labour Market and Social Protection Transitions (max. budget: 420.000 EUR, duration: 24 months)
• Towards a new assessment scale for self-reliance among persons with disabilities (max. budget: 250.000 EUR, duration: 12 months)
• Labour migration flow & channels for third-country nationals in Belgium (max. budget: 200.000 EUR, duration: 24 months)
• Towards a scientific research agenda for the Federal administration (max. budget: 300.000 EUR, duration: 24 months)

Please note that the approval process for this call is still ongoing. We will keep you informed on the situation as soon as more information is available.
  
  

Who?

Policy Driven projects can be carried out by (a network of) researchers from the entire Belgian research community: universities, colleges of higher education, Federal Scientific Institutions (FSI), other public scientific institutions and private non-profit research centres.

Projects may be implemented by a single institution or a network of institutions whether or not in collaboration with international research institutes. The project partners are the research institutions; the coordinator (see table p. 5 of the Information file) is the person that will lead the project and is associated to a Belgian research institution, the promotors (see table p. 5 of the Information file) are the persons responsible from a Belgian research institution to lead the project at the partner institutions (see further).

Collaboration among research institutes is encouraged. Belgian research institutes may participate in projects receiving funding and/or contributing in-kind. International research institutes cannot receive funding and may contribute in-money and/or in-kind.
  

Application?

Deadline submission Expression of Interest (EoI): July 13, 2026 (14:00 CEST).
Only when you have submitted an EoI, you will be able to submit your Full Proposal.
Deadline submission Full Proposal: September 11, 2026 (14:00 CEST).


Submission is via the online platform.

More information?

Information file.

You can find more information and the necessary documents on the website.

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

Deadline

13.07.2026

Contact Hasselt University?

E-mail sarah.szyr@uhasselt.be

Tel. +3211269052