Type of Funding Available

Grant funding

Funding is provided by the participating Funding Partner Organisations (FPOs) according to their respective national or regional funding rules. There is therefore no single universal grant amount per applicant.

Programme

Water4All European Partnership

Pillar

Pillar B – Research and Innovation Development

Total Call Budget

Approximately €34.22 million

This comprises approximately:

• €26.73 million in national commitments.
• €7.49 million in estimated EU contribution.

The funds support RDI activities carried out by researchers, institutions and companies under the applicable FPO funding rules.

Project Duration

36 months

Funded consortia are expected to start no later than 31 March 2028 and end no later than 31 April 2031. 

OVERVIEW

The Water4All 2026 Joint Transnational Call supports collaborative research and innovation projects addressing major challenges in sustainable water management, with an emphasis on improving long-term water security, resilience, protection of water bodies and dependent ecosystems, and evidence-based decision-making.

The call focuses on integrated approaches across the water cycle, from catchments and river basins to groundwater and source-to-sea systems, and encourages research that connects science, practice and policy.

Projects are expected to produce outcomes such as:

• New knowledge.
• Innovative tools.
• New methodologies.
• Decision-support systems.
• Governance and management approaches.
• Practical solutions that can be taken up by relevant users and stakeholders. 

A key feature is that proposals should demonstrate a clear pathway from research to impact, with relevant stakeholders involved from project design through implementation, dissemination and uptake.

IMPORTANT SCOPE

The 2026 call focuses on:

Sustainable Water Management

with specific emphasis on:

• Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM).
• River Basin Management.
• Groundwater Management.
• Water Resilience.
• Water monitoring and data use.
• Water-positive solutions. 

Important exclusion

The call specifically excludes proposals focused on:

Extreme events and circularity.

This distinction should be made clear to applicants when assessing fit.

THE FOUR RESEARCH TOPICS

Applicants must address at least one of the four topics. The topics are overlapping and non-exclusive, so a proposal may integrate multiple topics where appropriate.

TOPIC 1 — Integrated Monitoring and Assessment for Sustainable Water Management

This topic focuses on generating reliable evidence to support integrated water-resource management.

Relevant areas include:

• Advanced monitoring technologies.
• IoT sensors.
• Real-time and in-situ monitoring of water quality and quantity.
• Remote sensing.
• Earth observation.
• Surface-groundwater interactions.
• Land-use impacts.
• Climate-related pressures.
• Data integration and interoperability.
• GIS-based water data.
• Big-data analytics.
• AI and machine learning.
• Hydrological, hydrogeological and socio-economic modelling.
• Decision-support systems. 

The topic also encourages co-design of decision-support systems with:

• Policymakers.
• Water managers.
• End users.

Research with directly operational results and attention to governance, institutional coordination and cost-efficiency is particularly encouraged.

TOPIC 2 — Nature-Based Approaches for Resilient Water Management

This topic examines nature-based approaches at hydrological and hydrogeological system scale.

Areas include:

• Groundwater recharge.
• Infiltration.
• Groundwater quality.
• Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR).
• Surface-groundwater interactions.
• River-basin restoration.
• Catchment-scale water retention.
• Landscape “sponge” functions.
• Flood and drought resilience.
• Digital twins.
• Economic valuation of nature-based approaches.
• Incentive and co-financing mechanisms.
• Stakeholder engagement. 

The call particularly values approaches that are scalable, transferable and regionally relevant. Demonstration activities are also welcome.

TOPIC 3 — Smart, Secure and Adaptive Water Infrastructures

This topic addresses the pressures created by:

• Ageing water infrastructure.
• Increasing demand.
• Environmental risks.
• Geopolitical risks.

Projects may focus on:

• Smart monitoring.
• Smart metering.
• Leakage detection.
• AI-based analytics.
• Digital twins.
• Real-time data integration.
• Risk and hazard assessment.
• Early warning systems.
• Cyber and physical security.
• Retrofitting and upgrading ageing infrastructure.
• Adaptive asset management.
• Hybrid grey-green infrastructure.
• Centralised and decentralised systems.
• Basin-scale infrastructure coordination. 

TOPIC 4 — Resilient Water Systems Through Systemic Change, Policy Coherence and Inclusive Governance

This topic focuses on the institutional and governance dimensions of water resilience.

Relevant areas include:

• Systemic approaches to water resilience.
• Policy coherence.
• Inclusive water governance.
• Cross-sector coordination.
• Transboundary cooperation.
• Surface and groundwater management.
• Economic valuation of water and ecosystem services.
• Innovative finance models.
• Stakeholder engagement.
• Water stewardship.
• Multi-level governance.
• Equitable decision-making. 

Particular emphasis is placed on participation by:

• Women.
• Minorities.
• Indigenous communities.
• Local actors. 

CROSS-CUTTING AREAS

Where relevant, proposals should consider:

• Climate change and environmental pressures.
• Socio-economic and participatory dimensions.
• Digitalisation and data-driven approaches.
• Artificial intelligence.
• Stakeholder engagement.
• Water-use behaviour.
• Equity and inclusion. 

Projects should also demonstrate awareness of relevant national, international and European policy and legislative frameworks.

TECHNOLOGY READINESS LEVEL

There is no overarching TRL restriction at call level.

However, individual national/regional funding organisations may impose their own TRL requirements.

This is important for applicants developing water technologies: they should not assume that every TRL is automatically fundable in every participating country. Their own FPO's national/regional rules must be checked.

WHO CAN APPLY?

The call is open to organisations that comply with:

1. The general Water4All eligibility rules; and
2. The national/regional rules of the relevant Funding Partner Organisation. 

Potential applicant types can include:

• Universities.
• Public research organisations.
• Research institutes.
• Private-sector organisations.
• Water agencies.
• Other eligible organisations permitted by the relevant FPO.

Private companies can be eligible and can coordinate a consortium, provided they are eligible for funding under the relevant national Funding Partner Organisation.

CONSORTIUM REQUIREMENTS

This is a transnational consortium call.

Each consortium must include:

• At least 3 eligible partners requesting funding.
• Those funded partners must come from 3 different countries.
• At least 2 independent legal entities from 2 different EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries must receive financial support.
• Maximum 7 project partners, including a maximum of 1 self-funded partner.

The maximum may increase to 8 partners where at least one partner comes from an undersubscribed FPO.

Workload

No individual partner may account for more than:

50% of total person-months

and partners from the same country collectively may not account for more than 50% of person-months.

SELF-FUNDED PARTNERS

A consortium may include one self-funded partner.

A self-funded partner:

• Does not request funding from an FPO.
• Must secure its own project costs.
• Must provide a signed letter of commitment at the full-proposal stage.
• Cannot coordinate the project.
• Does not count towards the minimum three funded partners from three countries. 

Partners from countries that do not participate in the call can therefore participate, provided their costs are secured and the relevant requirements are satisfied.

SOUTH AFRICAN PARTICIPATION 

The call's Funding Partner Organisation table identifies:

South Africa – Department of Science and Innovation (DSI)

with:

• JTC: Yes
• ECR: Yes
• National budget: €400,000
• Expected projects: 2–3. 

The Annex B separately identifies:

Water Research Commission (WRC) – South Africa – YES

as a Water4All beneficiary whose research teams may apply to the 2026 JTC.

The FAQ also explicitly confirms that organisations from participating non-EU countries such as South Africa can coordinate projects.

Important qualification

Eligibility and funding for a South African applicant remain subject to the applicable national/regional rules. The call repeatedly instructs applicants to verify their eligibility with the relevant funding organisation/NCP before submission.

EARLY CAREER RESEARCHER MODALITY

The 2026 call includes a separate Early Career Researcher (ECR) modality.

The ECR modality is designed to give early-career researchers the opportunity to coordinate international project consortia.

For the updated Call Announcement, the ECR Coordinator must have obtained their PhD less than 10 years before the call launch, meaning after 12 September 2016, unless an applicable national/regional exemption is calculated.

The South African DSI allocation supports the ECR modality, making this particularly relevant to eligible South African early-career researchers.

An eligible ECR coordinator can choose to apply under either the:

• Regular JTC, or
• ECR modality

but cannot apply under both modalities.

WATER4ALL KNOWLEDGE HUB

Researchers from funded projects must participate in the Water4All Knowledge Hub.

The Hub supports:

• Knowledge synthesis.
• Policy briefs.
• State-of-the-art reports.
• Fact sheets.
• Position papers.
• Foresight exercises.
• Joint publications.
• Online thematic events.
• Learning and training content.
• Feedback into the Water4All Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda. 

Projects must allocate at least:

2 person-months

for participation in Knowledge Hub activities, and at least one project expert must be nominated as a project ambassador.

FUNDING MODEL

Unlike a conventional single-funder grant, each national/regional Funding Partner Organisation funds its own country's applicant(s) under its own rules and limits.

Therefore:

There is no universal funding rate or maximum project budget applicable to every partner.

Applicants must review the relevant national/regional funding regulations.

The overall call has approximately:

€34.22 million available

but this is distributed across participating FPOs rather than being one central pot accessible to all applicants.

APPLICATION PROCESS

The call uses a two-stage process.

STEP 1 — PRE-PROPOSAL

The pre-proposal is mandatory.

It must be submitted electronically through the Electronic Proposal Submission System (EPSS).

A maximum 7-page project description is required, together with the project/partner information and required budget information.

The pre-proposal deadline is:

10 November 2026 at 15:00 CET.

There is no option to enter the application process at Step 2 without first submitting a pre-proposal.

STEP 2 — FULL PROPOSAL

Only consortia that successfully pass Step 1 will be invited to submit a full proposal.

The full proposal deadline is:

6 April 2027 at 15:00 CEST

with the final date subject to confirmation after Step 1.

SUBMISSION PLATFORM

Electronic Proposal Submission System (EPSS)

Only the Consortium Coordinator creates and submits the proposal.

The coordinator invites the consortium partners to the platform, while individual partners complete their own required data.

NATIONAL APPLICATIONS

Although there is one transnational pre-proposal submission, some national/regional Funding Partner Organisations may require additional national submissions or documentation.

Each partner must therefore check its own national/regional requirements and contact its NCP where necessary.

LANGUAGE

English only for both pre-proposals and full proposals.

PARTNER SEARCH

Water4All provides a dedicated Partner Search Tool for applicants looking to:

• Find partners for a proposed project.
• Find an existing project to join.

This is particularly useful because the call requires genuinely transnational and integrated collaboration, rather than separate national projects placed together under one application.

PROJECT INTEGRATION

The consortium should not simply combine independent national work packages.

The FAQ explicitly states that proposals should demonstrate:

Strong transnational added value, integration and collaboration between partners.

STAKEHOLDER PARTICIPATION

There is no mandatory consortium composition requiring both academia and industry.

A consortium may consist of:

• Universities/research institutes.
• Industrial partners.
• Or a combination of both.

However, stakeholder participation is encouraged, including SMEs, industries, authorities, public administrations, associations and civil-society organisations, subject to national eligibility rules. 

EVALUATION

The two-stage evaluation assesses eligible proposals through an independent international Evaluation Panel.

Step 1

Pre-proposals are evaluated against:

• Excellence
• Impact

Each criterion has a threshold of 3/5.

The final score is based on the combined score.

Step 2

Full proposals undergo the full evaluation process according to the call's evaluation criteria.

The evaluation considers scientific quality, impact and the proposed implementation approach, while national/regional funding rules continue to apply.

IMPACT EXPECTATIONS

Projects should demonstrate impacts that extend beyond the project period, including:

• Improved understanding of water systems.
• Stronger decision-support capability.
• Greater water-system resilience.
• Improved long-term water availability.
• More effective water management.
• Adoption of nature-based and technological solutions.
• Stronger governance and policy frameworks.
• Transferability to other regions and contexts. 

Stakeholder collaboration should be maintained throughout the project lifecycle, from problem definition through dissemination and uptake.

GENDER & INCLUSION

Gender balance is encouraged in the research team, although the FAQ states that it is not an evaluation criterion in itself.

More broadly, the call encourages inclusive approaches and participation of women, minorities, Indigenous communities and local actors where relevant.

ETHICS & ENVIRONMENT

Research funded through Water4All must comply with applicable:

• National law.
• EU rules.
• International ethical standards.

Applicants must identify potential ethical issues and complete the relevant ethics self-assessment.

Projects must also comply with the EU “Do No Significant Harm” (DNSH) principle and integrate environmental considerations across the research lifecycle.

PARTICIPATING COUNTRIES

The 2026 JTC includes Funding Partner Organisations from 30 countries.

The participating countries are:

Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Tunisia, Türkiye and United Kingdom.

For South Africa specifically, WRC is identified in Annex B as a beneficiary that may apply, while the national funding allocation is listed under DSI. 

COUNTRIES OUTSIDE THE PARTICIPATING FPO NETWORK

Organisations from countries that are not participating in the call may still participate as self-funded partners, provided they secure their own funding.

They cannot serve as the consortium coordinator and do not count toward the minimum requirement of three funded partners from three participating countries.

KEY DATES

Call publication / opening: 8 September 2026

Pre-proposal deadline:
10 November 2026 | 15:00 CET

First-step notification:
9 February 2027

Full proposal deadline:
6 April 2027 | 15:00 CEST

Second-step funding outcome:
September 2027

Project start:
Last quarter 2027 / first quarter 2028

Project end:
Last quarter 2030 / first quarter 2031.

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS

For the pre-proposal:

• Partner and consortium information.
• Project information.
• Budget information.
• 7-page project description uploaded as a PDF. 

Only one PDF can be uploaded for the project description at pre-proposal stage.

Some partners may additionally need to provide documents directly to their national/regional FPO.

LIMITATIONS / IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS

Applicants should pay close attention to the following:

• The project must address at least one of the four topics. 
• The call is specifically for Sustainable Water Management and excludes extreme events and circularity. 
• The consortium must have at least 3 funded partners from 3 different countries.
• At least 2 funded partners must be from different EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries. 
• A maximum of 7 partners normally applies, including one possible self-funded partner; this can rise to 8 under the specified widening condition. 
• A maximum of one self-funded partner is allowed. 
• No partner may exceed 50% of person-months. 
• Funding amounts and eligibility depend on each partner's national/regional FPO rules. 
• South African applicants must verify their national eligibility and funding conditions before submission.
• The pre-proposal is mandatory; applicants cannot enter directly at the full-proposal stage. 
• Funded projects must participate in the Water4All Knowledge Hub, with at least two person-months allocated. 
• Proposals should demonstrate genuine transnational integration, rather than separate national projects combined into one submission. 
• Relevant stakeholders should be integrated into the project design and impact pathway from the outset.