Introduction

The 2nd OSCARS Open Call, launched on March 14, 2025, aims to select third parties for the development of new innovative Open Science projects or services. This call, with a total budget of approximately 3 million euros, seeks to promote the adoption of FAIR data-intensive research across the European Research Area (ERA).

Projects can be proposed in any field of the Scientific Clusters and beyond, by any researcher or group of researchers. Selected projects will be funded through a cascading grant mechanism. The call is open to research infrastructures, universities, institutes, SMEs, and large companies, either in consortia or individually.

Objectives:

• Enhance the involvement of researchers in Open Science.
• Demonstrate the role of Science Clusters as thematic nodes for "Open Research" in Europe.
• Support projects that contribute to the FAIR management of scientific results and associated digital objects.

Call summary:

• Total funding:~€16.4 million EUR
• Funding per project:Between €100,000 to €250,000 (lump sum)
• Potential maximum of funded projects:~160
• Target user communities:Science Clusters, wider community (RIs, Universities, Institutes, either consortia, or individual researchers) and beyond
• Open calls launch:1st call ¿ March 2024;2nd call ¿ November 2024. Both calls will stay open for 60 days.
• Time for projects¿ implementation:12-to-24 months (after signature of a Third-Party Project Agreement ¿ TPPA)
• Start of the projects:Within 4 months from TPPA signature (to give organisations time to hire staff if needed

Deadline

** The deadline to apply (14/05/2025) is an estimate based on last year. At the moment there is not an official deadline in 2025

Who is eligible?

Research Infrastructures, Universities, Institutes, SMEs and large companies, consortia as well as individual researchers.

Individual researchers, or a group of researchers, in different countries of the EU, Associated Countries and beyond can apply with their own affiliation (a university or a research institute). A Science Cluster by itself cannot apply.

Eligibility to access EU funding will be assessed. Note that third parties receiving financial support are not subject to the rules on eligibility for funding provided in Article 23 of the HE Regulation. At the same time, we draw your attention to 13. General Annexes to the Work Programme 2023-2024, p. 8, which excludes entities subject to EU restrictive measures as well as legal entities established in Russia, Belarus, or in non-government controlled territories of Ukraine from receiving financial support to third parties.

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