Open call checked 3 October 2026. Water4All’s 2026 Joint Transnational Call supports research and innovation in sustainable water management. Pre-proposals are due 10 November 2026 at 15:00 CET. This is consortium research funding, not an individual scholarship or a job vacancy.
Scope and consortium rules
The official call page covers monitoring and assessment, nature-based approaches, adaptive infrastructure and systemic policy/governance change. Extreme events and circularity are excluded from this call’s scope.
Teams need at least three eligible funded partners from three participating countries, including two independent legal entities from different EU Member States or Horizon Europe associated countries. The maximum is seven partners, including one self-funded partner. International and national/regional rules both apply.
The approximately €34 million budget is the overall call envelope, not a grant promised to each project. Selected teams proceed to full proposals, provisionally due 6 April 2027 at 15:00 CEST. The published timeline anticipates project starts in late 2027 or early 2028. Check the current announcement, national regulations and templates before submission.
Start with an eligibility map
Our preparation advice is to ask every proposed partner to identify its funding organisation and confirm its own eligibility. Record the relevant country rules, eligible costs, required institutional approvals and any separate national submission. A scientifically attractive consortium can still fail if one essential partner cannot be funded.
Assign a named person to track document versions. Keep a shared checklist of unanswered questions and resolve them with the appropriate call contact rather than assuming that a rule from another funding agency applies.
Make the joint work necessary
Define a research question that genuinely benefits from collaboration. Explain what each partner contributes and why those contributions cannot simply be replaced by unrelated parallel projects. Connect the methodology, data and intended users to a clear common objective.
Discuss data access early. If the work depends on monitoring records, field sites or infrastructure permissions, identify who controls access and what evidence of cooperation is needed. Avoid making delivery depend on resources that no partner has secured.
Plan the pre-proposal realistically
Build a short work plan with responsibilities, outputs and risks. A concise pre-proposal should still show how the team will judge whether its approach works. Distinguish research uncertainty from practical risks such as delayed procurement or unavailable data.
Work backwards from the deadline, allowing time for partner review and institutional sign-off. Check the portal’s required fields and file limits before the final day. Do not assume that an internal draft or an emailed document counts as submission.
Official application route
Use the call page’s documents and submission resources. Review any early-career researcher modality separately if relevant to your consortium, and retain the final submission receipt.
Keywords: Water4All 2026 call, sustainable water management research, joint transnational funding, consortium proposal, November 10 deadline.
