Evaluation and use of evidence in education policy and practice
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See in 5 min if you're eligible for Evaluation and use of evidence in education policy and practice offering max €26.0M funding💰 Funding Details
Funding Description
Overview
This lump-sum Research & Innovation Action (RIA) under Horizon Europe’s Cluster 2 – Culture, Creativity & Inclusive Society finances large-scale, interdisciplinary projects that generate and mobilise robust evidence on education policies and practices across EU Member States and Associated Countries.
What is Funded
* Research activities: empirical evaluation of education policies/interventions at one or several educational levels, including experimental/quasi-experimental designs, mixed-methods studies and participatory approaches.
* Data access & management: costs related to negotiating, anonymising, harmonising and curating administrative data, survey data, learner analytics and other datasets in line with FAIR principles and EOSC/Data Space interoperability.
* Co-creation & stakeholder engagement: workshops, living labs, policy labs, practitioner fellowships and other formats that bring together researchers, ministries, regional authorities, schools, VET providers and civil-society organisations.
* Knowledge translation: development of evidence toolkits, policy briefs, open educational resources (OER), practitioner guidelines, MOOCs and other dissemination / exploitation activities.
* Project management & coordination: governance, quality assurance, ethics & gender plans, IPR management and lump-sum financial reporting.
Funding Envelope
* Indicative EU contribution per project: EUR 4–6 million (guide only).
* Maximum requested lump sum: EUR 26 million (legal ceiling).
* EU Funding rate: 100 % of the agreed lump sum.
Eligibility Snapshot
* Consortium: Minimum three independent legal entities from three different EU or Associated Countries, with at least one beneficiary established in an EU Member State.
* Type of organisations: universities, research institutes, public authorities, SMEs, NGOs, social partners, EdTech providers, international organisations, etc.
* Geographic focus: policies/practices in any European education system; international partners may participate if they bring essential expertise and funding.
* Mandatory involvement: at least one authority responsible for education and training policy (e.g., ministry, regional education agency) and/or data-holding institutions.
* Duration: typically 36–48 months, justified by work plan.
Key Policy Linkages
Projects must align with:
* European Education Area & 2030 targets (≤15 % low achievers in PISA).
* European Pillar of Social Rights & Child Guarantee.
* Union of Equality strategies (gender, disability, anti-racism, LGBTIQ, Roma inclusion).
Important Deadlines
* Call opens: 15 May 2025
* Submission deadline (single stage): 16 Sept 2025, 17:00 CEST
* Indicative project start: Q2 2026
Budget Construction under Lump-Sum Model
1. Develop a detailed internal budget (person-months, travel, equipment, sub-contracts, indirects, etc.).
2. Translate into one single lump-sum amount requested from the EU.
3. Payments are linked to successful completion of work packages and deliverables—actual costs will not be audited.
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📊 At a Glance
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🇪🇺 Strategic Advantages
EU-Wide Advantages & Opportunities of the Call “Evaluation and Use of Evidence in Education Policy and Practice” (HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-TRANSFO-06)
1. Single Market Access – 450+ Million Learners, Families & Stakeholders
• Pan-European evidence base: Results can directly inform policies in all 27 Member States, the EEA and associated countries, influencing a school population of ~65 million pupils.
• Market creation for EdTech & evidence-based services: A validated intervention that performs in multiple EU contexts can be procured by ministries and local authorities without major re-adaptation, accelerating uptake via the EU Public Procurement framework and Single Market rules.
• Economies of scale: Joint data platforms, teacher-training modules and open resources lower per-country costs and favour commercial spin-offs at EU level.
2. Cross-Border Collaboration & Knowledge Exchange
• Mandatory multinational consortia under Horizon rules foster peer learning among education ministries, inspectorates, research institutes and practitioner networks.
• Access to diverse natural experiments (different curricula, tracking systems, digitalisation levels) increases the external validity of findings.
• Mutual recognition of ethical approvals & GDPR compliance streamlines comparative research on pupil data.
3. Alignment with Key EU Strategies
• European Education Area (EEA): Directly targets the 2030 benchmark of <15 % low achievers.
• Digital Decade & Data Spaces: Use of EOSC and Education Data Space pilots positions projects for the future digital infrastructure of schools.
• European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR): Evidence on reducing socio-economic learning gaps supports headline target on poverty reduction.
• Green Deal, Just Transition & REPowerEU: Quality, inclusive education is recognised as a precondition for green-skills pipelines.
4. Regulatory Harmonisation & Data Governance Benefits
• GDPR and forthcoming EU Data Act provide a common legal backbone for sharing administrative and survey data across borders.
• FAIR principles & EOSC onboarding: Ensure interoperability, reducing duplication of national datasets and facilitating meta-analyses.
• EU-wide standards on accessibility (European Accessibility Act) help generalise findings to learners with disabilities.
5. Access to the European Innovation & Research Ecosystem
• ESFRI landmarks for SSH (e.g., CESSDA, SHARE-ERIC) supply harmonised datasets and trusted repositories.
• Living Labs & Practitioner Networks under Erasmus+, eTwinning and the European School Education Platform provide built-in test-beds for pilots and rapid dissemination channels.
• Synergies with EIT-Culture & Creativity KIC open doors to creative industry partners for innovative pedagogical tools.
6. Funding Synergies & Leveraging Instruments
• Erasmus+ Teacher Academies & Policy Experimentation can co-fund scaling of successful interventions.
• ESF+ & ERDF: Regions can finance regional roll-out or infrastructure upgrades identified by the project.
• Digital Europe & DEP-Education Data Space: Additional resources for AI-driven analytics and secure data sharing.
• National Recovery & Resilience Plans (RRF) earmarked for education reforms provide immediate uptake pathways.
7. Scale, Replicability & Long-Term Impact
• Council Recommendations & Commission Communications: Robust evidence from the project can feed directly into EU-level policy instruments, magnifying impact beyond the consortium.
• Open-licence resources (required by Horizon) enable any EU educator to adopt proven practices without IP barriers.
• Interoperable evaluation frameworks become reference models for future EU calls, Cedefop analyses and OECD-EU joint reports.
8. Unique Strategic Value of an EU-Scale Approach vs. National Projects
• Critical mass of heterogeneous contexts delivers statistically powerful insights that single-country studies cannot.
• Policy coherence: Enables simultaneous alignment with multiple EU directives (disability, gender equality, AI Act), smoothing later regulatory approval.
• Reputation & visibility: EU-backed evidence carries higher weight in international rankings, attracting further HORIZON, UNESCO or World Bank collaborations.
9. Actionable Tips for Applicants
• Consortium composition: Minimum 3 Member/Associated States; include at least one ministry/agency holding administrative data, one comparative‐education research centre, and practitioner representatives (schools/VET providers).
• Data strategy: Map national education registers, ensure GDPR compliance, plan EOSC deposition and create a Data Management Plan aligned with EU FAIR standards.
• Synergy mapping: In Part B, explicitly link tasks to Erasmus+, ESF+, Digital Europe and Recovery Fund priorities to score higher on ‘Impact’.
• Policy uptake plan: Schedule policy round-tables with DG EAC, the Education & Training 2030 Working Groups and the European Parliament’s CULT committee.
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Bottom line: The call offers unparalleled leverage of EU-level assets—regulatory alignment, data infrastructures, funding complementarities and policy channels—allowing consortia to produce evidence that is immediately relevant, scalable and transformative across the entire European Education Area.
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Ready to Apply?
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See in 5 min if you're eligible for Evaluation and use of evidence in education policy and practice offering max €26.0M funding