Horizon Europe Training: Pillar I and WIDERA

On 27 May, at 3pm., ILIND promoted the ‘Horizon Europe’ training course online, with the main focus on Pillar I and WIDERA, which was attended by 60 participants.

The speaker was Dr. Rui Munhá, Co-Coordinator of Pillar 1 and WIDERA of PERIN/FCT's Horizon Europe funding programme. The session began with a general overview of Horizon Europe, the European research area and the different funding programmes.

Horizon Europe is the main EU (European Union) funding programme for research and innovation, with a budget of 95.5 billion euros. The aim of the programme is to strengthen the EU's scientific and technological base, in particular by developing solutions to materialise political priorities such as the green and digital transitions.

The programme also contributes to achieving the sustainable development goals and stimulates competitiveness and growth. It is the main EU initiative to support R&I, from initial conception to commercialisation.

Within the scope of Horizon Europe, the focus of this session was on Pillar I, in particular ERC (European Research Council), MSCA (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions) and Research Infrastructures. With regard to WIDERA, Dr Rui Munhá discussed the various programmes, namely: Teaming, Twinning, ERAS Chairs, ERAS Talents, Excellence Hubs, Hop-on Facility and EEI (European Excellence Initiative).

Dr Rui Munhá also presented the von der Leyen Commission's 6 Policy Priorities project, which seeks to provide answers to the European Union's questions, crises and challenges, and mentioned the importance of researchers participating in COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) actions, which promote international networking between peers.

The event ended with a time for clarifying doubts.