In Spring 2024 our alliance launched three calls for educational and research cooperation among academics, staff and students across the alliance. It proved a great participation success, with no less than 1,000 academics taking part in one of the applying consortia. In 2025, the calls closed 30 June and, while the proposals are being classified and forwarded to the appointed evaluators, the participation rate is even more outstanding (1,178 participants in the ETN call alone).
A total 67 teams have applied to receive the up to 100,000 funding allocated for the 15 Thematic Networks to be selected late October, while a spectacular 37 applications were received in the Incubator Grants call, both strands included (up to 50,000 euros for Strand A and up to 30,000 euros for Strand B).
The first analysis of received proposals reveal quite a gender-balanced participation: in the ETN call, for example, almost 50% of the proposed projects are coordinated by a woman, equal number of projects coordinated by men, and 1 proposal by a non-binary coordinator.
These great figures show an increasing visibility of ENLIGHT and growing interest by partners to find peers across the alliance. No less than 30 submitted proposals to the ETN are re-submissions from non-granted projects in last year´s call.
In the case of the Incubator Grants, a number of projects apply with a view to upscale former, small cooperations that were funded through the more modest, community building ENLIGHT+ call (open two times per year).
Some academics inform to have laid the first stones of their consortium by networking in ENLIGHT events. Seated dinners, they say, are an excellent pathway to audacity!
The 2025 ENLIGHT calls edition was the last for Thematic Networks. By 2027, ENLIGHT will have constituted 25 stable networks (10 issued from the 2024 call and 15 more as of 2025). The Incubator Grants will have another round in Spring 2026 and, of course, ENLIGHT+ remains open twice a year for small-scale cooperative projects with an emphasis on sustainability, inclusion and community building.
