Food, bio-economy, natural resources, agriculture and environment

The calls include 75 new topics in the areas of sustainable food systems, nature-based solutions and biodiversity, and the sustainable development of rural, coastal and urban areas, among others. The overall budget is €890 million in EU funding. If you missed the Cluster 6 Info Days, watch the recording to find out more. Submit your proposal by 22 February 2024.

If you need partners or you would like to join a consortium to apply for the 2024 Cluster 6 calls for proposals, a matchmaking portal will be available until 25 December. You can share your research idea with others and meet potential partners.

Do you want to learn more on how to communicate about your EU-funded project? REA prepared a summary of tips and tools to be used for communication about your research. Learn all about how to acknowledge EU funding, the difference between communication, dissemination and exploitation as well as data protection and GDPR.

Working together with scientist for more sustainable and liveable cities is not only a goal of the European Green deal, but it is also becoming a collective engagement effort for citizens. EU-funded research projects such as DivAirCity, SOCIO-BEE, IMPETUS, MOSAIC, AURORA, and EnviroCitizen are excelling in citizen involvement in urban areas.

How we produce and consume our food affects water. That is why this year's World Food Day, on 16 October, was dedicated to this limited resource. EU-funded projects such as ICT4water, InventWater, NetworkNature, limnoplast and IT4WIN are helping spear innovation in tackling water security by digitally transforming the water sector, enabling effective water management, developing solutions to remove microplastics from the environment, and creating new ways of providing accessible and affordable water services.

The ASTRAL project was awarded in the International Cooperation category for the creation of the Atlantic Aquaculture Network and multi-trophic labs in Ireland, Scotland, Brazil, South Africa and Argentina. The MAELSTROM project received the award in the Healthy Oceans and Resilient Coasts category for its innovative technologies used to identify, remove, sort and transform all types of collected marine litter into valuable raw materials.

The aquaponic system developed by the Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (IRTA) as a part of the EU-funded project NewTechAqua recently won the MedFish4Ever Award on innovative practices in aquaculture research. The MedFis4Ever award is organised by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), and it aims to celebrate and promote innovation and creativity as drivers of sustainability in the fisheries and aquaculture sector.

EU-funded projects will be at Ecomondo, the reference international event in Europe on circular economy. They will be at the EU stand to present their results on farming, livestock, fisheries, dairy and fruits value chains and urban transformation. Together with CINEA, EISMEA and HADEA, REA will inform visitors about upcoming EU funding opportunities to support research and innovation to make European cities and regions more circular. REA will also take part in three workshops.

The European Mission Soil Week aims to bring together the European soil community to discuss the challenges for healthy soils, such as sustainable soil management, conservation practices and new business models in farming. Join the sessions of the EU-funded project PREPSOIL on 22 November to discover the project’s mission and activities, soil needs assessments in 20 European regions and insights on living labs, stakeholder interaction and science policy. The event will take place in Madrid, but it will also be livestreamed. Registration is still open.

The European Commission organises a conference on research and innovation for achieving green and resilient food systems. This event will showcase achievements of EU food system-related projects, explore future research and innovation orientations, and levers of change. It will involve a wide range of actors and policy makers for this in-person event, which will also be web streamed and recorded.