Cluster 2, Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society, aims to meet EU goals and priorities on enhancing democratic governance and citizen participation, safeguarding and promoting cultural heritage, and responding to and shaping multifaceted social, economic, technological and cultural transformations. Cluster 2 mobilises the multidisciplinary expertise of European social sciences and humanities (SSH) for understanding fundamental contemporary transformations of society, economy, politics and culture. It aims to provide evidence-based policy options for a socially just and inclusive European green and digital transition and recovery.
The EU is strongly committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), many of which have an important impact on culture, creativity and inclusive society, notably: SDG 1 (No poverty), SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being), SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) and SDG 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions), with their specific target of achieving a better and more sustainable future for all.
Cluster 2 is divided in three destinations:
Democracy and Governance, in which activities will:
- Provide knowledge, data and scientifically robust recommendations to reinvigorate and defend democratic governance and improve trust in democratic institutions;
- Contribute to help safeguard fundamental rights to empower active and inclusive citizenship;
- Strengthen accountability, transparency, effectiveness and trustworthiness of the rule of law-based institutions and policies;
- Develop recommendations to protect liberties and the rule of law, and shield democracy from multidimensional threats;
- Expand political participation, social dialogue and social inclusion, civic engagement and gender equality;
- Mobilise social sciences and humanities expertise for analysing and responding to the consequences of Ukraine’s invasion by Russia and the changing geopolitical context of European neighbourhood and enlargement policies.
European Cultural Heritage and the Cultural and Creative Industries, in which activities will:
- Promote better access and engagement with cultural heritage and improve its protection, enhancement and restoration;
- Support sustainable growth and job creation through cultural and creative industries and contribute to integrate them into the European industrial policy as drivers for innovation and competitiveness;
- Establish the European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage: digital infrastructure connecting cultural heritage institutions and professionals and developing digital collaborative tools for the sector.
Social and Economic Transformations, in which activities will:
- Tackle social, economic and political inequalities, support human capital development and contribute to a comprehensive European strategy for inclusive growth;
- Involve understanding and responding to the impacts of technological advancements and economic interconnectedness with a view to social resilience and reaching the objectives set out by the Action Plan of the European Pillar of Social Rights;
- Support EU migration and mobility policies while promoting integration and fair digital and green transitions.
For the full Cluster 2 work programmes:
- Work Programme 2023-2024– the current programme
Application requirements
Under this programme, the submission is in a consortium of at least 3 different independent legal entities established in at least 3 different eligible countries (Horizon Europe participating countries); at least one member of the consortium must come from an EU member state.
Relevant legal entities in Cluster 2: Academia, research institutes, civil society organizations, NGOs (amutot), museums, galleries, archives and any organization that promotes research and innovation in the above mentioned fields.
Funding
The funding rate of these projects will be 70% or 100% of the eligible costs + 25% overhead, depending on the type of funding mechanism. Research and Innovation Actions (RIA) and Coordination and Support Actions (CSA) will cover 100% of the expenses and Innovation Actions (IA) will cover 70% of the expenses. Participants will usually receive hundreds of thousands of euros per project in accordance with their role and responsibilities in the project.
Submission
In 2025 there will be one submission deadline: 16 Sep 2025 at 17:00 Brussels local time.
RIA/IA proposals must follow this provided template, CSA proposals must follow this provided template.
Evaluation process
- Your proposal will be first evaluated and scored remotely by at least 3 EU expert evaluators, each a grade of up to 5 on the three evaluation criteria: Excellence, Impact, and Implementation.
- The evaluators will convene at an evaluation committee that will decide on the final score, taking into consideration the comments of the evaluators.
- The evaluation process is expected to take 5 months after the deadline.
Useful links:
To find partners for the coming calls, please sign up to the b2match platform.
For more information regarding ISERD’s support, please click here.
For further information, please contact: Jessica Stroweis Jessica.Stroweis@iserd.org.il
Our latest event: The European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage webinar (15.7.24)