Important information for potential applicants to our open Transnational Access Call. Please register your application early and read this information.
RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURES CATALOGUE
TRANSNATIONAL ACCESS CALLS
TA Call 1 | Regional Lighthouse Access Call | 11 November 2024 – 20 January 2025 – NOW OPEN
TA Call 2 | Super-integrated Lighthouse Call | 02 September 2025 – 28 October 2025
If you are considering applying to our Open TA Call 1 please register your application in the Transnational Access Platform as soon as possible and enter the background information about your team and the proposal. Applicants are strongly advised not to wait until the last minute to register their proposals as this may create technical difficulties when submitting.
Please also be aware of your time zone, the Transnational Access Platform will automatically close for submissions at 24:00 CET ( 11:00 GMT / 18:00 EST) on 20 January 2025.
Please be aware also that you will be required to submit additional documents along with your application, including:
- Research plan (10 pages max.). Applicants should follow the AQUARIUS research plan template, provided in the TAP document library (mandatory).
- CV of the user group leader, using the dedicated CV template in the TAP document library (mandatory).
- Preliminary/Initial Data Management Plan, using the dedicated DMP template in the TAP document library and specified in AQUARIUS deliverable 6.2 (mandatory).
Who can apply?
Marine and freshwater researchers from academia, public bodies, industry and civil society organisations are welcome to apply, providing they meet the eligibility criteria. The majority of the group of people involved in the proposal (UserGroup) must work in a country other than the country(ies) where the installation is located (unless access is provided by an international organisation, the Joint Research Centre (JRC), an ERIC or similar legal entity). Only User Groups that are allowed to disseminate the results they have generated under the action may benefit from the access (unless the users are working for SMEs). Non-EU User Groups are eligible to apply for AQUARIUS TA, however, access for User Groups with a majority of Users not working in an EU Member State or Horizon Europe associated country is limited to 20% of the total amount of units of access provided under the grant.
What’s on offer?
In most cases, full access to the research infrastructure(s) is available including the logistical, technological and scientific support for users, ad hoc user training and the preparatory and closing activities (mobilisation and demobilisation of a research vessel for example) needed to use the installation. Users’ own travel and subsistence and logistics costs are covered up to a specified limit – this will be reimbursed to the Users by the RI Operator or the Operator can incur the costs directly (whichever is more agreeable to both parties). In the case of mobile research infrastructures (drones, ROVs, AUVs etc), transport costs to the work area are covered by the project. Each proposal will be logistically evaluated on a case-by-case basis to ensure ‘value for money’ for the project.
What is the budget available?
AQUARIUS has a total of €8.1Million to support transnational access, including travel costs. We are encouraging large super-integrated ambitious projects. All proposals received will be evaluated based on scientific excellence and then logistically evaluated to ensure ‘value for money’ for the project. The budget per project could be in the order of one million euros, or more for larger projects that integrate multiple infrastructures.
What to do next?
- Check the eligibility requirements.
- Does your planned project fulfil the call challenges?
- Check in the Research Infrastructure Catalogue which infrastructure is best suited to advance your Transnational Access (TA) project.
- Check the Research Infrastructure Catalogue for the availability of the infrastructures
- Contact the operators of the infrastructure(s) to which you are requesting access to find out whether your proposal can be implemented in the infrastructure(s) as planned. They are available for queries – contact details can be found in the Research Infrastructure Catalogue.
- Register on the AQUARIUS TAP and activate your account.
- Fill in the Transnational Access application form in the AQUARIUS TAP.
- Review and submit your application.
Supporting EU Mission: Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030
The thematic and geographic scope of the AQUARIUS transnational access calls are related to the concept of the EU Mission Ocean and Waters area-based “Lighthouses” in major sea/river basins: Atlantic-Arctic, Mediterranean Sea, Baltic-North Sea, and Danube-Black Sea, each prioritising one of the three Mission objectives:
- The Atlantic-Arctic and the Danube & Black Sea regions focus on protecting and restoring aquatic ecosystems.
- The Baltic & North Sea is focused on making the blue economy carbon neutral and circular.
- The Mediterranean Sea targets preventing and eliminating marine pollution.
To further define the call challenge areas, AQUARIUS partners analysed knowledge and data gaps in each of the four Lighthouse regions. This work is summarised in the following reports.