Driving Urban Transitions: call for European projects

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The Driving Urban Transitions (DUT) European partnership is launching a second call for proposals, in which researchers based in Switzerland can take part.

Driving Urban Transitions to a Sustainable Future (DUT) is a new programme of JPI Urban Europe that started in 2022. The co-funded partnership aims to support transnational research and/or innovation projects addressing urban challenges as a way of helping cities to transition towards a more sustainable economy and mode of functioning. The challenges are grouped into three themes called Transition Pathways: Positive Energy Districts, the 15-minute City and Circular Urban Economies.

Researchers from at least three countries

The projects selected within this call will be funded directly by national/regional funding agencies from the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

Each consortium must include at least three partners from three countries on this list who are eligible for funding by their respective national/regional funding agency. The added value of transnational collaboration should be clearly set out.

The call is open to a wide range of scientific disciplines and welcomes interdisciplinary approaches. It aims to support a large number of activities, from research to innovation and implementation. It also requires the explicit involvement of stakeholders (companies, public authorities, NGOs…) in the projects and that user needs be taken into account when setting research targets.

Support from the SNSF

Even though Switzerland is not an associated country in Horizon Europe, Swiss-based applicants can join research consortia on equal terms with applicants from EU member states and other countries participating in the call. Together with Innosuisse and the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE), the SNSF is participating in the second call.

Swiss partners must be eligible for the SNSF's "project funding" scheme; it is advisable to contact the SNSF Administrative Offices if this is your first submission to the Swiss National Science Foundation. At the same time as the application is submitted to the DUT Call Secretariat, an administrative application must be submitted to the SNSF. The deadline for submitting pre-proposals is 21 November 2023. For further details, please refer to the DUT website.

For your information: a call for the new National Research Programme on the “Future Baukultur: Valuing Built Space” (NRP 81) will be launched in December 2023. Because of its thematic proximity to the CETP call, we encourage interested researchers to stay updated.