GreenEraHub - GEH (3rd Call) - "Sustainable Production and Utilisation of Biomass"
Fond National de la Recherche Scientifique (F.R.S.-FNRS)
Main Objective and Scope
The aim of this third Call of the GEH is to contribute to the transformation of today’s largely fossil resources-based economy into a sustainable bio-based economy that focuses on natural and renewable material cycles aiming to fully exploit the potential of a sustainable bio-based economy.
This Call funds projects that contribute to a sustainable, resilient, reliable, and affordable biomass production through innovative breeding methods for improved crops for sustainable and resilient food and feed systems (Topic A) or that enhance the utilisation of non-eatable biomass and/or intermediates from a wide range of sources for industrial purposes in a cascade use approach (Topic B).
Call topics
Topic A: Plant breeding for improved resilience & health of crops, environment, and soil.
Topic A focuses on research efforts and approaches that will improve agronomic systems through genetic and innovative breeding methods for future-proofing crop varieties, possibly in combination with innovative and/or sustainable crop management practices, to address at least one of the goals indicated below:
• Resilience: improve abiotic and biotic stress resilience through novel approaches that integrate genetics with management practices across the cropping system.
• Reduced inputs: improve nutrient use efficiency and crop health while minimising the use of fertilisers, especially quickly soluble nitrogen fertilisers and chemical plant protection products.
• Water use efficiency: improve water use efficiency with respect to heat, drought, and salinity.
• Agrobiodiversity and soil health: preserve and improve soil function and health by promoting root and soil microbiome diversity and optimising plant root-soil-microorganism interactions.
Topic B: Biotechnological applications to improve the utilisation of biomass
This topic focuses on researching and developing novel, innovative, and sustainable biotechnological approaches towards a better utilisation of renewable biomass and/or intermediates.
Topic B includes (but is not restricted to):
• Innovative biotechnological conversion technologies (possibly in combination with chemical or biochemical ones) to transform bio-based building components into high-value products in a sustainable way.
• Metabolic engineering including targeted optimisation and modification of microbial production strains and biological processes, including the modification and optimisation of metabolic pathways and their regulation.
• Use of bioinformatics tools for the identification, modification and utilisation of metabolic pathways, such as those useful for bio-production and strain/variety improvement (e.g., data standardisation, machine learning approaches, modelling, open repositories, remote sensing monitoring systems, Internet of Things, and Artificial Intelligence).
• Where necessary, projects may include, next to the biotechnological approach, also novel technologies and approaches for biomass pre-processing.
Ambitions for all proposed projects
The projects should fall within Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 1-5, although they are not necessarily required to cover the whole range. Implementation of the project must result in an increase of at least one TRL level. Industry engagement is strongly encouraged, but not mandatory, and should be adequate for the TRL range of the project and, if appropriate, ensure technology transfer to market by actively responding to market demand (market pull), and aligning innovations with industry needs to accelerate adoption and impact. Call Announcement and Guidelines for Applicants According to the specific thematic focus and to the goals of each proposal, the following cross-cutting approaches are encouraged:
• Enhancing interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral collaboration research.
• Adopting a multi-actor approach (MAA), engaging with stakeholders (as appropriate to the research stage and in order to technologically advance the project).
• Valorising the potential of remote regions, encouraging cross-border collaboration.
• Providing Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA) (as appropriate to the research stage and in order to technologically advance the project).
• Seeking solutions also suited to niche or small-scale biomass and intermediates, valorising local supply chains.
More details are given in the call text.
Financement
Financement
Each partner is funded separately by the national/regional funding organisation they are applying to. They must fulfil the conditions of their funding organisation.
The maximum amount of requested funding per project is 300.000 EUR for a total period of thee years. If the project involves the recruitment of a PhD student, the project duration of the F.R.S.-FNRS sub-project could be up to four years.
Eligible costs items
Personnel costs: 80,000€ EUR per year on average for the duration of the project. The usual duration of ERA-NET research programmes is three years. However, when the project involves a PhD student, the principal investigator can apply for an additional one year funding in order to complete the four years PhD programme. Since this programme is NOT co-funded by the European Commission, this final year should be included in the budget submitted to this call.
Equipment: can be eligible up to 20% of the total budget of the project
Running costs: travel expenses; organisation of small scientific events in Belgium; consumables and the following support costs: consumables Publication Designing (conception d’ouvrage) Dictionary Production (réalisation de dictionnaire) Purchase of Books Encoding Software Access Rights Congress Registration Fees Purchase of Computer Scanning Travel costs Visa costs Open Access publication of an article up until 500 euros (see F.R.S-FNRS Open Access policy).
“Overhead” is not an eligible cost for FNRS. If the project is selected for funding, these costs will be subject to a separate agreement between the institution of the beneficiary and the F.R.S.-FNRS.
Pour postuler
Transnational level
Submission of pre- and full proposals will be carried out using an online submission platform, where applicants will find all information necessary for the preparation and submission of proposals. The submission platform is available at https://www.submissiongreenerahub.eu/call3
National/regional level
Applicants must provide basic administrative data by submitting an administrative application on e-space within 5 working days after the general deadline of the call to be eligible. Please select the “PINT-MULTI” funding instrument when creating the administrative application.
Deadline for the submission of pre-proposals 28th of November 2025
Deadline for the submission to FNRS: 5th of December 2025
Deadline for full proposal submission 25th of March 2026
Requis d'admission
Eligibility of the consortia
Proposals must be written in English
Consortia must include at least three eligible Partners requesting funding from at least three different Funders’ Board member countries who contribute funds to the Call. Associated Partners do not count towards the minimum of three Partners.
In order to achieve balanced partnerships, the budget that can be requested by Partners from one country cannot be more than 70% of the total requested budget for the project. Some Funders also have funding limits, please check the Funder’s regulations.
The same person cannot serve as a Coordinator for more than one proposal. Some agencies may prohibit the same person from participating in more than one proposal, please check Funders’ regulations.
Each applying consortium must be led by a project coordinator, who must be from an organisation requesting funding from a Funder of this Call (i.e., not an Associated Partner).
The minimum project duration is 24 months, and the maximum is 36 months (please check the Funders’ regulations for exceptions)
See call document for more details.
Regional eligibility criteria
Eligibility for belgian partners (F.R.S. - FNRS):
Applicants requesting funding from F.R.S. FNRS must comply with the following rules.
The applicant must be affiliated to a university from the Wallonia-Brussels Federation (FWB).
At the closure of the call, the applicant should also:
- Be a permanent researcher of F.R.S-FNRS (Chercheur qualifié, maître de recherches ou Directeur de recherche) or;
- Hold a tenure track position (or an assimilated position including pending tenure track) with a research institution from the FWB
After the submission of applications, the F.R.S.-FNRS and the research institutions are required to verify the eligibility of the candidates. The F.R.S.-FNRS reserves the right to refuse those whose eligibility criteria would not comply with the Regulation. In order the check the compliance with these eligibility criteria, please contact your contact person at ULB-TTO (see details below). The complete F.R.S-FNRS rules for international research projects is available at the following link: https://www.frs-fnrs.be/docs/Reglement-et-documents/International/FRS-FNRS_PINT-Multi.pdf
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