Horizon Europe Clusters 3 and 6: Key Autumn 2026 Call Deadlines

This post gives a concise overview of the major Horizon Europe call deadlines falling in autumn 2026 under Cluster 3 (Cybersecurity and Civil Security for Society) and Cluster 6 (Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment). All calls listed are collaborative calls under Pillar II of the Horizon Europe Programme.

For deadlines under Clusters 2 and 5, see our earlier post: Horizon Europe Clusters 2 and 5: Key Autumn 2026 Call Deadlines.

September 2026 Deadlines

Cluster 3 – Cybersecurity

Call deadline: 15 September 2026

Call: Indirectly Managed Action by the ECCC (2026) – HORIZON-CL3-2026-02-CS-ECCC

This call is managed indirectly through the European Cybersecurity Competence Centre (ECCC). Topics include:

• Approaches and tools for security in software and hardware development and assessment
• Enhancing the security, privacy and robustness of AI models and systems (SecureAI)
• Advanced cryptographic schemes and high-assurance, high-speed cryptographic implementations

Cluster 6 – Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment

Call deadline: 17 September 2026

Three calls close under Cluster 6 on this date.

Call: Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services – HORIZON-CL6-2026-01-BIODIV

Topics include:

• Understanding and tackling the decline of insects
• Developing methods to assess the presence, functions and sensitivity of groundwater ecosystems
• Pushing the frontier of knowledge and conservation action for deep-sea ecosystems
• Ensuring the continued effectiveness of protected areas in conserving habitats and species under intensifying pressures
• Advancing integrated scenarios and prediction models to inform the transition to a nature-positive society
• Boosting agrobiodiversity for food security and sustainable competitiveness

Call: Circular Economy and Bioeconomy Sectors – HORIZON-CL6-2026-01-CIRCBIO

Topics include:

• Improving the circularity of multilayer flexible plastic food contact packaging
• Advancing recycling technologies for mixed post-consumer textile waste from blended products
• Advanced recovery of critical raw materials from waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)
• Demonstrating and deploying innovative collection, sorting-for-reuse and repair systems for textiles at city and regional level (Circular Cities and Regions Initiative topic)
• Understanding biomass flows in Europe
• Bioeconomy policy support hub for Member States, regions and sectors
• Advancing European bio-based innovation enabled by biotechnology and biomanufacturing
• Supporting pre-normative research for the standardisation of bio-based products
• Balancing food security, bioeconomy, climate and biodiversity objectives to unlock sustainable value chains
• Bio-based innovation in society: supporting sustainable ways of living
• Harnessing the unique properties of marine organisms to deliver sustainable blue bio-based products

Call: Clean Environment and Zero Pollution – HORIZON-CL6-2026-01-ZEROPOLLUTION

Topics include:

• Towards a comprehensive assessment of the disturbance of marine ecosystems by anthropogenic underwater noise
• Bioremediation of Ukraine’s ecosystems contaminated by conflict
• Developing managed aquifer recharge (MAR) techniques in a rural context

November 2026 Deadlines

Cluster 3 – Civil Security for Society

Call deadline: 5 November 2026

Five calls close under Cluster 3 Civil Security on this date.

Call: Better Protect the EU and Its Citizens Against Crime and Terrorism – HORIZON-CL3-2026-01-FCT

Topics include:

• Improving law enforcement capabilities to counter climate-related challenges
• Open topic on preventing and countering the misuse of emerging technologies for criminal purposes, including issues related to lawful access to data
• Missing persons: prevention and investigation
• Crime prevention approaches, online and offline, tackling the nexus between addiction and crime
• Enhancing the security of citizens against terrorism and lone-actor violence in confined spaces such as schools
• Prevention and mitigation of the misuse of synthetic biology for bioterrorism purposes

Call: Effective Management of EU External Borders – HORIZON-CL3-2026-01-BM

Topics include:

• Advanced border surveillance and situational awareness
• Accessible and available travel facilitation
• Reliability of age assessment methods in the context of security and border management

Call: Resilient Infrastructure – HORIZON-CL3-2026-01-INFRA

Topics include:

• Tools and processes to support stress tests of critical infrastructure
• Security challenges of the green transition in urban and peri-urban areas
• Targeted innovative capabilities for the resilience of critical entities to natural and human-induced disasters, including hybrid scenarios

Call: Disaster-Resilient Society for Europe – HORIZON-CL3-2026-01-DRS

Topics include:

• Designing new approaches to risk awareness and enhanced disaster preparedness
• Multihazard approaches and cumulative and cascading impacts
• Development of innovative tools, processes, equipment and technologies for search and rescue in hazardous disaster and emergency conditions
• Open topic on driving the uptake of disaster risk solutions
• Climate security and civil preparedness: new approaches to developing pre- and post-crisis climate-change-related scenarios for a more resilient Europe

Call: Strengthened Security Research and Innovation – HORIZON-CL3-2026-01-SSRI

Topics include:

• Open topic on supporting disruptive technological innovations for civil security
• Demand-led innovation in security
• Development of ecosystem and next-generation capabilities for a secured European Critical Communication System in civil security

If any of the calls above have caught your interest, the links in the call titles will take you to the relevant page on the EU Funding and Tenders portal, where you can find further details on each topic.

It is worth noting that with some deadlines now less than three months away, there may not be sufficient time to build a new consortium and prepare a competitive application from scratch. That said, organisations that are already part of an established or forming consortium, or that are exploring how they might strengthen an existing proposal, may still find it worthwhile to seek external expertise.

Planning to Apply for Horizon Europe in 2026?

EU Project AB provides ad-hoc consulting services for organisations seeking external expertise in EU research grant funding. We recommend getting in touch well ahead of the call deadline to assess your prospects and plan your proposal strategically.

The Horizon Europe programme is highly competitive. Whether you are coordinating a collaborative proposal, contributing as a partner, or are new to the programme, EU Project AB can provide proposal review support where institutional funding for external consultancy is available.

Before committing to any consulting services, we are happy to discuss key aspects such as proposal readiness and likelihood of success, subject to full institutional support.

Please contact us using the Contact Us facility at the top of the page.

About EU Project AB

Since 2014, EU Project AB has helped research-driven organisations across Europe secure Horizon Europe and other EU research grant funding, and successfully deliver EU-funded projects.

---

Research policy in practice