Horizon Mission Pilots call for proposals
What is the call about?
FilmEU_WIRE brings together eight partners to jointly promote artistic research, innovation, and education in Film and Media Arts, strengthening Europe’s role as a global leader in the creative fields. WIRE supports excellence in research and innovation through seed-funded artistic and practice-based projects, integrating new partners from widening countries and less research-intensive HEIs, and supporting young researchers.
In 2026, the initiative will launch interdisciplinary pilot projects using artistic research to address one of five Horizon Missions. Selected pilots involving staff and students from all FilmEU institutions will receive seed funding. All five missions demand new imaginaries, cultural change, and public engagement—areas where artistic research is uniquely powerful. They offer artists the chance to shape the stories, values, and experiences that make transformation possible.
HM1 : Adaptation to Climate Change
This mission invites artists to work with science, technology, and communities to explore how societies can live with climate uncertainty. Artistic research can make climate risks tangible, translate data into emotion, and co-create new narratives of adaptation, resilience, and care at local and planetary scales.
HM2 : Cancer
Beyond biomedical research, cancer raises profound questions about the body, identity, memory, and care. Artistic research can rehumanize health through artistic enquiry, explore lived experience, ethics, stigma, prevention, and healing, offering new forms of knowledge that connect medicine, society, and culture.
HM3 : Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities
This mission opens space for artists to design and rethink urban life—mobility, housing, public space, and digital systems—through creative experimentation. Artistic research can prototype alternative city visions, engage citizens, and reveal the social and cultural dimensions of sustainability and “smartness.”
HM4 : Restore Our Ocean and Waters
Oceans, rivers, and wetlands are ecological, cultural, and political spaces. Artistic research can connect marine science with storytelling, sound, film, and immersive media to raise awareness, shift perceptions, and explore new relationships between humans and aquatic environments.
HM5 : Soil Deal for Europe
Soil is alive, fragile, and largely ignored. Artistic research can reveal its hidden processes, cultural meanings, and role in food systems, climate, and biodiversity. This mission invites artists to collaborate with scientists and farmers to reconnect society with the ground beneath our feet.
What is seed funding?
Seed funding provides initial support of €15.000 to launch a new pilot, enabling early collaboration, artistic research production, dissemination, and other start-up activities. HR costs are not covered by seed funding; staff engagement is supported by the individual partners. Examples of seed funded initiatives include, but are not limited to, organising joint workshops or seminars, preparing joint formats for education or research, and initiating research collaboration between partners.
What are the requirements?
– This is an open call for collaborations of researchers from at least three partner HEIs.
– The lead researcher should hold a PhD with at least five years of post-PhD research experience.
– The maximum duration of a pilot project is 20 months, starting in September 2026 and ending April 2028.
– The seed funding should not duplicate funding that is otherwise available.
Who can apply?
Applications are open to artistic researchers proposing a pilot involving at least three FilmEU partner higher education institutions, led by a principal researcher with a PhD and a minimum of five years post-PhD research experience, and involving staff and students; third parties may participate at their own cost.
What should a pilot do?
– All projects must aim for artistic research outcomes disseminated (e.g. festival participation, art gallery, …) in conjunction with a publication in an international peer-reviewed journal (e.g. JAR) and/or participation in international conferences.
– Pilot project outcomes must be presented and discussed at the FilmEU_WIRE Summit in April 2027 (Bratislava).
– All pilots must provide a final report on the project by the end of April 2028.
Can we find help?
All researchers interested in applying for a Horizon Mission pilot project can also attend the on-line Writers Room event on 26 February. The Writers Room is an online information and collaboration session designed to support prospective applicants in developing strong proposals. The session will include presentations of past and existing projects and a walkthrough of the proposal process by the WIRE leads, including an explanation of the application forms, key requirements, eligibility criteria, and any limitations or constraints to be aware of. The session will conclude with an open Q&A, giving attendees the opportunity to ask questions, clarify expectations, and discuss ideas directly with the organisers.
The deadline for applications is 24 April 2026.
Please send the following application form in PDF to Lies Van de Vijver (LUCA School of Arts) via e-mail to Lies.vandevijver@filmeu.eu. A selection commission consisting of members of staff from each FilmEU partner is responsible for ranking proposals for funding on a competitive basis.