How to use this glossary
The terms below cover Horizon Europe, Erasmus+, the CERV programme and the shared vocabulary of the Funding and Tenders Portal, and each entry is tagged with the programme it belongs to. Every heading has its own anchor, so a link such as /blog/eu-funding-glossary#person-month lands on that definition and can be quoted on its own. Where a word means different things in different programmes, both meanings appear and a table at the end sets them side by side; the official glossaries in the Erasmus+ Programme Guide Part D and the Horizon Europe Part B template are linked in the sources.
Quick index
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A
Abstract (Part A) (HE)
The public summary of a Horizon Europe proposal, entered in the Part A web forms and limited to 2,000 characters including spaces. It must contain no confidential information, and if the proposal is written in another language an English copy of the abstract goes in Part B. It is the first thing every evaluator reads. See: How to write the project summary.
Accreditation (E+)
A Key Action 1 status that lets an organisation receive Erasmus+ mobility funding each year without competing call by call, once its Erasmus Plan has been approved by its National Agency. Accreditation is not required for KA220 Cooperation Partnerships, which remain competitive. See: Why KA220 needs no accreditation.
Actual costs (HE)
The traditional Horizon Europe grant model, in which the EU reimburses the real, recorded eligible costs a beneficiary incurred, at the funding rate of the action. It requires timesheets, cost statements and audits. The alternative is the lump sum, where payment follows completed work packages instead of receipts. See: Lump-sum budgets explained.
Admissibility (HE | Portal)
The formal check that a proposal was submitted on time, in the right template, complete and within the page limit; it precedes the eligibility check. Pages beyond the limit are automatically made invisible to evaluators, and a blind first-stage proposal that identifies its applicants is inadmissible. See: Page limits and formatting rules.
Affiliated entity (HE | E+)
A legal entity with a legal or capital link to a beneficiary, such as a subsidiary or a member of a network, that can carry out work and charge eligible costs under the grant. Affiliated entities are named in the grant agreement and are covered by the beneficiary that they are linked to.
Annotated template (HE)
A commentary on the official Part B template written by National Contact Point projects such as Bridge2HE and care4bio, explaining under each heading what evaluators expect. Annotated templates are guidance, not official rules, but they track the template version closely and are worth reading next to the original. See: Part B, section by section.
Applicant organisation (E+)
In Erasmus+, the organisation that submits the application form on behalf of all partners and signs the grant agreement with its National Agency. For KA220 Cooperation Partnerships the applicant must have been legally established for at least two years before the application deadline. See: KA220 application guide.
Associated country (HE | E+)
A non-EU country that has signed an association agreement to a programme, so that its entities participate and are funded on the same terms as Member State entities and count toward minimum-country rules. Norway, Iceland and Türkiye are associated to both Horizon Europe and Erasmus+; the United Kingdom is associated to Horizon Europe. See: Check partner-country eligibility.
Associated partner (HE)
An organisation that takes part in a Horizon Europe project without receiving EU funding and without signing the grant agreement, usually because it is from a non-eligible country or brings in-kind expertise. Associated partners are listed in Part A, and the DESCA HE AP 2.0 model agreement sets out their rights and obligations.
Award criteria (Erasmus+) (E+)
The four criteria on which a KA220 Cooperation Partnership is scored: relevance of the project (25 points), quality of the project design and implementation (30), quality of the partnership and cooperation arrangements (20) and impact (25). A proposal needs at least 70 points overall and at least 13, 15, 10 and 13 points respectively on each criterion. See: How KA220 is scored.
B
Beneficiary (HE)
A legal entity that signs the Horizon Europe grant agreement and is responsible for its share of the work and of the money, including reporting and repayment of undue amounts. Beneficiaries are distinct from affiliated entities and associated partners, and only beneficiaries receive payments from the coordinator.
Blended finance (EIC)
The EIC Accelerator funding form that combines a grant with an equity investment from the EIC Fund in the same company. Grant-only and investment-only variants exist, but blended finance is the default for deep-tech companies that need to reach the market and scale.
Blind evaluation (HE)
An evaluation in which experts do not know who the applicants are. Piloted from the 2023-24 work programme, blind evaluation applies to first-stage proposals of two-stage calls in 2026-27: the portal hides Part A identification data, and the applicants must remove every direct or indirect identification from Part B and the abstract or the proposal is declared inadmissible. See: Anonymising a stage-1 proposal.
Budget table (Part A) (HE)
The per-participant table in the Part A forms that lists cost categories A to E, namely personnel, subcontracting, purchase costs, other cost categories and indirect costs, with the requested EU contribution. The person-months in the Part B work package tables must be consistent with it, and for lump-sum topics a detailed budget table per work package is uploaded as well. See: Budget calculator.
C
Call for proposals / call fiche (HE | CERV)
The document that opens a funding opportunity and fixes its topics, budget, deadlines, eligibility and award conditions. In Horizon Europe the call text sits inside the work programme; in CERV and centralised Erasmus+ actions a separate call fiche published on the Funding and Tenders Portal plays the same role. See: Browse open calls.
Cascade funding (FSTP) (HE)
Financial Support to Third Parties: a funded Horizon Europe project re-grants part of its budget through its own open calls, typically to SMEs, start-ups or researchers, for amounts of a few thousand to a few hundred thousand euros. The rules are set in the grant agreement and the third parties do not become beneficiaries.
CERV (CERV)
The Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme, the EU funding programme for civil society, equality bodies, municipalities and public authorities working on rights, democracy and civic participation, with about EUR 1.55 billion for 2021-2027. It has four strands and is managed by the executive agency EACEA. See: CERV programme guide.
Co-financing (E+ | CERV)
The share of project costs not covered by the EU grant, which the participants must find themselves. CERV grants typically cover 90 percent of eligible costs, leaving 10 percent to the consortium; Erasmus+ KA220 lump sums are fixed amounts that assume the partners contribute their own resources beyond the grant. See: CERV co-financing rates.
Consensus meeting / consensus report (HE)
The step in which the individual evaluators of a proposal meet, moderated by Commission or agency staff, to agree common comments and scores; the rapporteur writes the consensus report. Because it usually survives the panel review unchanged, the consensus report is in most cases identical to the Evaluation Summary Report the applicants receive. See: How proposals are scored.
Consortium (HE | E+)
All the organisations bound together by one grant. For most Horizon Europe collaborative actions the minimum is three independent legal entities from three different Member States or associated countries, at least one of them a Member State; for KA220 it is three organisations from three different programme countries. See: Consortium survival guide.
Consortium agreement (HE)
The private contract among the beneficiaries of a Horizon Europe project that governs internal organisation, decision-making, budget distribution, intellectual property and liability. It is mandatory before grant signature unless the call says otherwise, and the DESCA model agreement is the most used starting point. See: DESCA options compared.
Coordinator (HE | E+)
The legal entity that submits the proposal, signs the grant agreement first, receives the EU payments and distributes them to the other beneficiaries, and acts as the single contact point with the Commission or agency. In Erasmus+ the same role is played by the applicant organisation. See: Finding partners, with an EoI template.
CORDIS (HE)
The Community Research and Development Information Service, the public database of every EU-funded research project with its factsheet, consortium, deliverables and results. Deliverables flagged as public are published there automatically, and it is a primary tool for finding past projects and potential partners. See: Finding partners through CORDIS.
CSA (HE)
Coordination and Support Action: a Horizon Europe type of action funded at 100 percent that supports networking, coordination, studies, policy dialogue and awareness raising rather than research itself. In the 2026-27 work programme a CSA Part B is limited to 25 pages, or 28 for lump-sum topics. See: Part B, section by section.
Cut-off date (EIC)
One of the rolling deadlines of the EIC Accelerator, which accepts short applications continuously and evaluates full applications in batches at several cut-offs per year. Companies that pass one cut-off proceed to a jury interview; those that fail may reapply after a waiting period.
D
DESCA (HE)
Development of a Simplified Consortium Agreement, the model consortium agreement for Horizon Europe drafted by a group of research organisations and universities. DESCA HE 2.1 was published in February 2026 for projects without associated partners, and DESCA HE AP 2.0, from August 2025, covers projects with associated partners under both actual-cost and lump-sum funding. See: DESCA in practice.
Deliverable (HE)
A report or other output sent to the Commission or agency to allow monitoring of the project. Deliverables are numbered by work package and order of delivery, so D4.2 is the second deliverable of WP4, and typed as R, DEM, DEC, DATA, DMP, ETHICS, SECURITY or OTHER. Only deliverables essential to monitoring belong in table 3.1c. See: Table 3.1c explained.
Destination (HE)
The grouping of topics inside a cluster work programme that share a set of expected impacts. Each topic lists expected outcomes; the destination text above it lists the wider expected impacts, and section 2.1 of a proposal must show a credible pathway to both. See: Writing section 2.1 against the destination.
Dissemination level (HE)
The access status assigned to each deliverable: PU for public, SEN for sensitive and limited under the grant agreement, or one of the three EU classified levels R-UE, C-UE and S-UE. Public deliverables are automatically published on CORDIS, so the level should be chosen deliberately in table 3.1c. See: Deliverables and their dissemination level.
Dissemination, exploitation and communication plan (HE)
The first version of the plan for dissemination and exploitation including communication activities, required in section 2.2 of Part B and an admissibility condition for full proposals unless the topic says otherwise. A detailed version is a mandatory deliverable within six months of grant signature and is updated through the project. See: Writing impact and dissemination.
DMP (HE)
Data Management Plan: the document describing how research outputs, especially data, will be made findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. It is a deliverable due within the first six months of a Horizon Europe project, revised towards the end, and the proposal must already outline the approach under open science in section 1.2. See: DMP wizard.
Do No Significant Harm (HE)
The principle that funded activities should not significantly harm any of the six environmental objectives of the EU taxonomy. The dedicated statement was removed from the Part B template in version 4.0 of December 2024 and is now required only where the topic conditions say so, but environmental consequences are still considered under Excellence and Impact.
E
EACEA (E+ | CERV)
The European Education and Culture Executive Agency, which manages the centralised Erasmus+ actions such as European NGOs, sport, Centres of Vocational Excellence and Erasmus Mundus, and the whole CERV programme, on behalf of the Commission. Applications to EACEA go through the Funding and Tenders Portal rather than a National Agency. See: Centres of Vocational Excellence guide.
ECHE (E+)
The Erasmus Charter for Higher Education, the accreditation a higher-education institution must hold to take part in Erasmus+ actions. In KA220 higher-education partnerships, institutions from programme countries need a valid ECHE to act as applicant or core partner.
EIC (HE | EIC)
The European Innovation Council, the Pillar III body of Horizon Europe that funds breakthrough innovation through three schemes: Pathfinder for early-stage research, Transition for validation, and the Accelerator for companies bringing deep-tech products to market with grants and equity.
Eligibility (HE | E+)
The legal conditions a proposal must meet to be evaluated at all: eligible countries, types of entity, minimum consortium composition, and any topic-specific conditions such as a required partner type. Eligibility is checked after admissibility and before the experts score the proposal. See: Consortium eligibility checker.
Eligible costs (HE)
Costs that the grant can reimburse under the actual-cost model: actually incurred during the action, recorded in the accounts, necessary, reasonable and in line with the beneficiary's usual practice. They fall into personnel, subcontracting, purchase costs, other cost categories and the flat-rate indirect costs. See: The detailed budget table, sheet by sheet.
ERA (HE)
The European Research Area, the policy goal of a single market for research, and also the name of the WIDERA work programme calls that fund ERA reforms, talent circulation and research management. ERA calls had an average success rate of about 27 percent between 2021 and 2024, far above the programme average. See: Success rates by instrument.
ERC (HE)
The European Research Council, which funds investigator-driven frontier research through Starting, Consolidator, Advanced and Synergy Grants judged on excellence alone. In the 2025 calls the success rates were 12.2 percent for Starting, 11.2 percent for Consolidator and 9.6 percent for Advanced Grants. See: ERC eligibility calculator.
ESR (1): Evaluation Summary Report (HE)
The document applicants receive with the evaluation result letter, containing the agreed comments and score for each criterion, the total score and any remarks on scope or excluded activities. It is written to a published quality standard and is the starting point for any resubmission. See: How to read your ESR.
ESR (2): Early-Stage Researcher (MSCA)
The Horizon 2020 term for a researcher in the first four years of a research career who had not yet been awarded a doctorate, used for the fellows recruited by Innovative Training Networks. Horizon Europe replaced it with doctoral candidate in the MSCA Doctoral Networks, but the abbreviation still appears in older documents. See: MSCA Doctoral Networks guide.
European NGO (ENGO) (E+)
A non-governmental organisation with members or branches across several programme countries that applies centrally to EACEA for Erasmus+ civil-society cooperation funding in education, training and youth, rather than to a National Agency. See: Who can apply to CERV.
Evaluation criteria (HE)
The three award criteria of Horizon Europe: Excellence, Impact, and Quality and efficiency of the implementation, each scored from 0 to 5 in half-point steps. The default threshold is 3 per criterion and 10 out of 15 overall, and sections 1, 2 and 3 of Part B correspond to them one to one. See: Scores and thresholds.
Expected outcomes / expected impacts (HE)
The effects a topic and its destination are designed to produce: outcomes are the medium-term effects listed under the topic, impacts the longer-term effects listed under the destination. Section 2.1 of the proposal must map the project results to both, and since the 2026-27 work programme only the credibility of that pathway is scored. See: Results, outcomes and impacts.
Exploitation (HE)
The use of project results, by the consortium or by others, in further research, in developing products and services, in standardisation or in shaping policy. The exploitation measures in section 2.2 must be concrete and proportionate, and results ownership is recorded in the final periodic report.
F
FAIR data (HE)
Data that is Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable, the standard Horizon Europe applies to research data management. Beneficiaries must manage data in line with FAIR principles and provide open access to research data unless an exception applies, following the principle of as open as possible, as closed as necessary. See: Score your DMP for FAIR.
Financial capacity check (HE | E+)
A verification that an organisation has the resources to carry out its part of the project. In Horizon Europe it is applied to coordinators of grants with an EU contribution of EUR 500,000 or more, with exemptions for public bodies and higher-education institutions; in Erasmus+ it applies to private applicant organisations above a grant threshold set by the Programme Guide.
Force majeure (HE | E+)
An unforeseeable and exceptional event beyond the control of the parties that prevents an obligation from being fulfilled and excuses non-performance under the grant agreement. In lump-sum projects a work package interrupted by force majeure may be paid in part rather than declared incomplete.
Funding and Tenders Portal (Portal)
The Commission's single online system for finding calls, submitting proposals, signing grants and reporting across Horizon Europe, CERV, centralised Erasmus+ actions and other EU programmes. Every organisation needs a validated PIC in the Participant Register before it can be added to a proposal. See: Open calls from the portal.
Funding rate (HE)
The share of eligible costs the EU reimburses: 100 percent for Research and Innovation Actions and Coordination and Support Actions, and 70 percent for Innovation Actions except for non-profit legal entities, which receive 100 percent. Indirect costs are added at a flat 25 percent of eligible direct costs. See: Apply the rates in the budget calculator.
G
Gantt chart (HE | E+)
The timeline chart showing when each work package, task, deliverable and milestone starts and ends, requested in section 3.1 of Part B under timing of the different work packages and their components. Adding a person-month column per partner makes it a resource chart as well. See: Gantt chart creator.
Gender dimension (HE)
The integration of sex and gender analysis into the content of the research and innovation itself, as opposed to the gender balance of the team. It is mandatory to address in section 1.2 unless the topic explicitly excludes it, and a proposal that does not consider it relevant must say so and justify why. See: The six elements of section 1.2.
Gender Equality Plan (HE)
A public document setting out an organisation's measures for gender equality, with dedicated resources, data collection and training. Having one in place is an eligibility criterion for public bodies, higher-education institutions and research organisations from Member States and associated countries that apply to Horizon Europe. See: The Part B compliance checklist.
Grant Agreement (GA) / Model Grant Agreement (MGA) (HE)
The contract between the EU and the beneficiaries that fixes the action, the budget, the reporting periods and the rules for costs and results. Horizon Europe uses a corporate Model Grant Agreement with variants for actual-cost and lump-sum grants, and its annotated version explains each article. See: From evaluation to grant agreement.
Grant Agreement Preparation (GAP) (HE)
The phase between the evaluation result and signature, in which the consortium enters the grant data, confirms the budget and work plan and completes any ethics requirements. Horizon Europe follows a no-negotiation principle: the proposal is funded as evaluated, and the service standard is signature within eight months of the deadline. See: From evaluation to grant agreement.
H
Hop-on facility (HE)
A WIDERA instrument that lets a legal entity from a widening country join an already funded Pillar II or EIC Pathfinder project as an additional beneficiary, with extra budget. The 2025 hop-on call received 61 proposals for a budget of EUR 40 million. See: Widening instruments in practice.
Horizontal priorities (E+)
The four cross-cutting priorities every Erasmus+ project may address: inclusion and diversity; environment and fight against climate change; addressing digital transformation; and common values, civic engagement and participation. A KA220 project must address at least one horizontal or sector-specific priority. See: Choosing a KA220 priority.
I
IA (HE)
Innovation Action: a Horizon Europe type of action for prototyping, testing, demonstrating, piloting and market replication, typically taking a technology from TRL 5 or 6 to 7 or 8. Profit-making entities receive 70 percent funding, non-profit entities 100 percent, and the 2026-27 Part B limit is 40 pages. See: Part B, section by section.
Impact pathway (HE)
The chain of logical steps from the project's results, through dissemination, exploitation and communication, to the expected outcomes of the topic and finally to the wider impacts of the destination. It is the subject of section 2.1, indicatively three pages, and its credibility is what evaluators score. See: Results, outcomes and impacts defined.
Indirect costs (HE)
Overheads such as premises, utilities and administration that cannot be attributed directly to the action. Horizon Europe reimburses them at a flat rate of 25 percent of eligible direct costs, excluding subcontracting, financial support to third parties and certain other items, so they never need to be documented. See: Why the 25 percent matters.
In-kind contribution (HE)
Resources such as equipment, infrastructure or staff seconded free of charge that a third party provides to a beneficiary for the action. Their cost can be eligible under the usual conditions, but the separate in-kind table that earlier Part B versions required was dropped from the 2026-27 template.
K
KA1 / KA2 / KA3 (E+)
The three Key Actions of Erasmus+: Key Action 1 funds learning mobility of individuals, Key Action 2 funds cooperation among organisations and institutions, and Key Action 3 supports policy development and cooperation. Partnerships such as KA210 and KA220 sit under Key Action 2.
KA210 (E+)
Small-scale Partnerships, the light Key Action 2 format for newcomers and grassroots organisations, with a minimum of two organisations from two countries and lump sums of EUR 30,000 or EUR 60,000. Applications go to the National Agency of the applicant's country. See: KA210 next to KA220.
KA220 (E+)
Cooperation Partnerships, the main Erasmus+ Key Action 2 format for school, higher, vocational and adult education and youth. A partnership needs at least three organisations from three different programme countries, lasts 12 to 36 months and chooses one of three lump sums of EUR 120,000, 250,000 or 400,000. See: KA220 application guide.
Key Strategic Orientations (KSO) (HE)
The high-level priorities of the Horizon Europe strategic plan that every cluster topic must serve. The 2025-27 plan reduced them from four to three: the green transition, the digital transition, and a more resilient, competitive, inclusive and democratic Europe. Proposals that recycle 2021-24 impact language often miss the shift. See: The 2025-27 strategic plan.
L
LEAR (Portal)
The Legal Entity Appointed Representative, the person an organisation nominates to manage its legal and financial data in the Funding and Tenders Portal, validate roles such as account administrators and confirm the organisation's PIC. Without a validated LEAR an organisation cannot sign grants. See: Who can publish a partner search.
Lump sum (Horizon Europe) (HE)
A grant paid as a fixed amount per work package once that work package is completed, instead of reimbursing recorded costs. In Type 1 the amount is fixed in the call; in Type 2 the consortium proposes it through a detailed budget table. Lump sums cover roughly half of the 2026-27 work programme budgets. See: Building the lump-sum budget table.
Lump sum (Erasmus+) (E+)
In Erasmus+ partnerships the grant is one of a small set of fixed amounts chosen at application, such as EUR 120,000, 250,000 or 400,000 for KA220, and the project reports on activities and results rather than on costs. The amount must be justified by the work packages in the form. See: KA220 lump-sum tiers.
M
Means of verification (HE)
The evidence that shows a milestone has been achieved, entered in table 3.1d next to each milestone: for example a prototype up and running, software released and validated by a user group, or a field survey completed with data quality confirmed. Vague verification is a recurring evaluator complaint. See: Writing a milestone that can be verified.
Milestone (HE)
A control point in the project that helps chart progress, often the achievement of a key result that allows the next phase to begin or a decision point between alternatives. Milestones must be verifiable, may span several work packages, and a three-year project typically has around five. See: Worked example with milestones.
Mission (HE)
One of the five EU Missions of Horizon Europe, each with a measurable goal and its own work programme: cancer, adaptation to climate change, restoring our ocean and waters, climate-neutral and smart cities, and a soil deal for Europe. Mission calls sit outside the six clusters but use the same templates and criteria.
MSCA (HE | MSCA)
The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, the Horizon Europe programme for researcher training and mobility: Doctoral Networks, Postdoctoral Fellowships, Staff Exchanges and COFUND. In 2025 the Postdoctoral Fellowships funded 1,610 of 16,836 eligible applications, a success rate of 9.6 percent. See: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship strategy.
Mutual Insurance Mechanism (HE)
The fund that protects the EU budget against beneficiaries that fail to repay amounts due. Five percent of the maximum grant is retained from the pre-financing and transferred to the mechanism, and it is released to the consortium with the final payment. See: The payment schedule and the 5% retention.
N
National Agency (NA) (E+)
The body that manages the decentralised Erasmus+ actions in each programme country, publishes national deadlines, evaluates KA1, KA210 and KA220 applications and signs the grants. Examples are IKY in Greece, DAAD for higher education in Germany and OPH in Finland. See: Research funding in Greece.
National Contact Point (NCP) (HE)
The free national advisory service for Horizon Europe, with contact points per cluster and horizontal theme, that answers eligibility questions, runs information days, reviews draft proposals and publishes annotated templates and ESR analyses. The NCP network is the first place to ask before contacting the Commission. See: NCPs and brokerage events.
Needs analysis (E+)
The section of the KA220 application form in which the partnership shows, with evidence, what needs of its target groups the project addresses and how those needs were identified. It underpins the relevance criterion and is the section evaluators most often find generic. See: Writing the needs analysis.
O
OID (E+)
The Organisation ID, the identifier an organisation obtains in the Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps platform to apply for decentralised actions through a National Agency. It is distinct from the PIC used on the Funding and Tenders Portal, and an organisation may need both. See: Registering for an Erasmus+ application.
Open access / open science (HE)
Open access to peer-reviewed publications and to research data is mandatory in every Horizon Europe grant, and open science practices such as early sharing, reproducibility measures, open peer review and citizen engagement are scored under the methodology in section 1.2. Practices justified as inappropriate for the project do not lower the score. See: The Part B compliance checklist.
Outcomes (HE)
The expected medium-term effects of projects funded under a topic, such as the uptake, deployment or use of results by direct target groups, occurring during or shortly after the project. The Part B template illustrates the term with nine European airports adopting a forecasting system demonstrated during a project. See: Results, outcomes and impacts.
P
Participant Register (Portal)
The part of the Funding and Tenders Portal where an organisation creates its PIC, uploads its legal documents and gets validated by the Commission's validation services. Registration is required before an organisation can be added to any proposal. See: Finding partners, with an EoI template.
Partner Search tool (Portal)
The free facility on the Funding and Tenders Portal that lists organisations registered in the portal and lets you search them by keyword, past topic, country or organisation type, and publish an expression of interest under a specific topic. Only the person in charge of the organisation's profile can post the expression of interest. See: Finding partners, with an EoI template.
Part A / Part B (HE)
The two halves of a Horizon Europe proposal: Part A is the set of administrative web forms generated online, including the budget table and the ethics self-assessment, and Part B is the narrative PDF that the experts evaluate. Part B is limited to 40 pages for RIA and IA, 45 for lump-sum topics, 25 for CSA and 10 for a first-stage proposal. See: Part B, section by section.
Person-month (PM) (HE)
The planning unit for staff effort: one person working full time for one month. Proposals commonly plan on 220 working days a year, while the grant agreement's daily-rate formula uses 215 days a year for cost reporting. In lump-sum budgets one person-month is treated as one item of personnel cost. See: Convert person-months to costs.
PERT chart (HE)
A diagram showing how the work packages depend on and feed into one another, requested in section 3.1 as a graphical presentation of the components showing how they inter-relate. It complements the Gantt chart, which shows timing, and a clear PERT is the fastest way to make a complex work plan legible. See: Gantt and PERT worked example.
PIC (Portal)
The Participant Identification Code, a nine-digit number assigned to every organisation registered in the Funding and Tenders Portal Participant Register. It identifies the organisation in every proposal, grant and report, and must be validated before grant signature. See: Registering and finding partners on the portal.
Pillar I / II / III (HE)
The three parts of Horizon Europe: Pillar I, Excellent Science, with the ERC, MSCA and research infrastructures; Pillar II, Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness, with six thematic clusters and the Joint Research Centre; and Pillar III, Innovative Europe, with the EIC, the EIT and European innovation ecosystems. See: Success rates by pillar.
Priority (Erasmus+) (E+)
A policy theme a KA220 project commits to serve. Every application must address at least one priority, chosen from the four horizontal priorities or from the sector-specific priorities that the annual Programme Guide lists for higher education, school education, vocational training, adult education and youth. See: The 2026 priorities by sector.
Programme Guide (E+)
The annual Erasmus+ rulebook that sets eligibility, priorities, award criteria and lump sums for every action; the 2026 edition was published in November 2025. Its Part D contains the official glossary of common terms, and applications are assessed against the edition in force at the call deadline. See: How to read the Programme Guide.
R
Reserve list (HE)
The ranked list of proposals that scored above all thresholds but could not be funded within the call budget; they are funded if budget becomes available, for example when a higher-ranked project withdraws. The MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 placed 261 proposals on the reserve list. See: Horizon Europe success rates.
RIA (HE)
Research and Innovation Action: a Horizon Europe type of action that establishes new knowledge or explores the feasibility of a technology, product or process, typically ending around TRL 3 to 5. RIAs are funded at 100 percent of eligible costs and use a 40-page Part B in 2026-27. See: Part B, section by section.
Reporting period (HE)
The interval, usually 18 months, at the end of which the consortium submits a periodic report and the Commission makes an interim payment. In lump-sum grants a work package is paid at the end of the reporting period in which it is declared complete, which makes work package timing a cash-flow decision. See: Splitting work packages by reporting period.
S
Seal of Excellence (HE)
A certificate awarded to proposals that passed all evaluation thresholds but could not be funded within the call budget, in schemes that provide it such as the EIC Accelerator and the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships. Several national and regional funders use it to fund the proposal without a new evaluation. See: Above threshold but unfunded.
Sector priorities (E+)
The Erasmus+ priorities specific to each field of education, training and youth, listed annually in the Programme Guide alongside the horizontal priorities. A KA220 application selects the single most relevant priority and, optionally, up to two more, and the choice shapes how relevance is scored. See: KA220 priorities by sector.
SEDIA (Portal)
The Single Electronic Data Interchange Area, the Commission's back-end for the Funding and Tenders Portal that stores calls, topics, organisations and grants for all centrally managed EU programmes. Its public API is what the Proposia open-calls feed reads every night to list new EU calls. See: See the open-calls feed.
Small-scale partnership (E+)
See KA210. The lighter Erasmus+ Key Action 2 format for organisations with little or no experience of EU projects, with two partners from two countries and lump sums of EUR 30,000 or 60,000. See: KA210 next to KA220.
Stage 1 / two-stage call (HE)
A submission procedure in which applicants first send a 10-page outline that is evaluated on Excellence and Impact only, each with a threshold of 4 out of 5, and only successful consortia are invited to submit the full proposal. In 2026-27 the first stage is evaluated blind. See: Writing the stage-1 proposal.
Strand (CERV)
One of the four programme areas of CERV: Union values; equality, rights and gender equality; citizens' engagement and participation; and Daphne, which combats violence including gender-based violence and violence against children. Each strand publishes its own calls with distinct eligibility rules. See: CERV strands and 2026 calls.
Subcontracting (HE)
Buying a task of the action from a third party at market conditions. Core tasks of the project must not be subcontracted, every subcontract must be described and justified in table 3.1g, and subcontracting costs are excluded from the base on which the 25 percent indirect costs are calculated. See: Why subcontracting is outside the indirect base.
T
Task (HE)
A sub-unit of a work package with a lead partner, participants and a quantified amount of work, described in table 3.1b. The template asks for every task to be quantified, for example the number of protocols, tests, measurements or publications, so that resources can be justified and progress monitored. See: Work packages and tasks, worked example.
Threshold (HE)
The minimum score a proposal must reach to be considered for funding: by default 3 out of 5 on each criterion and 10 out of 15 overall, both conditions together. First-stage proposals in two-stage calls need 4 out of 5 on both criteria, and the MSCA Doctoral Networks introduced a per-criterion threshold from the 2026 call. See: Why 3/3/3 fails.
Topic (HE)
The specific call line to which a proposal is submitted, identified by a code such as HORIZON-CL4-2025-04-DATA-02, with its own scope, expected outcomes, budget and type of action. Success rates vary from topic to topic far more than from cluster to cluster. See: Per-topic success rates.
TRL (HE)
Technology Readiness Level, the nine-point scale from basic principles observed (1) to a system proven in an operational environment (9), defined in the work programme General Annexes. Research and Innovation Actions usually end around TRL 3 to 5 and Innovation Actions around 6 to 7, and section 1.1 should state the level at start and end. See: Where TRL goes in section 1.1.
W
Widening countries (HE)
The 15 Member States with lower research and innovation performance, plus the outermost regions and a list of associated countries, that are eligible for the WIDERA actions such as Teaming, Twinning, ERA Chairs and the hop-on facility. Widening countries account for about 26 percent of Horizon Europe submissions. See: Widening versus non-widening success rates.
Work package (WP) (HE | E+)
A bundle of related tasks with a lead participant, start and end months, person-months, deliverables and, often, milestones, listed in table 3.1a and described in table 3.1b. In KA220 the form uses work packages too, with work package 1 reserved for project management. See: Six work packages, fully worked.
Work programme (HE)
The document, usually covering two years, that sets out the topics, budgets, deadlines and conditions for every part of Horizon Europe; the 2026-2027 work programme was adopted on 11 December 2025. Its General Annexes hold the admissibility, eligibility, award and page-limit rules that apply across all calls. See: What changed in 2026-27.
Terms that mean different things in different programmes
Consortia that work across Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ trip over the same half-dozen words. The table gives the meaning in each programme so that a partner from one world can read a form from the other.
| Term | Horizon Europe | Erasmus+ | CERV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Partner / participant | Beneficiary (signs the grant), affiliated entity or associated partner (no funding) | Applicant organisation plus partner organisations; all listed in the form, funded through the applicant | Coordinator and beneficiaries as in Horizon Europe; associated partners possible |
| Work package | Tables 3.1a and 3.1b: lead, person-months, start and end month, tasks, deliverables | Form sections with activities, results and a share of the lump sum; WP1 is project management | Free-form work plan in Part B, often with work packages |
| Lump sum | Type 1 fixed in the call or Type 2 proposed per work package; paid on completion | Fixed tiers chosen at application (EUR 120,000, 250,000 or 400,000 for KA220); reporting on results | Mostly actual costs; some calls use lump sums per activity |
| ESR | Evaluation Summary Report | Not used; the National Agency sends an evaluation report | Evaluation Summary Report, as on the Funding and Tenders Portal |
| Coordinator | Beneficiary that submits, signs first and distributes payments | The applicant organisation that signs with its National Agency | Coordinator as in Horizon Europe, contracting with EACEA |
| Associated partner | Takes part without EU funding; listed in Part A; DESCA HE AP 2.0 | Contributes without funding and without being a formal partner | Takes part without funding; listed in the application |
Acronym sheet
Expansions only, for copying into a proposal or a briefing. Definitions are in the entries above.
| Acronym | Expansion | Programme |
|---|---|---|
| ADU | Adult education (Erasmus+ sector) | Erasmus+ |
| CA | Consortium agreement | Horizon Europe |
| CERV | Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme | CERV |
| CSA | Coordination and Support Action | Horizon Europe |
| DEC | Dissemination, exploitation and communication (also a deliverable type) | Horizon Europe |
| DMP | Data Management Plan | Horizon Europe |
| DN | Doctoral Networks | MSCA |
| EACEA | European Education and Culture Executive Agency | Erasmus+, CERV |
| ECHE | Erasmus Charter for Higher Education | Erasmus+ |
| EIC | European Innovation Council | Horizon Europe |
| EIT | European Institute of Innovation and Technology | Horizon Europe |
| ENGO | European non-governmental organisation | Erasmus+ |
| ERA | European Research Area | Horizon Europe |
| ERC | European Research Council | Horizon Europe |
| ESR | Evaluation Summary Report / Early-Stage Researcher (legacy) | Horizon Europe / MSCA |
| FSTP | Financial Support to Third Parties (cascade funding) | Horizon Europe |
| GA | Grant Agreement | All |
| GAP | Grant Agreement Preparation | Horizon Europe |
| HED | Higher education (Erasmus+ sector) | Erasmus+ |
| IA | Innovation Action | Horizon Europe |
| KA1 / KA2 / KA3 | Key Action 1 / 2 / 3 | Erasmus+ |
| KSO | Key Strategic Orientation | Horizon Europe |
| LEAR | Legal Entity Appointed Representative | Portal |
| MGA | Model Grant Agreement | Horizon Europe |
| MSCA | Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions | Horizon Europe |
| NA | National Agency | Erasmus+ |
| NCP | National Contact Point | Horizon Europe |
| OID | Organisation ID | Erasmus+ |
| PF | Postdoctoral Fellowships | MSCA |
| PIC | Participant Identification Code | Portal |
| PM | Person-month | Horizon Europe |
| PU / SEN | Public / Sensitive (dissemination levels) | Horizon Europe |
| RIA | Research and Innovation Action | Horizon Europe |
| SCH | School education (Erasmus+ sector) | Erasmus+ |
| SEDIA | Single Electronic Data Interchange Area | Portal |
| SoE | Seal of Excellence | Horizon Europe |
| TRL | Technology Readiness Level | Horizon Europe |
| VET | Vocational education and training (Erasmus+ sector) | Erasmus+ |
| WIDERA | Widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area | Horizon Europe |
| WP | Work package (also work programme in Horizon Europe) | All |
Page limits at a glance
| Programme / action | Limit | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Horizon Europe RIA / IA (single stage or second stage) | 40 pages | 45 pages for lump-sum topics; title, participants and sections 1-3 together |
| Horizon Europe CSA | 25 pages | 28 pages for lump-sum topics |
| Horizon Europe first stage of a two-stage call | 10 pages | Sections 1 and 2 only; evaluated blind |
| Horizon Europe Programme Co-fund | 65 pages | As reported by criteri.ai from the General Annexes |
| Erasmus+ KA220 Cooperation Partnership | Online form | Per-field character limits in the National Agency form; no page count |
| Erasmus+ Centres of Vocational Excellence | 120 pages | Part B of the EACEA application |
Frequently asked questions
- What is a person-month in Horizon Europe?
- One person working full time for one month. Proposals usually plan on 220 working days a year, and the grant agreement's daily-rate formula for reporting uses 215 days a year. In lump-sum budgets one person-month is treated as one item of personnel cost.
- What is the difference between a deliverable and a milestone?
- A deliverable is an output, usually a report, sent to the Commission for monitoring and listed in table 3.1c with a type and dissemination level. A milestone is a verifiable control point in the project, listed in table 3.1d with a means of verification, that marks progress or a decision.
- What is a lump-sum grant?
- A Horizon Europe grant paid as a fixed amount per work package when the work package is completed, instead of reimbursing recorded costs. In Type 1 the amount is set in the call; in Type 2 the consortium proposes it in a detailed budget table. Erasmus+ lump sums are fixed tiers chosen at application.
- What is the difference between a PIC and an OID?
- A PIC is the nine-digit Participant Identification Code from the Funding and Tenders Portal, used for Horizon Europe, CERV and centralised Erasmus+ actions. An OID is the Organisation ID from the Erasmus+ platform, used for decentralised Erasmus+ actions managed by National Agencies. Many organisations need both.
- What is the difference between a RIA, an IA and a CSA?
- A Research and Innovation Action creates new knowledge and is funded at 100 percent. An Innovation Action demonstrates and pilots close to market and is funded at 70 percent for profit-making entities. A Coordination and Support Action funds networking and policy activities at 100 percent and contains no research.
- What is the Seal of Excellence?
- A certificate given to proposals that passed every evaluation threshold but could not be funded within the call budget, in schemes such as the EIC Accelerator and the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships. National and regional funders may use it to fund the project without re-evaluating it.
- What are the Erasmus+ horizontal priorities?
- Inclusion and diversity; environment and fight against climate change; addressing digital transformation; and common values, civic engagement and participation. Every KA220 project must address at least one horizontal or sector-specific priority.
- Where is the official glossary?
- For Erasmus+, Part D of the annual Programme Guide. For Horizon Europe, the definitions page of the Part B template and the Horizon Europe Programme Guide. The Funding and Tenders Portal also has a glossary of portal and grant-management terms.
Sources
- European Commission, Standard Application Form (HE RIA and IA), Part B — PDF, version 5.1, 22 January 2026; definitions of deliverable, milestone, outcomes, impacts and pathway; type and dissemination codes; page limits
- European Commission, Horizon Europe Programme Guide — PDF; open science, gender equality plans, eligibility and financial capacity rules
- European Commission, Lump sum funding in Horizon Europe: what do I need to know? — PDF slides, version 3.0, June 2024
- Erasmus+ Programme Guide 2026, Part D: glossary of common terms — 82 official Erasmus+ definitions
- Erasmus+ Programme Guide 2026 (full PDF) — PDF, November 2025
- Erasmus+ Programme Guide, Key Action 2: Cooperation Partnerships — Award criteria, points, thresholds and lump sums for KA220
- Erasmus+ Programme Guide, Key Action 2: Partnerships for cooperation (priorities) — Horizontal and sector-specific priorities
- DESCA model consortium agreement for Horizon Europe — DESCA HE 2.1 (February 2026) and DESCA HE AP 2.0 (August 2025)
- Horizon Europe NCP Portal, Horizon Europe Glossary (Bridge2HE) — NCP-authored glossary PDF, 2021
- European Commission, Research and innovation data on framework programme participation (widening) — PDF, data to 31 March 2025; widening definitions and shares
- EMDESK Academy, Person-months in EU projects: definition and how to calculate — Secondary; 220 versus 215 working days explained with examples
- CASRAI Dictionary, Person-months in Horizon Europe — Secondary
Founder & CEO, Proposia.ai
PhD researcher and Associate Professor in Computer Science, working at the intersection of algorithm design, applied mathematics, and machine learning. With Proposia.ai, I aim to transform research ideas into scalable AI solutions that support innovation and discovery.