Target group
The funding program is aimed at researchers working in the field of water research at universities and non-academic research institutions.
Funding goals
The Water4All European Partnership aims to provide new knowledge and tools on water to enable evidence-based decision-making. Innovative approaches are to be used to secure the water supply in the long term and to increase citizens’ awareness and commitment in this area.
Funding period and funding amount
The maximum funding period is 36 months. The maximum amount that can be requested for Austrian projects is €400,000.
Requirements
The requirements and specifications for the FWF program Principal Investigator Projects apply.
Information on the current call “Sustainable Water Management”
- Topic 1: Integrated monitoring and assessment for sustainable water management
- Topic 2: Nature-based approaches for resilient water management at hydrological and hydrogeological system scale
- Topic 3: Smart, secure and adaptive water infrastructures
- Topic 4: Resilient water systems through systemic change, policy coherence and inclusive governance
For further details on thematic requirements and restrictions, please see the Water4All website.
Each application must be supported by a minimum of three and a maximum of five seven partners from at least three different participating partner countries, whereby a joint document must be submitted to the central Call Secretariat by the coordinator.
The researchers are funded by their respective national/regional funding organization.
For details, please refer to the Call Text available aThe current list of participating countries is available on t the Water4All website.
Approval
Decided by the Scientific Board based on a recommendation of the Call Secretariat
Application information
Applications must be submitted to both the Call Secretariat and the FWF. This applies to both pre-proposals and full proposals.
Submitting an application to the Call Secretariat
Please see the Water4All website for a link to the Call Secretariat’s application submission system.
There will be a two-step submission and evaluation procedure.
- Pre-proposal submission period: September 8, 2026 until November 10, 2026, 3:00 pm (CET)
- Full-proposal submission deadline: April 6, 2027, 3:00 pm (CET)
- Funding decision: estimated September 2027
Submitting an application to the FWF
In addition to the application submitted to the Call Secretariat, administrative and financial data as well as academic abstracts (in accordance with the FWF guidelines for Principal Investigator Projects) must also be submitted to the FWF using the online portal elane. A brief explanation of how the proposed Austrian subproject constitutes basic research must be included in the pre-proposal application.
- In the pre-proposal stage, proposals are submitted under the program category “PIK – International – Multilateral Initiatives – Pre-Proposal” (deadline November 11, 2026, 2:00 pm Vienna local time).
- For the full proposal stage, applicants must choose the program category “KIN – International – Multilateral Initiatives – Full Proposal” (deadline April 7, 2027, 2:00 pm Vienna local time).
Please note that the research institution must approve the proposal for submission by the deadlines indicated above. To do so, research institutions must be registered on the FWF research institution portal.
Funding institutions
Austrian Science Fund (FWF), Fonds Zukunft Österreich, co-funded by the European Union
Further information
- The maximum amount that can be requested for Austrian principal investigators is €400,000.
- Please see Water4All for further details.
- For general questions about the call, please contact the Joint Call Secretariat (JCS) at water4all.call(at)ptka.kit.edu. If you have specific questions about the budget, the criteria, or individual funding organizations’ requirements, please consult the funding organization directly. Contact details for the funding organizations, as well as the national and regional regulations of each funding organization, are listed in the call text on the Water4All website.
