Programme Category
Programme Name
Programme Description
Horizon Europe is the European Union (EU) funding programme for the period 2021 – 2027, which targets the sectors of research and innovation. The programme’s budget is around € 95.5 billion, of which € 5.4 billion is from NextGenerationEU to stimulate recovery and strengthen the EU’s resilience in the future, and € 4.5 billion is additional aid.
Identifier Code
Call
Summary
Police Authorities deal with a growing complexity of crime scenes containing various types of trace evidence items that can also present safety hazards for the forensic experts and crime scene investigators. There is a need to improve these processes and make them more accurate, effective and sensitive in such a complex scenario, by employing modern approaches, for instance (but not limited to) nanotechnology, next generation sequencing or Artificial Intelligence. Also there is a need to modernise forensic science for the professionalisation of crime scene investigations.
Detailed Call Description
A way to modernise forensic science for the professionalisation of crime scene investigations is through improving the understanding of the underlying phenomena governing the transfer of material from a surface to another, persistence of material once transferred, recovery process of the material as well as characterisation and expectations regarding the background noise.
Regarding transfer, persistence and background abundance, two different types of developments are needed:
- of ground truth datasets accessible to the scientific community to support interpretation at the activity level for transfer of microtraces (paint, glass, soil), biological traces (body fluids, DNA), biometric traces (fingermarks, shoemarks), chemical traces (drugs, explosives, ignitable liquids);
- of methods of biological fluid (blood, semen, saliva, urine, etc.) identification for advanced forensic applications.
The proposed activities should take into account the European dimension regarding harmonisation of the approach and cross-border acceptance of the collected evidence. A special attention has to be given to applicable legislation, ethics and fundamental rights, as well as to the well-documented use of scientific method to enhance transparency in the establishing of forensic evidence. The testing and/or piloting of the tools and solutions developed in a real setting with one or more Police Authorities and other relevant authorities is an asset; regardless, actions should foresee how they will facilitate the uptake, replication across setting and up-scaling of the capabilities – i.e. solutions, tools, processes et al. – to be developed by the project.
Call Total Budget
Financing percentage by EU or other bodies / Level of Subsidy or Loan
70%
Expected EU contribution: €7 million
Thematic Categories
- Justice - Security
- Research, Technological Development and Innovation
Eligibility for Participation
- Central Government
- Local Authorities
- Researchers/Research Centers/Institutions
- State-owned Enterprises
Eligibility For Participation Notes
This topic requires the active involvement, as beneficiaries, of at least 2 Police Authorities and at least 2 forensic institutes from at least 3 different EU Member States or Associated countries. For these participants, applicants must fill in the table “Eligibility information about practitioners” in the application form with all the requested information, following the template provided in the submission IT tool.
Some activities, resulting from this topic, may involve using classified background and/or producing of security sensitive results (EUCI and SEN).
Call Opening Date
Call Closing Date
National Contact Point(s)
Research and Innovation Foundation
29a Andrea Michalakopoulou, 1075 Nicosia
P.O.Box 23422, 1683 Nicosia
Phone Number: +357 22205000
Email Address: support@research.org.cy
Website: https://www.research.org.cy/en/
Contact Persons:
Dr. Ioannis Theodorou
Scientific Officer
Contact Phone: +357 22 20 50 38
Contact Email: itheodorou@research.org.cy
Christakis Theocharous
Scientific Officer A’
Contact Phone: +357 22 20 50 29
Contact Email: ctheocharous@research.org.cy
EU Contact Point
European Commission, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation
https://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/research-and-innovation_en#contact