Subject to approval by the Council of Ministers, the sixth call for proposals of the Defence-related Research Action, DEFRA, will be launched soon.
During two dedicated information days (in Dutch or French), the DEFRA team will present the objectives, the themes and modalities of this sixth call for proposals to researchers from both the public and private sector. It’s an excellent opportunity to start your network!
The sixth call of the DEFRA programme covers the following research themes, with their indicative budget:
| THEMES DEFRA CALL 2026 | Indicative budget (in M€) |
|---|---|
| Theme 1 - Resilient Propulsion Technologies for Strategic Autonomy | 2.0 |
| Theme 2 - Cyber : Advanced Data Management and Intelligence Concepts | 3.0 |
| Theme 3 - Innovative Solutions for Military Medical Logistics in Challenging Environments | 2.0 |
| Theme 4 - Biomanufacturing | 2.0 |
| Theme 5 - Smart energy management, energy optimisation (including optimised storage technologies) | 3.0 |
| Theme 6 - Next generation sensing | 2.0 |
| Theme 7 - Exploring and Integrating Unmanned Systems | 2.0 |
| Theme 8 - Conflict Dynamics & Warning Intelligence | 2.0 |
| Theme 9 - Communications Technology | 2.0 |
| Theme 10 - Open call: Defence relevant research | 6.0 |
| TOTAL | 26.0 |
Proposals can only be introduced in the “Open call: Defence relevant research” if the subject of the proposal does not correspond with one of the other nine themes.
For all themes, projects will have a duration of minimum 2 and maximum 4 years.
| Activity | Deadline |
|---|---|
| Information days (in Dutch or French) | 27 and 28 January 2026 |
| Deadline Pre-proposals | 19 February 2026 (14h00) |
| Communication of evaluation result pre-proposals | 23 March 2026 |
| Deadline Full proposals | 4 May 2026 (14h00) |
| Remote scientific peer review evaluation | 5 May - 1 June 2026 |
| Ethical evaluation | 5 May – 15 June 2026 |
| Feedback to applicants in preparation of panel meeting (consensus reports & questions to applicants) |
30 June 2026 |
| Written feedback by applicants (answers) | 31 July 2026 |
| Panel evaluation, incl. interviews with the applicants | Between 10 August and 2 September 2026 |
| Selection proposal formulated by the scientific committee of the RHID | 10 September 2026 |
| Final selection of proposals by the board of directors of the RHID and allocation of projects | 1 October 2026 |
| Communication of results to applicants | 6 October 2026 |
| Signature contracts | 16 November 2026 |
Call information
Template for the Pre-proposal:
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The pre-proposals as well as the full proposals must be electronically created, elaborated and submitted via the online submission platform.
The templates for the pre-proposal and the full proposal are made available on the website. However, after the evaluation of the pre-proposals, for each pre-defined theme (themes 1 to 9) a maximum of five pre-proposals will be invited to submit a full proposal. For theme 10 “Open call: Defence relevant research” maximum ten pre-proposals will be invited to submit a full proposal.
A new submission platform is being developed. More information will follow soon.
