IUC 2026 - Stage 3 - Call for Fully Fledged Proposals

An IUC project, lasting 12 years, is developed via different phases:

The annual budgets for the IUC 2026 Phase 1 projects will be variable. In year 1, a budget of  € 700,000 is foreseen, and for year 2 to 5, the annual budget stands at € 550.000, meaning that the budget for a first phase of cooperation is up to € 2.900.000. 

The 3rd Stage in the IUC 2026 Call procedure is only directed to selected IUC 2026 Concept Notes. These proposals engaged in an IUC Phase-in since October 2025. The Phase-in consists in preparing the set-up for a long-lasting IUC partnership, and foresees in the successful formulation of IUC Fully Fledged proposals for a first Phase of cooperation of 5 activity years (IUC Phase 1: 2026 – 2031).   

The IUC teams will receive a Kick-off and training on the principles and formats for IUC Phase 1 cooperation, on 19 and 20 January 2026, in Brussels. 

Deadline for the submission of an IUC 2026 Concept Note proposal is 28 May 2026 (17h00 CET).  

1. Partner institutions 

2. Affiliation and statute of the coordinators and Team Leaders 

3. Eligibility of submission  

This stage is also referred to as IUC 2026 Phase 1 proposal 

Applicants are invited to develop a joint (Flemish-partner) IUC Fully Fledged proposal, in fact an IUC Phase 1 project proposal, that builds further on the IUC Concept Note proposal. The focus is on the phasing-in of the IUC partnership and the formulation of a Phase 1 Fully Fledged IUC proposal. 

Project teams get the chance, based on the recommendations of the IUC Stage 2 Selection Commission, and supported by VLIRUOS, to engage in a collective formulation procedure, leading to a final Fully Fledged IUC proposal for a 1st Five-Year phase of cooperation from 2026 to 2031, and to prepare the operational and managerial set-up and support structure (Project Support Unit) of the IUC partnership.  

• The IUC selection procedure follows a 3-stage procedure. This Call for proposals concerns the IUC 2026 Stage 3 Fully Fledged proposals for a Phase 1 cooperation programme (2026-2021). 6 IUC proposals were selected for this stage. 

• The proposals will be assessed by the IUC Selection and Assessment Commission but this is no longer a competitive stage, the focus is on quality assessment.  

• The maximum number of selectable IUC2026  Phase 1 projects remains at 6, meaning that if quality standards are reached, all 6 IUC Phase-in projects will move into a first phase of 5 year cooperation, IUC Phase 1. 

• Timing: the assessment meeting will take place, indicative, end of June/early July 2026. 

• More details on the selection criteria and descriptors are included in the Call document under section 7. 

The proposal needs to use/contain all information incl. annexes as requested by the call. The maximum budget and project duration foreseen in the formats is to be respected.  

More details are available in the Call document. 

The link will only become available in January 2026!