A brief overview of the different WaterJPI calls
Since its creation in 2011 different calls have been launched. A quick overview of them is provided below.
The first one, in 2013, the Pilot Call, had for topic “Emerging water contaminants - anthropogenic pollutants and pathogens” (all documents related to this call can be found here). This call funded seven projects for a total budget of 9€ million.
The second joint call, WaterWorks2014, was launched in March 2015, and was funded by the EC under Horizon 2020. This Era-Net cofund had for aims to tackle European water challenges through the development of transnational and transdisciplinary research and innovation actions in the area of “Developing Technological Solutions and Services for Water Systems”. Topics of the WaterWorks2014:
- Water treatment, reuse, recycling and desalination.
- Water resources management.
Mitigating impacts of extreme events (floods and droughts) at catchment scale. 16 projects were funded under this call.
In February 2016, a third joint call was launched, named WaterWorks2015. This Era-Net cofund aimed to support research on the sustainable management of water resources in agriculture, forestry and freshwater aquaculture sectors, through the funding of 21 projects with a budget of over 17€ million. Supported by 22 countries and co funded by the EC, the scope of this call was around the following challenges:
- Increasing the efficiency and resilience of water uses
- Monitoring and reducing soil and water pollution
Integrating social and economic dimensions into the sustainable management and governance of water resources
The success of those calls led Water JPI members to launch a fourth one, named IC4Water, in February 2019. The focus of this call was on water resource management in support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), around two challenges:
- Multiple pressure effects on ecosystems and ecosystem services as well as effective mitigation – adaptation tools and assessments for implementing the water related targets of the UN SDGs
- Developing accessible solutions for clean water management to address UN SDG6 targets and associated SDGs.
Eight projects were funded as a result of this call.
The fifth call, calledWaterWorks2017, was launched in 2018. Based on the topic “Closing the water cycle gap – sustainable management of water resources”, this call funded 18 projects, covering a wide range of disciplines (from social and economic sciences to nature sciences), for a total amount of over 15.2€ millions.
In 2020, an unprecedented collaboration between the three JPIs, Water, Oceans and Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) and the European Commission, funded 18 projects, on the risks posed to human health and the environment by pollutants and pathogens present in water resources. This call, AquaticPollutants, was awarded with 20€ million.
Finally, the Era-Net Biodiversa and Water JPI launched in October 2020 a joint call called BiodivRestore on the “Conservation and restoration of degraded ecosystems and their biodiversity, including a focus on aquatic systems”. 22 projects were funded.
At this time, WaterWorks2017 is closuring soon, in December 2023, but AquaticPollutants and BiodivRestore are still ongoing!
We will keep you posted on the main results obtained by all these funded projects.
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