Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society 2026

The rule of law, respect for human rights and democracy are foundational values of the EU laid down in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union. These values provide the Union with principled orientations to meet the inevitable geopolitical economic, social and demographic changes that could not be foreseen at the time the Treaties were drafted. This includes how the digital transformation would affect how the debate and political processes would be shaped.

Democracy is cultural practice as much as it is a political system. It is a key strength of European societies, helping ensure respect for equality, the rule of law, fundamental rights and liberty. Actors with anti-democratic tendencies attack democracies and their institutions because democracy is a safeguard against them[[The 2025 report of the V-Dem Institute (“25 years of Autocratization-Democracy Trumped?”) confirms the appalling signs, indicators and tendencies captured over previous years of measurement: “The trend of the ‘third wave of autocratization’ is deepening and spreading. That includes weakening of democracy in some established liberal democracies, breakdown of democracy in countries that were democratic for most of the 21st century, as well as deepening of autocracy in already autocratic states […] The global democratic decline deepens, regardless of how we slice the data and whichever measure we use” (pp. 9 and 10)]]. Even traditionally well-functioning democracies face many challenges, which means that they also continuously need to adapt as conditions change. Social sciences and humanities (SSH) research plays a crucial role in understanding current challenges and threats and mapping future pathways for innovative solutions. Building on historical, cultural, social, legal and philosophical perspectives, research will foster the further development of democracy with a view to enhancing citizen participation and inclusive policymaking, promoting equality and inclusiveness, addressing the impact of AI and the digital transformation of democracy. It will also reinforce democratic resilience and civic preparedness, and preserve the role of free, independent and plural media as key tenets of democracy, among other objectives.

Expected impact:

Proposals for topics under this destination should set out a credible pathway to contributing to the following expected impact of the Horizon Europe Strategic Plan:

• Reinvigorating democratic governance by improving the independence, accountability, transparency, effectiveness and trustworthiness of institutions and policies based on rule of law, and through the expansion of active and inclusive citizens’ participation and engagement empowered by the safeguarding of fundamental rights.

The aim of the research investment supporting this impact is to develop a robust evidence base that can inform the establishment of effective, relevant and sensible policies, which bolster the resilience of democratic systems and protect them from threats. At the same time, it seeks to foster critical thinking while also reinforcing citizens’ trust in democracy, its institutions, and the sense of political participation in its widest possible sense.

The destination seeks synergies with other relevant EU programmes, in particular for the uptake of research results and innovative solutions developed under Horizon Europe. Interaction – among others – with the following programmes is encouraged: Digital Europe (DIGITAL), Technical Support Instrument, CERV (Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values), Erasmus+, ESF+ and Global Europe: Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument.

Applicants are encouraged to consider, where relevant, the services offered by the current and future EU-funded European Research Infrastructures, particularly those in the social sciences and humanities domain^[1]. Where applicable, proposals should leverage the data and services available through European Research Infrastructures federated under the European Open Science Cloud, as well as data from relevant Data Spaces.

As the destination aims directly at citizen engagement and at producing lasting change, it is of particular importance that the research and innovation actions promote the highest standards of transparency and openness. Particular efforts should be made to ensure that the data produced in the context of this destination is FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable). When applicable, it is encouraged to open up the process, criteria, methodologies and data to civil society in the course of the research.

To maximise the impacts of R&I under this Destination in line with EU priorities, international cooperation is encouraged whenever relevant in the proposed topics.

[1] For a full list see https://ri-portfolio.esfri.eu/ri-portfolio/table. In the social sciences domain, see for example: CESSDA - Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives (https://www.cessda.eu/), ESS – European Social Survey (https://www.europeansocialsurvey.org/), SHARE - Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (https://www.share-eric.eu/) or the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (https://ehri-project.eu/)

Expected Outcome:

Projects should contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• Reinforced digital transformation of the news media industry by facilitating the development of new business models, contributing to a more resilient and inclusive democracies.
• Citizens, particularly those facing systemic disadvantages, are empowered and better equipped to make informed decisions, and news media’s role as contributor to a healthy, reinvigorated and fair democracy is enhanced.
• Stronger engagement with emerging media creators (such as influencers and other online content producers) to promote transparency and accountability in their role in sharing information, and to foster reliance on trustworthy media sources.

Scope:

Democracies are at risk when reliable and independent journalism is at risk. Yet, in order to be truly independent, media need sustainable financing models. At present, journalistic newsrooms are under severe economic pressure. Social media forces them to compete for citizens’ attention with other forms of infotainment, which sometimes entail unverified opinions and low-quality or malicious sources. To promote a well-informed democratic debate, citizens must be able to distinguish quality journalism abiding by professional standards, from opinion pieces and other forms of content, as free speech can thrive in ecosystems that enhance access to verified information and empower citizens to recognise it. Such ecosystems need to help distinguish sources that apply journalistic principles, including methods to ensure accuracy, independence, objectivity, impartiality, inclusivity and plural viewpoints.

To compete in the digital age, European media need to embrace innovation. The Commission’s 2023 European Media industry outlook^[1] signalled that “an early adoption and usage of new technologies is key to adapt and open new markets”. Thus, applicants are invited to work together with news media organisations from the start to enhance innovation across the news media sectors, including by designing industrial and user-driven applications, on areas and aspects such as:

a) development and take up of methods to recognise content produced with journalistic standards (e.g. through trust indicators, browser plugins, etc.), to categorise such content (e.g. through industry-led crawlers, common taxonomies, metadata standards, etc.) and to promote such content (e.g. through inclusive and transparent news-oriented algorithms, recommender systems that show multiple views and prioritise quality information);

b) identification of AI models that can help media build attractive services (e.g. chat bots, search tools, aggregators) and other relevant models which can generate revenues (e.g. dynamic paywalls, advertising, copyright revenues, etc.);

c) innovative methods to ensure user-centric design and user engagement strategies, in compliance with journalistic standards;

d) roll-out of these models and methods towards the development of truly pan-European innovative platforms and/or interoperable standards within the project lifetime;

e) initiatives to federate media industries along a joint innovation agenda.

Innovation projects should focus on concrete ways to help journalistic content serve democracy by addressing aspects such as:

• ensuring that journalistic content remains economically viable in AI-intermediated information spaces;
• ensuring that journalistic content retains relevance and prominence in AI-driven search tools and future information ecosystems in Europe;
• ensuring that algorithms based on journalistic standards (such as accuracy and inclusion) are developed enhancing professional journalism and preserving a trustworthy information ecosystem;
• making sure that citizens are presented with multiple views online to make well-informed decisions;
• development and integration of journalistic trust indicators in recommender systems, browsers and/or European news aggregators;
• take-up of recommender systems that prioritise trusted sources and professional journalism;
• development of better digital advertising business models for news producers, through proprietary systems that offer more brand safety and sufficiently detailed feedback to advertisers through joint metadata and audience measurement tools;
• development of EU-level business case studies, explaining their impact on creation of advertising revenues, subscription revenues, etc.;
• development and adoption of prototypes for recommender systems, proprietary crawlers, proprietary metadata generators, paywalls, advertising systems or other revenue-generating systems that can strengthen the economic viability of journalism.

Proposals are encouraged to investigate the behavioural dimensions of news consumption, focusing on how reader habits, trust, and perceptions influence engagement with journalism. This may include examining the role of behavioural science in designing interventions (such as nudges, gamification, or educational tools) to counter misinformation and strengthen critical thinking among audiences. Proposals are also encouraged to explore the evolving trust dynamics between human-curated journalism and AI-driven news delivery, addressing how public perceptions of reliability, bias, and transparency differ across these sources.

Where relevant, proposals are encouraged to investigate the need for transparency and accountability mechanisms for influencers and content creators who rely on media content in their work. This may entail advocating for clear disclosure of sources, partnerships, and potential biases, as well as fostering collaboration between content creators and media actors, to amplify the visibility and credibility of reliable information sources, ensuring audiences are informed by fact-based, ethically produced content.

Projects are encouraged to involve the relevant parts of the news media ecosystems to ensure take-up of the proposed models. All news media segments are eligible under this action (public, private media, sectoral media, etc) and collaboration across segments and across borders is encouraged. The participation in the consortia of research and academic actors from relevant disciplines, such as information science and media studies, as well as tech companies (e.g. ad-tech or other) to build workable prototypes, and SSH, is strongly encouraged. Where applicable, applicants should leverage the data and services available through European Research Infrastructures federated under the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), as well as data from relevant Data Spaces.

Clustering and cooperation among the selected projects under this topic are strongly encouraged.

[1] The European Media Industry Outlook | Shaping Europe’s digital future