Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society - 2027

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:

• Key data gaps affecting the news media sectors at European level are addressed and all relevant stakeholders dispose of an updated and comprehensive knowledge base.
• Users’ consumption patterns of news are identified (online and offline).
• News media organisations and journalists are equipped with better knowledge and tools to adapt to digital transformation, to reach new audiences and to ensure a more resilient public sphere, especially for news sectors that are of particular relevance for democracy.

Scope:

Free and independent news media are key tenets of our democracies as they keep citizens informed, facilitate civic engagement across all democratic processes, and keep under scrutiny those in power. At present, journalistic newsrooms are under severe economic pressure and they face increasing forms of political influence and threats against media pluralism and independence. 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. This is particularly affecting forms of journalism relying on original content, which takes more time and resources to produce (e.g. local media, investigative journalism, public interest news, journalistic magazines, etc.). There is evidence of market failures affecting these sectors, with phenomena such as emerging news deserts, limited coverage of certain regions and/or societal groups and newsrooms closing. As a result, certain societal groups are underserved in the media landscape, so the proposed research will benefit from adopting an intersectional approach.

There are still important quantitative and qualitative data gaps at European level that can help the news media sectors address these concerns, including accurate diagnoses of the challenges and opportunities for the news sectors. The Commission’s 2023 European Media Industry Outlook^[1] signalled that “the future competitiveness of this sector will depend on its capacity to invest and innovate, as well as to manage and monetise content and data”. Applicants are invited to contribute to enhancing innovation across the news media sectors, in particular by addressing data gaps, researching inspirational examples of scalable models and testing industrial models that can advance financial independence as well as editorial independence. This should include areas and aspects such as:

a) providing comparable European consumer data, market data and models to analyse audience behaviour (including audience measurement tools) across societal groups and across Europe, so as to help news media improve their relevance, editorial quality, distribution channels and business models (including emerging formats, mediums, and technologies such as AI and XR);

b) identification of market failures in news sectors of specific relevance to democracy, such as local media and investigative journalism, mapping of priority regions and/or themes, identification and analysis of business models that can address them;

c) development, prototyping and testing of small-scale innovative user-centric business models that foster the involvement of citizens in high quality information production, monetisation, distribution and consumption (including community-based, local and accessible solutions, either physical or online);

d) mapping and development of audience measurement systems, concrete suggestions to increase interoperability of tools and systems around common standards, and proposals for metadata taxonomies, to federate the news sectors and improve their negotiation power vis-à-vis tech and advertising companies.

e) sharing of conclusions and concrete, hands-on action plans and practices for the industry and policy makers, through regular consultation, interactive sessions, active communication, etc.

Consortia should:

• bring together academia (including from SSH disciplines), civil society organisations and multiple news sectors representatives (including influencers and other content creators);
• where applicable, 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;
• ensure that the data produced in the context of this topic is FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable);
• seek collaboration whenever possible with relevant projects selected under previous EU-funded calls, such as the Horizon 2020 call topic TRANSFORMATIONS-10-2020 – “Evolving European media landscapes and Europeanisation” or the Horizon Europe one HORIZON-CL2-2022-DEMOCRACY-01-06 – “Media for democracy – democratic media”.

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

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