Widening is the strand of Horizon Europe created to close the participation gap between countries with different research capacity. Ukraine is a Widening country, so Ukrainian institutions may coordinate Twinning, ERA Chairs and Excellence Hubs projects, and join already-funded consortia through the Hop-on Facility.
European funding is distributed unevenly: a handful of countries take a disproportionate share. Widening is the answer to that. It funds partnerships between weaker and stronger research systems, and its calls are built so that only an institution from a Widening country can coordinate.
Ukraine is a Widening country – and where to check
This is the most common source of confusion, because people look in the wrong document. The list of Widening countries is not in the General Annexes – those only list associated countries. Anyone citing the General Annexes for this is citing the wrong text.
The list lives in Part 11 of the work programme, the part devoted to the strand itself. It covers 15 EU Member States and associated countries with comparable R&I performance – and Ukraine is named there explicitly.
The legal chain: topic conditions refer to "Widening countries as defined in the Horizon Europe regulation"; the regulation names the Member States and, for associated countries, points to a list published in the work programme. So Part 11 is the operative source.
Instruments in 2026–2027
Twinning – the largest, around €223m in 2026, projects of €0.8–1.5m, roughly 210 of them. An institution from a Widening country partners with at least two leading European institutions.
ERA Chairs – €175m in 2027, about 80 projects. An institution recruits a recognised scientist to lead a field and bring a team.
Excellence Hubs – €15m in 2026 and €85m in 2027, for regional innovation ecosystems.
Hop-on Facility – €30m, the fastest route into a European project.
Also: ERA Fellowships, a Research Management Facility, ERA Research Managers, and an EIC Pre-accelerator for Widening countries.
Classic Teaming no longer exists
If you are looking for Teaming for Excellence – the large centre-of-excellence instrument – it is not in the 2026–2027 programme. Only Teaming Synergies remains, at €7m, and it is restricted to those who already coordinated a Teaming action. For a newcomer that route is closed.
Hop-on Facility: the rules that decide everything
It lets you join an already-funded project without writing a proposal from scratch. The conditions are strict, and this is where applicants fall out.
The application has exactly two legal entities: yours from a Widening country and the coordinator of an already-funded action. Only Pillar II grants of the main programme or EIC Pathfinder qualify. At the deadline the grant must be between 1 and 12 months old. And crucially, the consortium must not yet include any beneficiary from a Widening country.
The split is fixed too: at least 90% of the grant goes to the new participant, no more than 10% to the coordinator.
The practical conclusion: Hop-on rewards searching more than writing – tracking newly started projects without Widening partners and hitting the twelve-month window.
What this strand does not contain
There is no Ukraine-specific topic in the Widening part of the work programme. The word "Ukraine" appears there exactly once, in the list of Widening countries. Ukraine-specific opportunities exist – five of them – but in other parts of the programme.
Data current as of 27.07.2026. Verify the terms with the donor’s official portal before applying.
Sources
Updated 27.07.2026 · Reviewed by: GetGrant editorial team
