23/04/2026
The Global Research Initiative on Open Science (GRIOS), hosted by the European Science Foundation (ESF), is pleased to announce the launch of its first open call for proposals to conduct in-depth evidence synthesis on key Open Science topics.
Open Science holds great promise for making research more inclusive, transparent, and impactful. Yet while many funders, research organisations, and national and international authorities have adopted Open Science policies, implementing effective strategies remains challenging. Policymakers need a solid evidence base to guide their decisions — and that evidence is often lacking.
GRIOS was established to address this gap. Its objectives are to synthesise existing knowledge on Open Science worldwide, formulate evidence-based policy recommendations, and propose a research agenda to fill current knowledge gaps.
This call will fund evidence synthesis on two priority topics identified by GRIOS funders and its Academic Advisory Board:
The call is open to individual researchers, research teams, organisations, consultancies, and consortia from all countries. GRIOS seeks proposals grounded in rigorous, transparent methods and Open Science practices. One review will be funded per topic, with a maximum budget of €80,000 per project. Projects are expected to run for 12 months.
Submissions are open from 23 April until 20 July 2026 (16:00h CEST).
Proposals must be submitted via the SmartSimple platform: https://esf.smartsimple.ie
The full guidelines for applicants, the application template and instructions for the SmartSimple Platform are available for downloading below:
Interested applicants may submit questions for clarification to npappleroy@esf.org until 20 May 2026 at 16h00 CEST. These questions and answers will be shared on the call’s webpage.
The Global Research Initiative on Open Science (GRIOS) is a new initiative that aims to advance Open Science practices and policies by reviewing and synthesising existing evidence about Open Science and identifying obstacles to its widespread uptake. GRIOS will enable funders, research organisations, and policymakers to optimise their Open Science strategies for maximum impact and effectiveness. In addition, GRIOS aims to identify knowledge gaps and federate the global research-on-Open Science communities around a common research agenda. GRIOS emerged from G7 work on Research on Research and Open Science.
