French teams can join a new water-research call — with a deadline discrepancy to check

A new international research call on sustainable water management is open to teams involving French partners. Water4All launched the call on 8 September, with 32 funding organisations participating. Its focus is research and innovation: this is not an emergency assistance scheme or a promise of immediate improvements to local water supplies.

The programme’s themes cover monitoring, nature-based approaches, infrastructure and governance. It explicitly excludes extreme events and circularity from this call’s scope. Applicants should therefore read the topic definitions carefully rather than assume that every water-related proposal qualifies.

What the French annex provides

For France, the national annex identifies the Agence Nationale de la Recherche as the funder and lists a €1.5 million contribution. It requires the consortium to include at least one French institution participating in the public research service. The annex covers both regular and early-career modalities.

The same French rules generally cap requested ANR support at €300,000 per proposal, rising to €400,000 when a French partner coordinates it. These are funding limits, not awards already made. International consortium conditions and national eligibility requirements both apply; passing one set does not remove the other.

Confirm the deadline before submitting

There is an important inconsistency in the published timetable. The call webpage and launch announcement give 10 November 2026 at 15:00 CET for pre-proposals, while the cover of the national-regulations PDF, version 2.0 dated 10 September, says 12 November at the same time. WHIF cannot resolve that discrepancy and applicants should not assume the later date is safe.

An English-language information webinar is scheduled for 17 September, from 14:00 to 16:00 CEST, according to the official call page. It is an opportunity to ask about eligibility and the deadline discrepancy. The programme says the session will be recorded, with slides available the following week.

The indicative schedule places funding selections in September 2027 and project starts in late 2027 or early 2028. The immediate news is the opening of a research opportunity, not completed environmental work. Our three sources are documents from the same funding programme, including its French annex; they are primary guidance rather than independent impact assessments.

Written for WHIF from the linked material. This article does not claim on-the-ground reporting. Our editorial standards.