INTRODUCTION
The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Exploration Science element is a key component of the Explore2040 strategy, supporting scientific research that advances both space exploration and fundamental scientific knowledge. The programme combines exploration-focused science, which addresses the knowledge and capabilities required for future human exploration missions, with exploration-enabled science, which leverages exploration platforms and infrastructure to enable research across a broad range of disciplines.
Exploration Science encompasses activities across multiple destinations and environments, ranging from the microgravity conditions of low Earth orbit to the lunar surface and, ultimately, Mars. The programme supports scientific investigations conducted aboard the International Space Station, future commercial low Earth orbit platforms, lunar orbital and surface infrastructures, and other exploration missions, providing access to unique research environments that cannot be replicated on Earth.
Exploration Science is guided by European principles of scientific excellence, international collaboration, responsible exploration, and open science. It aims to generate knowledge that enhances our understanding of the universe, supports the development of future exploration capabilities, and contributes to addressing challenges that benefit society on Earth. In parallel, Exploration Science seeks to inspire future generations and strengthen Europe's role in the global exploration endeavour.
Through its portfolio of missions, facilities, and research opportunities, ESA’s Exploration Science element enables the scientific community to address fundamental questions in the physical, life, and planetary sciences while supporting the long-term goals of human and robotic exploration beyond Earth.
This Campaign serves to submit proposal for a co-sponsored research PhD activity relevant to Exploration Science.
OBJECTIVE OF THIS CALL
This call aims to solicit research proposals that align with the ESA Explore 2040 Strategy (Annex 1).
The ESA Explore2040 strategy implements two streams of science:
- Exploration-focused science addresses the needs of ESA in order to meet its exploration objectives. Any research generating knowledge or achieving outcomes required to inform decisions relating to ESA exploration missions, studies, technology developments, operations and strategy fits into this category.
- Exploration-enabled science leverages the capabilities of the existing ESA platforms to conduct excellent science.
Proposals submitted in the framework of this AO can present research related to Exploration-Focused Science Themes, Exploration-Enabled Science Themes, or both.
Specific topics of interest has been identified in the table below.
The proposal must present a clear research question, state of the art and background, task description and research plan, the scientific résumé of the researcher, confirmation from the prime contractor or hosting university through a letter of support, and a proposed budget including the required co-funding commitment.
SCIENCE OPPORTUNITIES FOR THIS CALL
The PhD proposal should demonstrate scientific excellence, relevance to ESA’s Human and Robotic Exploration priorities, see table below, feasibility within a typical three-year doctoral framework, and credible implementation through co-funding and, where relevant, industrial collaboration.
Proposal framework: The co-funded PhD scheme supports externally driven research activities that are scientifically relevant to ESA’s Exploration Programme and implemented with a hosting university or other eligible research entity. The activity is expected to be structured as a doctoral research project, with ESA contributing up to 50% of the budget and up to a maximum ESA contribution of 90 k€.
Duration: PhD activities are typically planned for three years but the duration can be decided on a case by case basis. The proposal should include a realistic research and implementation plan covering the full duration of the doctoral work.
Implementation: Funded activities are implemented via a Cooperative Agreement with the selected entity. The hosting university or prime contractor must understand and accept the co-funding conditions before the proposal is marked ready for evaluation.
APPLICATION PROCESS
The proposal should be aligned with ESA’s Human and Robotic Exploration strategy Explore 2024 and should clearly explain the scientific objectives, research plan, expected value for ESA, and the implementation approach with the hosting institution and co-funding partners.
Application deadline: Applications must be submitted in OSIP no later than 30 October 2026 , 16:00 CET.
Evaluation timing: ESA may start the evaluation of ideas as soon as they are submitted and marked ready for evaluation in OSIP; After the deadline , no applications will be accepted.
Preparing the proposal
The proposal is typically prepared by the hosting institution, university or research institute, with possible input from the prospective PhD student.
Applicant should complete the proposal template in OSIP by developing the pre-filled idea form into a full research proposal. All fields are mandatory and proposals should only be marked ready for evaluation once complete.
Applicants should also assess whether the proposed activity could benefit from ESA laboratories and platforms or an agreed stay at ESA. Note that this needs to be proposed and agreed by ESA in advance. The decision for this will be made on a case-by-case basis and will be driven by need and added value, as well as feasibility.
The hosting university and all relevant legal or contractual stakeholders should be involved before submission, to ensure that the co-funding conditions and Cooperative Agreement framework are understood and accepted. A template of the Cooperative Agreement is attached to the call.
Required proposal content
A complete proposal should contain all mandatory information required by the idea form and supporting documentation expected for evaluation.
In particular, the proposal should include:
- A clear research question
- The state of the art and background
- Task description and research plan
- Explain the expected benefit of the proposed work to ESA’s Explore2040 Strategy and the table below.
for the second phase :
- The scientific résumé of the PhD student
- The name and agreement of the prime contractor or hosting university, supported by a letter of support
- A proposed budget, including the co-funding commitment (maximum 50% ESA contribution and up to a maximum total ESA contribution of 90 k€)
- Industrial partners, including letters of interest or co-funding commitments where applicable (optional but highly recommended)
Proposals are evaluated by an ESA evaluation board and, if selected, implemented through a Cooperative Agreement.
The review committee will consist of members with diverse areas of expertise. Therefore, the application should be written for a general audience of scientists. The application will be evaluated with respect to scientific excellence of the proposed research (feasibility, future impact), and synergies with existing ESA Exploration science and research activities at the selected site.
Process and tentative timeline until contract
Your idea will follow a simple two-phase process consisting of an idea phase and a proposal phase.
First Phase: Idea
The idea phase culminates with the idea evaluation. An evaluation session includes ideas that are marked “ready for evaluation” by their authors. Once under evaluation, an idea can no longer be edited. After evaluation, authors will receive an automatic notification about the outcome from OSIP:
- If the idea is “archived”, it means your idea has not met the minimum evaluation threshold and, consequently, will not be invited to submit a full proposal.
- If the idea is “selected”, authors will be invited to submit a full proposal in a dedicated proposal channel on OSIP. Selected ideas might also see their implementation scheme re-adjusted based on the recommendations of the evaluation board.
Second Phase: Proposal
Authors of ideas which pass the evaluation are invited to mature their idea into a proposal, for which they are given a standardised online proposal template in a dedicated Channel on OSIP. Authors will be able to edit the newly created proposal form (similar to the idea form) in the dedicated Channel – the link to the proposal form will be provided upon idea selection.
The proposals will be subject to a competitive evaluation. Only proposals of very high quality according to the evaluation criteria will be selected for funding. Selected activities are implemented via cooperative agreements.
Once all fields are completed and all required support documents are available, the applicant may mark the proposal as ready for evaluation in OSIP.
- ESA may archive incomplete proposals marked as ready for evaluation, for example where the candidate, letter of support, or other mandatory information is missing.
- Once an evaluation starts, the proposal status changes to Evaluation and further editing is no longer possible.
After this evaluation phase, applicants will be informed via OSIP whether the proposal is selected for funding or archived.
How will selected activities be contractually implemented
The Cooperative Agreement is intended to support externally driven innovation, in particular with universities, research institutes, start-ups and SMEs, where both ESA and the partner benefit from the exchange of know-how during the project, while the partner retains ownership of the results.
Cooperative Agreements provide a streamlined funding request process with short response times and a light implementation process requiring minimum formal reporting.
In case of recommendation for funding by the evaluation board, the next steps are the finalisation of the Cooperative Agreement, signature by ESA and the selected entity, and a kick-off meeting marking the start of the activity.
An example template can be found in the call attachments for reference.
