The European Research Executive Agency (REA) selected 77 projects to receive a total of €276m in EU funding under Horizon Europe Cluster 2 “Culture, creativity and inclusive society”.
The projects will advance research to:
- Strengthen democratic governance, trust in institutions and protection of fundamental rights
- Promote and protect of cultural heritage, and create jobs in the creative industries
- Tackle social, economic and political inequalities and support human capital development
The projects have now signed their Grant Agreements with the European Commission. Some have already started their work, while others are expected to begin in the coming months.
| Horizon Europe Cluster 2 “Culture, creativity and inclusive society” – 2025 calls | Number of funded projects | Number of funded topics | EU grant amount (in €) |
| Democracy and Governance | 27 | 12 | 94.6 Million |
| European Cultural Heritage and the Cultural and Creative Industries | 22 | 7 | 82.8 Million |
| Social and Economic Transformations | 28 | 10 | 98.7 Million |
| Total | 77 | 29 | 276.25 Million |
What will the selected projects do?
Strengthen democratic resilience and trust
27 projects will investigate topics including polarisation, extremism and hate speech. Moreover, they will look into how to counter disinformation and foreign information manipulation and interference, and how to build trust in democracy through youth participation and democratic engagement.
Promote innovation in cultural heritage and creative industries
22 projects will improve the quality and accessibility of cultural heritage institutions and historical sites. They will also explore and advance the transformative role of arts and culture in fostering peace across Europe and its neighbouring regions, while also shaping the approach to artificial intelligence for the creative and cultural industries.
Ensure inclusive and equal social and economic transformations
28 projects will support studies on inequalities, demographic shifts, and economic resilience, with a key focus on how to make education fairer and more inclusive by improving how policies are tested, designed and used in practice. The goal is to strengthen evidence use, policy learning and inclusive education governance across Europe.
See the full list of funded projects
How were the projects selected?
REA opened three single-stage competitive calls for proposals between May and September 2025. The selected projects received the highest marks in a peer evaluation ran by REA with the help of independent experts.