Health stage-1 evaluation results are out – how to increase your chances for stage 2?
18th February 2026 at 1:55 pm
Two weeks have passed since the stage-1 results for the Horizon Europe Cluster 1 Health two-stage calls were published. Were you invited for submitting the stage-2 proposal in a Horizon Europe Cluster 1 Health? If so, congratulations on this initial achievement. This means that your proposal has passed an initial competitive filter based on relevance and strategic fit. For stage 2, the European Commission now expects a fully developed, implementation-ready proposal that convincingly demonstrates scientific excellence, societal impact and delivery capacity. With the stage-2 submission deadline set for 16 April 2026, consortia face a demanding transition from a short and blinded high-level proposal to a detailed, evaluator-ready full application. This blog explains what your stage-1 success really means, how evaluator expectations change at stage 2, what can still be adapted from your initial proposal, and how to approach this critical phase strategically to maximise your chances of funding.
What are the stage 1 results?
After four months of waiting for the evaluation results of the Health stage-1 proposals on 16 September 2025, project coordinators and several thousands of project partners have now been informed on whether they are invited to submit a stage-2 proposal by 16 April 2026. Submissions for the following five stage-1 call topics have been evaluated:
- HORIZON-HLTH-2025-03-STAYHLTH-01-two-stage: Improving the quality of life of persons with intellectual disabilities and their families
- HORIZON-HLTH-2025-03-ENVHLTH-01-two-stage: The impact of pollution on the development and progression of brain diseases and disorders
- HORIZON-HLTH-2025-03-ENVHLTH-02-two-stage: Advancing knowledge on the impacts of micro- and nanoplastics on human health
- HORIZON-HLTH-2025-03-DISEASE-02- two-stage: Advancing innovative interventions for mental, behavioural and neurodevelopmental disorders
- HORIZON-HLTH-2025-03-IND-03-two-stage: Facilitating the conduct of multinational clinical studies of orphan devices and/or of highly innovative (“breakthrough”) devices
Although April may appear distant, the start of the spring semester and teaching commitments at many European universities from February onwards mean that the submission deadline is effectively much closer than it seems.
What does your stage-1 success tell you?
Stage 1 evaluated your idea and relevance, not your project’s full maturity. Across Cluster 1 Health two-stage calls, evaluators at stage 1 primarily assess:
- Alignment with the call scope and expected outcomes
- Scientific and policy relevance of the challenge addressed
- Credibility of the overall concept and approach
- Initial consortium logic
Passing stage 1 does not mean your methodology, impact pathway or governance are already convincing. It means they are promising enough to justify deeper scrutiny.
Tip: Do not treat the stage-1 proposal as a draft to be extended. Stage 2 requires a qualitative shift, not just more pages.
What are the key stage-2 requirements?
Stage 2 is where evaluators ask a simple question: Can this consortium realistically deliver what it promises, within time and budget, and in a way that matters to Europe? During stage 2 evaluations, evaluators assess Excellence, Impact and Implementation in full, with significantly higher expectations concerning all parts of the proposal:
1. Excellence must be demonstrated through robust and credible methodologies. This includes:
- Robust, well-justified methodologies and study designs
- Clear articulation of interdisciplinarity, including SSH where required
- Explicit handling of complexity, uncertainty and limitations
2. Impact must be translated into clear, measurable pathways aligned with EU health, environmental and social policy objectives. In particular, proposals must show:
- Concrete pathways to the call’s expected outcomes
- Credible contribution to EU health, environmental and social policies
- Clear identification of target groups, users and beneficiaries
3. Implementation must prove that the consortium can realistically deliver the proposed work within the given time and budget. This means that proposals need to have:
- Coherent work plan with realistic timing and resourcing
- Strong governance, risk management and decision-making structures
- Evidencethat the consortium can actually deliver
Additionally, for projects including clinical studies, a completed Clinical Study Document is required as part of the Stage-2 submission.
What can you and cannot change from stage 1 to stage 2?
A frequent concern among invited consortia is how far they can adapt their proposal. The Commission allows refinement, but not reinvention, as it used to do in H2020.
You can:
- Strengthen and detail methodologies, datasets and analytical frameworks
- Improve the impact pathway, stakeholder engagement and exploitation logic
- Clarify roles, governance and risk mitigation
- Add missing expertise where justified
You should not:
- Change the core objectives or research question
- Drift outside the call scope or expected outcomes
- Fundamentally alter the project’s logic or ambition
Tip: Use Stage 1 evaluator feedback, where available, as a prioritisation tool. Address weaknesses explicitly and visibly in Stage 2.
Looking for stage-2 proposal support from experts in Horizon Europe two-stage calls?
At accelopment, we have supported numerous consortia in successfully navigating the transition from stage 1 to stage 2 in Horizon Europe and Horizon 2020. Our experience includes guiding projects from short concept approval to funded full proposals, where strategic repositioning at stage 2 was decisive.
Examples from our successful two-stage proposals include EUROSHOCK, EXPOSIM and the recently approved HUNADIA (currently in grant preparation). Beyond this, our Cluster 1 Health portfolio includes projects such as EU PAL-COPD, GLIOMATCH, GENEGUT, COVend MyPath. We are also actively involved in Horizon 2020 Health projects, namely AI-Mind and the recently finished EXIMIOUS and VANGUARD. Additionally, our support extends to Pathfinder-Open projects related to health, such as POLINA and BoneOscopy and health-focused ITNs, including MITGEST and MobiliTraIN, . If you have been invited to submit a full proposal under a Cluster 1 Health two-stage call, now is the time to invest in strategic proposal development. Reach out to know how we can support you!
