Generic call for proposals – AAPG 2026

The Generic Call for Proposals 2026 (AAPG 2026) is the French National Research Agency’s (ANR) main call. All scientific communities and all public and private actors involved in French research are concerned. It should enable researchers from different scientific fields to fund their research projects on a large number of themes, whether finalized or not.

Provisional schedule for AAPG 2026

Step I

• July 2025: publication of the Work Programme 2026 and the text of AAPG 2026 call
• 09 September 2025: publication of the AAPG 2026 guide, the pre-proposal template and the certificate for PRME projects; publication of the specific appendices for PRCI projects; opening of IRIS for the submission of a JCJC, PRME, PRC project and registration of a PRCE or PRCI project (“ANR lead Agency” modality and “Non-lead agency modality”)
• 14 October 2025, 5:00 pm (Paris time): closure of the submission and registration Step 1
• February 2026: Notification of Step 1 results to the coordinators of an eligible project

Step II

• February 2026: publication of the full proposal form; opening of IRIS for the submission of JCJC, PRME, PRC, PRCE and PRCI projects (“ANR lead Agency” modality and “Non-lead agency modality”)
• March 2026: closure of the submission Step 2
• Last week of May 2026: opening of the rebuttal stage on IRIS
• June 2026: publication of first results (JCJC, PRME, PRC and PRCE)
• From July 2026: grant agreement phase
• From September 2026 to December 2026: publication of PRCI results according to the schedule of negotiations with the foreign agencies

Research themes

The AAPG 2026 call is structured into 57 research themes, each corresponding to a scientific evaluation panel (CES).

• 38 research themes covering 7 main scientific fields;
• 19 research themes covering trans- or interdisciplinary challenges and integrating issues from various scientific fields.

When researchers submit a pre-proposal / register a PRCI project, they select the scientific theme – and therefore the scientific evaluation panel – that most closely relates to the scientific purpose of their research. This choice cannot be changed during the selection process.

As the scientific themes may change between two editions of the call, scientific coordinators are invited to carefully read the descriptions of the scientific themes in the AAPG 2026 call text, including in the event of re-submission of their project between two editions of the call.

Funding instruments

The Generic Call for Proposals 2026 involves five funding instruments. These instruments aim to fund individual research projects coordinated by young researchers (JCJC instrument); or ambitious research projects led by a team (PRME instrument); or collaborative research projects in a national context (PRC instrument) or bilateral international context (PRCI instrument); or collaborative research projects including a company as a partner (PRCE instrument).  

New for PRCE instrument: In step 1, PRCE projects no longer require the submission of a scientific document, but only the online completion of a project characterization form and the online completion of the CVs of the coordinators and scientific leaders of partners. This registration, subject to meeting the eligibility criteria applicable in step 1, gives rise to an automatic invitation to step 2, without evaluation of the value of this registration by the scientific evaluation panels.

When submitting a project, researchers choose the most appropriate funding instrument for their scientific objectives and partnership. The funding instrument cannot be modified during the selection process.

Each funding instrument having its specificities in terms of submission, eligibility and evaluation, scientific coordinators are invited to carefully read the descriptions of the funding instruments in AAPG 2026 call text.

Registration of PRCI projects

Collaborations open to the “Collaborative Research Project – International” (PRCI) instrument can take 3 submission and evaluation modalities:

• “ANR Lead Agency” modality: ANR is responsible for the main submission and evaluation of the projects, according to the evaluation process and schedule of the AAPG call. The collaborations concerned require the registration of the project to the ANR in step 1 of the AAPG call, then the submission of a detailed proposal to the ANR in step 2. The foreign partner may have to submit a copy of the project to the foreign funding agency.
• “Foreign Lead Agency” modality: the foreign funding agency is responsible of the main submission and evaluation of the projects, according to its own evaluation process and its own schedule. The collaborations concerned do not require registration of the project in step 1 of the AAPG call. However, a copy of the project submitted to the foreign agency is required, within a specific schedule.
• “Non- Lead Agency” modality: the projects are submitted to the two funding agencies, according to the schedule and specific terms of each agency. The evaluation is carried out by the two funding agencies according to their own evaluation process and schedule. The collaborations concerned require the registration of the project to the ANR in step 1 of the AAPG call, then the submission of a detailed proposal to the ANR in step 2.

Whatever the PRCI collaboration targeted, the selection for funding is made by joint agreement of the two financing agencies, and each of the agencies funds the teams in its country, according to its own funding procedures.

The provisional list of PRCI bilateral collaborations and the themes concerned is available in the text of the AAPG 2026. Before any registration of a PRCI project at the AAPG 2026, coordinators are invited to consult the appendices dedicated to each PRCI bilateral collaboration to confirm the opening of the collaboration, its modality and the themes concerned.

Warning: the results of the PRCI projects submitted to the AAPG 2025 will be known from September 2025 until December 2025 according to the schedule of negotiations with foreign agencies. Pending these results, the coordinators of a PRCI project awaiting results must register their project for the 2026 edition of the call (in the case of a collaboration "ANR lead agency" or "out lead agency modality" in the 2026 edition) (or submit a new PRC, PRME, JCJC project or register a PRCE project).

In the case of selection for funding in AAPG 2025 call, the coordinators must cancel their registration of a PRCI (or submission of a PRC, PRME or JCJC project or registration of a PRCE project) under the 2026 edition by email to the address aapg.science(at)agencerecherche.fr.

Renewal of the invitation in step 2 of the projects in the complementary list

If resubmitted in step 1 of the AAPG 2026, projects ranked in the complementary list to the AAPG 2025 but not selected for funding at the end of the process are automatically invited to step 2 of the AAPG2026, without evaluation by the scientific evaluation panels, subject to eligibility. The projects concerned must have the same coordinator, the same funding instrument, the same title and a comparable consortium, and be complete on the submission site by the closing date and time of step 1 of the call.

Please note that for the 2026 edition, PRCE projects ranked in the complementary list to the AAPG 2025 benefit from the new AAPG 2026 process of simple registration in step 1 of the call.

Waiting for the opening of the submission and registration website

- I read the description of the scientific themes of the AAPG 2026 to make the best choice when submitting my project; cf. text of the AAPG 2026 call 

- I read the description of the funding instruments applicable to the AAPG 2026 call in order to choose the one corresponding to the objectives of my project and the planned partnership, cf. text of the AAPG 2026 call 

- I am finding out about the “ANR Meetings” program to register for the different sessions;

- I inquire about the update of the RNSR page of my laboratory (Répertoire National des Structures de Recherche https://appliweb.dgri.education.fr/rnsr/)

- If necessary, I create an ORCID identifier orcid.org/ 

- If necessary, I create an account on IRIS iris.anr.fr/en/ and fill in the information related to my CV

- I contact my future managing authority to anticipate the calculation of the amount of funding requested from the ANR, required for the submission / registration of my project in step 1 

- I contact the competitiveness clusters if I am interested in the labeling of my project.

Contacts

For scientific question about your project, its eligibility with regard to the call criteria or its submission on IRIS: aapg.science(at)anr.fr   

For administrative and financial question about your project: aapg.adfi(at)anr.fr