The Emergence call for research proposals aims to facilitate the emergence of new research fields and/or practices by funding projects led by early-career or recently recruited colleagues. The call covers all scientific fields within the Alliance Sorbonne Université.

The research projects supported must break with the state of the art, within individual disciplines and at the interfaces between them, and must not have previously benefited from dedicated funding. Funding through the Emergence call should enable them to reach a sufficient level of maturity for subsequent submission to regional, national, European or international calls for projects. Research-creation projects are eligible under this call.

The call is funded by the SUPER Idex to a total amount of 3.75 million euros over a period of 2 years.

Projects must meet one of the following criteria:

• enable the launch of a new and original research topic with significant development potential following the Emergence funding,

• enable the completion of a pilot study aimed at testing one or more hypotheses.

The research topic and/or the methodological approach adopted must therefore imperatively break with the current state of the art.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to take advantage of this research project to establish new collaborations, whether internally or outside the alliance Sorbonne Université.

Terms and conditions of the Emergence 2027-2028 call for proposals

Eligibility

1- The project leader must be a statutary researcher-lecturer, researcher, permanent faculty member or research engineer, at one of the following research organizations or institutions: CNRS, Inria, Inserm, IRD, ENSCi-Les Ateliers, INSEAD, MNHN, SU, UTC.

2- Project leader must carry out their research activity in a research unit for which at least one of the following member institutions of the Alliance Sorbonne Université is a supervisory institution: ENSCi-Les Ateliers, INSEAD, MNHN, SU, UTC.

They must have joined this research unit as a permanent staff member no more than 6 years before the launch date of the Emergence call. The limit may be extended by one year for project leaders who have taken parental leave of 16 weeks or more during these 6 years.

3- Winners of a previous Emergence edition are not eligible for the Emergence 2027-2028 edition.

Funding terms

The Alliance Sorbonne Université will fund projects lasting up to 24 months, with maximum funding of €70k per project.

Eligible expenses include:

• operating expenses: consumables, travel expenses, internship allowances, …

• equipment

• human resources: gross salary including employer contributions (postdoctoral researchers, engineers, technicians). Recruitment must be carried out by the institution managing the Emergence budget awarded to the project leader, with a job description to be attached to the application.

The financial request, particularly HR requests, must be justified in the application.

Duration and project reporting

The project duration is a maximum of 24 months. A final report, to be completed on the platform https://emergence.sorbonne-universite.fr/, will be requested from the project leader. This report will include a scientific section presenting the results and prospects for the development and funding of subsequent research phases. An expenditure statement may also be requested at the end of the project.

Management of the Emergence budget allocated to a project will be handled by one of the supervisory institutions of the research unit to which the project leader belongs. This supervisory institution must be a member of the Alliance Sorbonne Université.

Evaluation criteria

Project evaluation will take into account:

• scientific quality and relevance of the project

• Degree of breakthrough with the existing

• Originality of the proposed approach

• Ability of the project leader to successfully execute the project

• Project's potential in terms of subsequent funding

• Justification and coherence of the estimated budget

In their application, project leaders will pay particular attention to explaining the breakthrough dimensions of their project, whether thematic and/ or methodological.

Project evaluators will pay particular attention to the degree of involvement of the project leader and the participants in the project.

Submission terms

All applications must be submitted through a dedicated online platform managed by Sorbonne Université : https://emergence.sorbonne-universite.fr/

Applications must include the following:

• submission form describing the project: the project must be written in English. It may be written in French if the specific nature of the discipline requires it,

• a CV of the project leader including 5 significant recent publications and communications, which must be accessible on an open archive such as HAL,

• a job description, if applicable, for recruitment.

For any questions regarding the submission process, please contact: emergence@sorbonne-universite.fr

Provisional calendar

November 2, 2026, 8am Opening date for the 2027-2028 call for proposals

December 7, 2026, 7pm Submission deadline for the 2027-2028 call for proposals

June 2027 Results publication

September 1, 2027 Project start

Importantly, no additional elements can be accepted after the submission deadline.