Reliability of age assessment methods in the context of security and border management
Coordination and Support Action to assess reliability and rights impact of age assessment methods for minors in EU border and security contexts.
This call funds a coordination and support action to analyze current age assessment methods used for minors at EU borders and in security contexts. It aims to improve protection of minors by evaluating scientific reliability and fundamental rights risks of these methods. The project should involve border or coast guard authorities from at least two EU or associated countries.
Likely relevant for
- Border and coast guard authorities
- Security and border management agencies
- Human trafficking prevention organizations
- Child protection agencies
- Forensic and legal experts in age assessment
- Researchers in migration and asylum policies
Project signals
What it funds
- Analysis and comparison of existing age assessment methods for minors in migration, security, and border management contexts
- Assessment of scientific reliability, sensitivity, specificity, and fundamental rights risks of age assessment methods
- Engagement with practitioners including border/coast guard authorities and other relevant stakeholders
- Development of evidence-based recommendations for appropriate age assessment models protecting fundamental rights
- Contribution to knowledge exchange among European authorities on age assessment practices
Expected outcomes
- Improved protection of minors through more reliable and less intrusive age assessment methods
- Enhanced preparedness and cooperation of authorities against human trafficking
- Expanded European knowledge base on age assessment reliability and effectiveness
- Support for better identification of children and minors in migration and security contexts
- Contribution to EU Strategy on the rights of the child and exchange of good practices
Who can apply / participate
- Legal entities including public authorities, research organizations, NGOs, and other relevant stakeholders
- At least 2 Border or Coast Guard Authorities from different EU Member States or Associated Countries must be beneficiaries
- Each beneficiary can cover only one type of security practitioner role
- Participants must be from EU Member States or Associated Countries
- Active involvement of required security practitioners is mandatory
- Compliance with lump sum funding and other Horizon Europe general conditions
- Specific details on eligible applicant types beyond security practitioners
- Exact consortium size limits
Must check before shortlisting
- Ability to include required security practitioners as beneficiaries
- Compliance with lump sum funding model
- Capacity to handle security sensitive information if applicable
Money
The lump sum funding for this Coordination and Support Action is set at EUR 1,330,000 for the year 2026.
- Total lump sum funding — 1330000EURSingle lump sum contribution for the entire project duration
Application notes
- Single-stage submission model. Applicants must fill in the 'Information about security practitioners' annex in the application form with all requested details.
- Proposal page limits and layout as per Horizon Europe General Annexes and Application Form Part B
- Eligibility conditions including involvement of at least 2 Border or Coast Guard Authorities from different EU/Associated countries
- Use of lump sum funding model
- Security provisions for classified or sensitive information as applicable
- Prepare proposal following Horizon Europe guidelines and templates
- Ensure inclusion of required security practitioners and fill in related annex
- Submit proposal via the Funding & Tenders Portal before deadline
- Comply with evaluation and award criteria as per General Annexes
- Applicants must justify how each beneficiary meets additional eligibility conditions
- Each beneficiary can represent only one type of security practitioner
- Some activities may involve classified or security sensitive information requiring compliance with related provisions
Derived from official EU Funding portal source · updated 3 Sep 2026, 09:33 UTC. Use this as a shortlisting aid; the official call text remains authoritative.
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Official source text
Fine print from the EU source record. Expand when you need the original wording.
Topic description
Expected Outcome: Project results are expected to contribute to some or all of the following expected outcomes: Improved protection of minors, including by more reliable age assessments and by minimising the use of intrusive age assessment methods; Improved adaptation, preparedness and cooperation of authorities in the fight against human trafficking; Expanded European-based knowledge on reliability, accuracy and effectiveness of age assessment methods. Scope: Many unaccompanied children and young persons arriving at the external EU borders and seeking asylum, lack official documents showing their identity and age. Age assessment methods are important as they contribute to the determination of, for example, where an individual will be initially housed and what services, supports, and legal processes they will receive to ensure protection and, if applicable, child protection. In other cases, minors are victim of trafficking of human beings (THB) criminal activities, either across the EU external borders, or within the EU borders. In other cases again, age assessment methods are necessary for law enforcement investigations on protecting children, forensic investigation, and/or the identification of victims. No age assessment method can offer a 100% reliability. Different approaches have different sensitivity and specificity, and different sample sizes and representativeness, and some approaches are based on a non-European knowledge base. Furthermore, there is considerable variation in methods of age assessment. Methods may use approaches as diverse as interviews, psychological assessments and other holistic approaches; medical approaches such as X-rays, CT scans, DNA methylation, dental observation, or other analyses; other approaches such as image analysis; and they may use or not artificial intelligence (AI) for data analysis. EU regulations, and guidelines by the European Union Asylum Agency (EUAA)[[ EASO Age assessment practices in EU+ countries: updated findings (europa.eu) https://euaa.europa.eu/sites/default/files/EASO_Age_assessment_practices_updated.pdf []], include safeguards and recommendations, such as that the least invasive methods should be used, and that medical methods should be used as a last resort. Further studies, reports or documents have also been elaborated by the European Migration Network [1] , European networks of security practitioners for innovation, as well as at national level. The action funded by this topic should also consider these, as well as previous research, including but not limited to research by other relevant EU Framework Programmes projects. This Coordination and Support Action should not develop methods or technologies of age assessment. Rather, it will analyse, including with practitioners, the current and potential methods for age assessment. It should assess and compare scientific reliability, sensitivity and specificity of different methods, as well as their potential risks for fundamental rights and how to minimize them. While the research results would not imply any legislative or policy decision on age assessment methods, the research will develop evidence-based results on options for more (compared to the state-of-the-art) appropriate models of age assessment methods that protect fundamental rights, ensuring the use of an inclusive approach that addresses diverse needs. The results of research funded by this topic will contribute to capabilities for better identification of children and minors in the migratory, security, border management and other contexts, following the principles of the EU Strategy on the rights of the child [2] . They will also contribute to the exchange of practices among European authorities. Synergies with other Horizon Europe Cluster 3 Destinations, such as “Better protect the EU and its citizens against Crime and Terrorism” and “Disaster-Resilient Society for Europe”, as well as with Destinations of Horizon Europe Cluster 2 “Inclusive Society”. [1] https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/networks/european-migration-network-emn_en [2] COM(2021) 142 final.
Conditions and documents
General conditions
1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout
2. Eligible Countries
described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.
3. Other Eligible Conditions
The following additional eligibility criteria apply:
This topic requires the active involvement, as beneficiaries, of at least 2 Border or Coast Guard Authorities from at least 2 different EU Member States or Associated Countries. For these participants, applicants must fill in the table “Information about security practitioners” in the application form with all the requested information, following the template provided in the submission IT tool.
described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion
described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.
5a. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds
are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes.
5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes
are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual.
5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement
described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.
6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants
Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum as defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021 authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme – the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2021-2027) – and in actions under the Research and Training Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community (2021-2025) [[This decision is available on the Funding and Tenders Portal, in the reference documents section for Horizon Europe, under ‘Simplified costs decisions’ or through this link: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/guidance/ls-decision_he_en.pdf]].
described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.
Specific conditions
described in the [specific topic of the Work Programme]
Some activities resulting from this topic may involve using classified background and/or producing of security sensitive results (EUCI and SEN). Please refer to the related provisions in section B Security — EU classified and sensitive information of the General Annexes.
Application and evaluation forms and model grant agreement (MGA):
Application form templates — the application form specific to this call is available in the Submission System
Standard application form (HE CSA)
Evaluation form templates — will be used with the necessary adaptations
Standard evaluation form (HE CSA)
Guidance
Model Grant Agreements (MGA)
Call-specific instructions
Additional documents:
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 6. Civil Security for Society
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 15. General Annexes
HE Framework Programme 2021/695
HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764
EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509
Decision authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme
Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment
EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual
Support information
Online Manual is your guide on the procedures from proposal submission to managing your grant. Horizon Europe Programme Guide contains the detailed guidance to the structure, budget and political priorities of Horizon Europe. Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ – find the answers to most frequently asked questions on submission of proposals, evaluation and grant management. Research Enquiry Service – ask questions about any aspect of European research in general and the EU Research Framework Programmes in particular. National Contact Points (NCPs) – get guidance, practical information and assistance on participation in Horizon Europe. There are also NCPs in many non-EU and non-associated countries (‘third-countries’). Enterprise Europe Network – contact your EEN national contact for advice to businesses with special focus on SMEs. The support includes guidance on the EU research funding. IT Helpdesk – contact the Funding & Tenders Portal IT helpdesk for questions such as forgotten passwords, access rights and roles, technical aspects of submission of proposals, etc. European IPR Helpdesk assists you on intellectual property issues. CEN-CENELEC Research Helpdesk and ETSI Research Helpdesk – the European Standards Organisations advise you how to tackle standardisation in your project proposal. The European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for their recruitment – consult the general principles and requirements specifying the roles, responsibilities and entitlements of researchers, employers and funders of researchers. Partner Search help you find a partner organisation for your proposal.
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