Funding
Euro-BioImaging is a publicly funded, non-profit research infrastructure. Hence, the costs for scientists to access Euro-BioImaging services are kept to their minimum, with the sole aim to allow running the infrastructure. The costs vary depending on the scale and complexity of the access and the required support. In order to access Euro-BioImaging technologies, you may also need some financial support for travel and accommodation expenses.
The first thing you should do is look into the funding instrument that currently supports your research: more and more funding authorities regard access to public research infrastructures as eligible costs! For instance, if you are an ERC grant-holder, you can freely use your funds to access Euro-BioImaging. In the future, you may want to check this aspect beforehand, when applying for a grant, and consider whether it is beneficial to indicate that you will want to use European Research Infrastructure services to support your research.
Funding opportunities
If your access is not already funded, you may need to look into other opportunities: we are doing our best to continuously list the ones that are currently available to researchers in the tables below.
Please note that we are updating these lists regularly, so come back to this page in the future if you have not found what serves your purposes for now. Euro-BioImaging is also constantly working to make new funding opportunities available.
EU & other funding
Euro-BioImaging has been awarded a number of important Horizon Europe (see Topic-specific Access funding below) and other grants to provide funding for User Access or user projects for researchers from anywhere in the world at Euro-BioImaging Nodes.
Topic-specific Access funding
CanServ - Supporting Cancer Research - TNA calls CLOSED
CALLS CLOSED - NO LONGER ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS
- If your project is cancer related, you can apply for funding through the canSERV project, which supports research on cancer by facilitating access to European Research Infrastructures. 28 out of 41 Euro-BioImaging Nodes provide services in canSERV, spanning from biological to preclinical to human imaging services. Regular calls for free access to these services are open throughout 2024 and special challenge calls will launch soon.
More information on canSERV here.
AgroServ - Supporting agro-ecology research projects
For researchers in the field of agroecology, plant biology, soil or marine microorganisms, crop sciences or related topics, funding opportunities are available via the AgroServ project. The project will provide researchers in the field with access to relevant Research Infrastructure services from a broad range of participating infrastructures, including a spectrum of imaging services from nine participating Euro-BioImaging Nodes. The available imaging services range from plant-adapted electron and super-resolution microscopy to plant phenotyping, elemental detection and application of medical imaging technologies, such as PET and MRI, on plant samples.
Click for the full catalogue of Euro-BioImaging's AgroServ services.
Find out how the project application works here.
ISIDORe - Supporting infectious disease research - TNA Calls closed
-CALLS CLOSED-NO LONGER ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS-
ISIDORe is a Horizon Europe-funded project that provides free of charge access to cutting-edge technology platforms and resources across a wide spectrum ranging from characterisation of pathogens to vaccine development. Eighteen Euro-BioImaging Nodes participate in the ISIDORe project, offering state-of-the-art imaging expertise to enhance basic research, drug discovery, diagnostics, vaccines, and clinical disease management. Please visit the following webpages to see if ISIDORe could support your research on infectious diseases, vaccine development, pathogens of concern, or related topics.
Find out how the project application works here.
Funding instruments available at specific Euro-BioImaging Nodes
This table reports the funding instruments supporting access exclusively to a specific Euro-BioImaging Node (and not applicable to all Nodes).
| Funding instrument | Node | For whom | For what | Expiry date | Additional information |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| France BioImaging call for scientific projects | France-BioImaging Node | Users external to France BioImaging (French nationals and foreigners) | Costs of instrument access: access fees, user training, imaging related sample preparation & related supplies, Data processing and analysis. | Continuous program | Travel & accommodation costs need to be covered by the user / Available for any FBI external user whose project has been validated by Euro-BioImaging |
| User access funding for UK researchers | UK Node | UK-based researchers | Up to £5,000 at 100% Full Economic Cost (FEC) for bioimaging hardware access, or up to £2,000 for image analysis services only | Multiple annual calls, next call closing 31.03.2026 | Researchers must agree on an experimental plan with their host facility before submitting an application |
| User access fund for Polish researchers | Advanced Microscopy Poland Node | Researchers with Affiliations in Poland | Up to 5000 PLN per application | Multiple annual call, next call closing 02.02.2026 | |
| Christian Boulin Fellowships | Euro-BioImaging EMBL-Node | Researchers from all EMBL member states, associate and prospect member states | Travel and accommodation costs | Continuous program | Access fees need to be covered by the user |
| Czech BioImaging continuous funding | Czech BioImaging | Academic researchers visiting a Czech BioImaging Node | User access fees (partial coverage) | Deadline dates are listed here | Fees are reduced to different extents depending on the facility. Please contact the Czech Nodes for details. |
| Italian User Access Fund | Italian Nodes | Trans-national users to and from Italy | Access fees, travel expenses | until budget consumption | Up to 7.500EUR for international researchers visiting Italian Nodes; up to 2.500EUR for Italian researchers visiting non-Italian Nodes |
International funding instruments (Node agnostic)
| Funding instrument | Funder | For whom | For what | Expiry date | Additional information |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EMBO Short Term Fellowships | European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) | Researchers coming from and going to EMBC countries, associated EMBC countries (India, Singapore) and cooperation partners (Taiwan, Chile). Transnational access required. | Travel costs Daily rate (based on country of visit) | Continuous program | Costs will be covered for visits from 1 week up to 3 months |
| The Company of Biologists’ Travelling Fellowships | The Company of Biologists journals: Development, Journal of Cell Science, Journal of Experimental Biology and Disease Models & Mechanisms | Early career scientists | Travel and accommodation costs Access fees | Deadline dates are listed onhttps://www.biologists.com/travelling-fellowships/ | Up to 2,500 GBP |
| Imaging 4 All | Wellcome Trust in collaboration with Global BioImaging | Researchers from low- and middle-income countries | Travel, accommodation, access and training fees covered | Deadline February 28, 2026 |
National funding instruments
Funding instruments specifically aimed at sustaining user access to RIs are listed in the table:
| Funding instrument | Country/Funder | For whom | For what | Expiry date | Additional information |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Innovation voucher | Finland / Business Finland | SMEs, for national access | User access fees | Continuous program | Up to 4,500 Euro Voucher + 1,500 Euros own cost (+ VAT) |
| NWO Open Competitie Domain Science - XS | The Netherlands/NWO | Researchers working at Dutch universities and organisations | Access fees & travel costs | 5x per year | TBD |
| NWO Open Competition Domain Science - M | The Netherlands/NWO | Researchers working at Dutch universities, organisations and collaboration partners abroad | Access fee, travel expenses, travel and accommodation costs for foreign guest researchers, personnel costs for foreign collaboration partners | Continuous program | Make use of budget modules: materials, internationalization; Money follows Cooperation (MfC) |
| NWO Open Competition Domain Science - XL | The Netherlands/NWO | Researchers working at Dutch universities, organisations and collaboration partners abroad | Access fees, travel and accommodation costs for foreign guest researchers, personnel costs for foreign collaboration partners | 1x per 2 years | Make use of budget modules: materials, internationalization; Money follows Cooperation (MfC) |
| Veni | The Netherlands/NWO | Researchers intending to work or working at Dutch universities | Access fees, travel expenses | 1x per years | TBD |
| Vidi | The Netherlands/NWO | Researchers intending to work or working at Dutch universities | Access fees, travel expenses | 1x per years | TBD |
| Vici | The Netherlands/NWO | Researchers intending to work or working at Dutch universities | Access fees, travel expenses | 1x per years | TBD |