Combating hate speech online and offline (HORIZON-CL3-2024-FCT-01-05)

Descriptions

Opportunity link:

Opportunity type:

Grant

Sponsor:

Horizon Europe Framework Programme (HORIZON)

Award amount and duration:

3,000,000, project duration variable

Currency:

EUR

Eligibility

Type:

Faculty

Applications from Canadian researchers and innovators will be reviewed as fully-fledged members of consortia in Horizon Europe Pillar 2 calls. While Canadians can participate in all Horizon Europe calls that are open to international partners, as an associated country, Canadians can access a broader range of research opportunities in Pillar 2.

1. Admissibility conditions: described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes

Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System

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.

Summary

Expected Outcome:

Projects’ results are expected to contribute to all of the following outcomes:

Providing Police Authorities and other relevant security practitioners with better, modern and validated tools, methods and training curricula to tackle those activities related to hate speech that are considered as crime or could lead to a crime, notably such activities which are supported by advanced digital technologies, such as in emerging cyber environments;
Developing European common approaches, and making them available to policy-makers and security practitioners, for analysing risks/threats, collecting data on hate speech, collecting court-proof evidence and crime attribution, and identifying and deploying relevant security measures related to hate motivated crime and speech, which take into account the European multicultural dimension, legal and ethical rules, cost-benefit considerations, as well as fundamental rights such as the right to freedom of expression, privacy and protection of personal data;
Enhancing citizen’s security perception and the hate speech prevention by preparing education and training materials on cultural and societal impacts of hate speech and hate crime.

Scope:

Hate speech has harmful impacts on the individual victims, or groups of victims, but also on our society at large. Undermining the fundamental values of the EU, such as respect for human dignity, freedom and equality. Under EU law, racist and xenophobic hate motivated crime and speech are illegal. The Framework Decision on combating certain forms of expressions of racism and xenophobia^[1] requires the criminalisation of public incitement to violence or hatred based on race, colour, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin. The Commission’s policies address also specific forms of hate speech and hate crime against groups and communities^[2] (e.g., antisemitism^[3], anti-Muslim hatred or anti-gypsyism^[4], hate speech and hate crime relating to gender and sexual orientation^[5]. In 2021, the European Commission adopted a Communication^[6] which prompts a Council decision to extend the current list of EU crimes in Article 83(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) to all forms of hate crime and hate speech. Since 2016, the Commission’s efforts in countering hate speech and hate crime also involve dedicated exchanges and tools in support to national authorities in the context of the High Level Group on combating hate speech and hate crime.

Addressing hate speech from all angles increases the chance of combating it in a sustainable manner. Thus, in line with all the above initiatives and with the Victims Rights Directive^[7] and the EU Strategy on Victims' Rights^[8], the successful proposal is expected to reinforce hate crime training and capacity building for Police Authorities and other relevant security practitioners, in particular to enhance their tools and methods for lawful detection, reporting and data/evidence collection and analysis of the hate speech related activities that are considered as crime or could lead to a crime, notably the ones supported by advanced digital technologies, such as in emerging cyber environments. By doing so, being an innovation action, the successful proposal is expected to build on previously developed tools for related applications (such as text and image matching). The successful proposal should also support the implementation of the voluntary Code of Conduct on countering illegal hate speech online that the European Commission initiated in 2016 with IT companies, the European strategy for a better internet for kids^[9], the Digital Services Act^[10] and the outcomes of the "Study on digital violent right-wing extremist content and manifestations of hate speech online”^[11]. Similarly, any other relevant development, study or initiative should be taken into account. Evolutions in hate crime and hate speech, such as their sparks in times of social or economic crises (e.g. pandemics and wars) should be considered too. In order to derive effective responses and improve the understanding of the cultural and societal aspects of hate speech and hate crime, as well as of the key challenges for combating it, the successful proposal should include local, national and international dimensions, civil society perspectives, and analysis of good practices^[12]. An added value of the proposal would be to also develop modern and effective awareness raising campaigns for relevant Civil Society Organisations and Police Authorities in order to pass key messages to potential victims, as well as wide communities, while taking into account European multicultural dimension.

The successful proposal should build on the publicly available achievements and findings of related previous national or EU-funded projects, including the ones funded under topics: HORIZON-CL3-2021-FCT-01-03: Disinformation and fake news are combated and trust in the digital world is raised), HORIZON-CL2-2021-DEMOCRACY-01-03: Feminisms for a new age of democracy, HORIZON-CL2-2022-DEMOCRACY-01-04: Education for democracy, HORIZON-CL2-2022-DEMOCRACY-01-05: Evolution of political extremism and its influence on contemporary social and political dialogue and HORIZON-CL2-2022-TRANSFORMATIONS-01-08: Strengthening racial, ethnic and religious equality. It should also seek to exploit potential synergies with the successful proposals funded under topics HORIZON-CL3-2023-FCT-01-06: Enhancing tools and capabilities to fight advanced forms of cyber threats and cyber-dependent crimes, HORIZON-CL3-2023-FCT-01-03: New methods and technologies in service of community policing and transferable best practices, HORIZON-CL2-2023-DEMOCRACY-01-01: Detecting, analysing and countering foreign information manipulation and interference and HORIZON-CL4-2023-HUMAN-01-05: Through AI from Disinformation to Trust.

Methods for evaluating proposed solutions should also be developed. In addition, proposals should delineate the plans to develop possible future uptake and upscaling at national and EU level for possible next steps after the project completion.

Activities proposed within this topic should address, in a balanced way, both technological and societal dimensions of the issue under consideration.

This topic requires the effective contribution of SSH disciplines and the involvement of SSH experts, institutions as well as the inclusion of relevant SSH expertise, in order to produce meaningful and significant effects enhancing the societal impact of the related innovation activities.

Proposals funded under this topic are expected to engage with the Europol Innovation Lab during the lifetime of the project, including validating the outcomes, with the aim of facilitating future uptake of innovations for the law enforcement community.

Topic destination:

Better protect the EU and its citizens against Crime and Terrorism (2023/24)

Proposals for topics under this Destination should set out a credible pathway to contributing to the following expected impact of the Horizon Europe Strategic Plan 2021-2024: “Crime and terrorism are more effectively tackled, while respecting fundamental rights, […] thanks to more powerful prevention, preparedness and response, a better understanding of related human, societal and technological aspects, and the development of cutting-edge capabilities for police authorities […] including measures against cybercrime.”

More specifically, proposals should contribute to the achievement of one or more of the following impacts:

Modern information analysis for Police Authorities, allowing them to efficiently fight criminals and terrorists who use novel technologies;
Improved forensics and lawful evidence collection, increasing the capabilities to apprehend criminals and terrorists and bring them to the court;
Enhanced prevention, detection and deterrence of societal issues related to various forms of crime, including cybercrime, and terrorism, such as violent radicalisation, domestic and sexual violence, or juvenile offenders;
Increased security of citizens against terrorism, including in public spaces (while preserving their quality and openness);
Improved intelligence picture and enhanced prevention, detection and deterrence of various forms of organised crime;
More secure cyberspace for citizens, especially children, through a robust prevention, detection, and protection from cybercriminal activities.

This Destination will also promote, whenever appropriate and applicable, the proposals with:

the involvement of the Police Authorities in their core,
a clear strategy on how they will adapt to the fast-evolving environment in the area of fight against crime and terrorism (evolution of related technologies, evolution of criminal modi operandi and business models related to these technologies, etc.),
a minimum-needed platform, i.e. tools that are modular and can be easily plugged into another platform (in order to avoid platform multiplication),
tools that are developed and validated against practitioners’ needs and requirements,
a robust plan on how they will build on the relevant predecessor projects,
the (active) involvement of citizens, voluntary organisations and communities,
education and training aspects, especially for Police Authorities and other relevant practitioners, as well as information sharing and awareness raising of the citizens,
a clear strategy on the uptake of the outcomes, defined in consultation with the involved stakeholders,
a well-developed plan both on how research data for training and testing will be obtained, in order to reach the requested Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs), and on how the specific TRL will be measured.

Where possible and relevant, synergy-building and clustering initiatives with successful proposals in the same area should be considered, including the organisation of international conferences in close coordination with the Community for European Research and Innovation for Security (CERIS) activities and/or other international events.

Overhead

The budget categories and cost eligibility rules are fixed in the grant agreement, including indirect costs at a 25% flat-rate of the total eligible direct costs (excluding eligible direct costs for subcontracting, financial support to third parties and any unit costs or lump sums which include indirect costs).

Deadlines

Application deadlines

RSO detailed review deadline

Date:

November 6, 2024 - 12:00 PM

RSO final internal review deadline

Date:

November 15, 2024 - 12:00 PM

Program application deadline

Date:

November 20, 2024 - 9:00 AM

Approvals

NOTE: Consult your Faculty Associate Dean (Research) (ADR) regarding Faculty-specific deadlines and submission processes.

Principal Investigators: Complete a Research Management System (RMS) record, including a copy of your complete application, and submit this for approvals in RMS.

Postdocs, students, and trainees: For fellowships and externally-sponsored research training awards or opportunities, you must complete the Research Funding Application Approval (RFAA) Trainee PDF form, and submit it, along with a complete copy of the application, to Research Services at rsotrainee@ucalgary.ca. Trainees should not use RMS at this time.

Approvals: The University of Calgary requires that all funding applications be approved prior to submission. Approval requires signatures via either RMS or the RFAA Trainee form, in the following order:

Principal Investigator
Department Head
Faculty ADR/Dean
Research Services (on behalf of the Vice-President Research)

Read the Meaning of Grant Signatures policy to understand what your approval means. Please see the agency guidelines for details about which signatures are required on your application, as it may differ from internal requirements.

Late submissions: Late submissions will only be accepted in cases of medical or family emergencies, or other exceptional circumstances. If you submit your RMS record to Research Services after the internal deadline has passed, you must secure additional approvals. Please read: Late Applications Process.