Professor Rachael Taylor, Director of EDOR, is a New Zealand national contact point (NCP) for the European Union's key funding programme for research and innovation, Horizon Europe - the world’s largest research fund.
Horizon Europe has a budget of €95.5 billion (NZ$160 billion) from 2021 to 2027. It consists of three “Pillars”: Excellent Science (fundamental research and researcher mobility), Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness, and Innovative Europe (innovation and commercialisation).
New Zealand is associated with Pillar II which has a total budget of €53.5 billion (NZ$95 billion), the largest share of Horizon Europe’s funding. This fund supports research projects carried out mostly by international and inter-disciplinary consortia.
The research is organised under six thematic “Clusters”. Professor Taylor is the NCP for Cluster 1 which is focused on health research and has a funding allocation of NZ$14.6 billion. Professor Taylor's role is to provide detailed information for New Zealand researchers and organisations on putting together successful project bids.
Through Horizon Europe funding, New Zealand participants can join research consortia with some of Europe's best research organisations and access research infrastructure that is not currently available in New Zealand.
Find out more about Horizon Europe funding
- New Zealand's association with Horizon Europe, MFAT website, March 2024
- Horizon Europe research fund Cluster 1: Health, MBIE website, updated February 2025
- New Zealand appoints Horizon Europe National Contact Points, European Commission, August 2023