CIVICA Student Engagement Fund

The CIVICA Student Engagement Fund (SEF) is a mini-grant scheme that supports student-led projects and cross-campus collaboration across the CIVICA alliance.

About the Fund

Bring your ideas to life with CIVICA!

The Student Engagement Fund (SEF) offers mini-grants for student and early stage researcher-led projects that connect peers across CIVICA universities. Whether you’re passionate about sustainability, democracy, diversity or digital innovation, this is your chance to turn ideas into real impact across Europe.

In the first 2024/25 funding round, successful projects took diverse forms, including conferences, short films, policy papers and hackathons. Explore all the winning projects here.

Apply for the 2025/26 Student Engagement Fund

Who can apply and what kind of projects get funded?

Students and early-stage researchers from at least two CIVICA universities team up to design and lead their own initiatives. Projects should clearly enrich the CIVICA student experience and create a positive impact in their communities. We encourage projects that tackle Europe’s big challenges and bring students together across borders.

For example, you might:

  • Host a conference on democracy in the 21st century,
  • Run a hackathon on AI and social sciences,
  • Organise workshops on sustainability and climate action,
  • Launch a campaign on diversity, equity and inclusion, or
  • Create a cultural exchange project celebrating Europe’s languages and traditions

By aligning your project with CIVICA’s four thematic priorities, or broader EU goals such as sustainability, solidarity and intercultural understanding, you’ll strengthen your proposal and its impact.

How to apply

  • Form your team: partner with students or associations from at least two CIVICA universities.
  • Develop your idea: outline your project, budget and impact.
  • Get pre-approval: check the links in the below list ('Where to Apply at your University') to secure budget pre-approval. Please note that the pre-approval deadline is earlier than the application deadline.
  • Submit online via my.civica.eu before the deadline.

Download the full call documents and application form from the sidebar.

Timeline at a glance

  • Application deadline: 12 November 2025, 13:00 CET (please note: students must check the internal pre-approval deadline of their institutions, as this deadline is different for each university and earlier than 12 November. Projects will not be considered without pre-approval).
  • Selection results announced: by 8 December 2025
  • Project implementation: January – June 2026

Where to Apply at your University