Knowledge in Action - Transition towards planetary health
The Knowledge-in-Action Grant brings together (action)researchers and societal actors—such as entrepreneurs, practice pioneers, creative professionals and policy-makers—to work jointly on just climate transitions. In this Knowledge-in-Action Grant, one urgent question is central: What is needed to establish planetary health as an institutionalised practice within healthcare, the living environment and other domains?
The Knowledge-in-Action grant stimulates collaboration between academia and the professional world to accelerate the transition towards planetary health. We aim to align this programme with emerging initiatives centred on the transition to planetary consciousness and an integrated approach. The direct and indirect consequences of climate change are becoming increasingly evident in our health and in the health of the environment, with people and other living beings in vulnerable situations being hit hardest. Yet society is failing to implement a radical change of course, even though now is precisely the time to do so. That is why KIN has launched the ‘Transition to Planetary Health’ programme and, with it, this call for proposals.
Please read the call for proposals for all conditions and criteria.
Who is this call for proposals for?
This call is primarily intended for people with a focus on transitions and/or experience in the field of planetary health. These include:
- Practitioner organisations that are already experimenting with the transition and taking concrete steps in this direction.
- Researchers who are applying their knowledge in a way that promotes systemic change and accelerates social impact.
- Pioneers who are breaking down existing structures and working on sustainable alternatives in practice.
- Partnerships between science and practice that are jointly developing structural solutions for climate transitions.
Who can apply?
Employees of knowledge institutions and societal organisations in the Kingdom of the Netherlands who want to contribute to transformative projects focused on planetary health within the selected themes of the call for proposals, with a view to bringing about social change.
Budget: Maximum € 50,000 per project
What can be applied for:
- Salaries of project partners
- Materials and resources
- Temporary hiring of experts
- Other project activities
- Student assistants
Not possible: Recruitment of new academic staff and basic facilities
Creative approach welcome: We encourage non-traditional and creative activities that contribute to the aim of the call for proposals, and we encourage the involvement of professionals from the creative sector.
Desired duration: max. 9 months (longer duration must be well substantiated)
Start: within 3 months of allocation
More details can be found in chapter 3.1 of the call for proposals.
- Proposals can be submitted until 22 September 2026 14:00:00 CEST.
Criteria
Proposals are evaluated in terms of content on four main criteria (with sub-criteria), each of which must score satisfactorily:
- Relevance: Connection to Knowledge-in-Action agenda and transition questions.
- Quality: Clear (learning) objectives, well-founded approach, learning and reflective work process, knowledge use and diffusion, ensuring justice and sustainability.
- Co-creation en knowledge development: Integration of different knowledge types, active involvement of all project partners, action perspective for actors involved and beyond.
- Feasibility: Appropriate activities and budget, realistic timeline (duration >9 months requires substantiation), proportional resources compared to activity plan.
For the full assessment criteria read section 4.2 of the call for proposals.
Procedure
The assessment procedure consists of the following steps:
- submission of the proposal
- consideration of the proposal
- pre-advice of the evaluation committee;
- meeting of the evaluation committee
- selection (if applicable);
- decision-making.
Assessment: An assessment committee of science and practice experts evaluates proposals on their own merits with satisfactory (+1) or unsatisfactory (-1) for each sub-criterion. To receive a positive advice, each main criterion must be assessed with a sufficient rating (Sum of all sub-criteria is >0).
Selection: In case of more proposals with a positive advice than available budget, additional selection will take place.
For more information about the assessment see chapter 4.1 of the call for proposals.
More information on the topic and the creation thereof can be found on the KIN website.
There will be two online information sessions about this grant:
You do not need to register; you can join via the link at the time of the session. This is an opportunity to ask your specific questions, listen to questions from others, or simply obtain some additional general information.
Are you planning to submit a proposal? We encourage you to take a look at the LinkedIn group that was created around this topic. You can also express your interest or call upon others in this group. This way, everyone can see who wants to submit for which topic and new collaborations can potentially emerge.
We are organising an online pop-up matchmaking session on 25 August (9.30–11.00) to help potential applicants find one another. You do not need to register; you can join via the link at the time. We encourage creative professionals, researchers and professionals from civil society organisations to collaborate.
Applications must be submitted through the ISAAC application and reporting system. If you do not have an ISAAC account yet, then please create one at least one workday in advance ISAAC and ensure that project partners who are not in the Isaac database register at least 10 working days before the deadline via relatiebeheer@nwo.nl. More information about writing a proposal and which forms you need to use can be found in ISAAC. Please download and use the forms in Isaac. Below you will find examples of the required forms.
The Knowledge-in-Action grant focuses on joint experimentation, investigating and learning in and with the field. Choose one sub-theme from the agenda and develop a concrete, action-oriented, transformative intervention with a clear learning objective and reflective approach that contributes to the transition. What alternatives and questions need to be explored in order to bring about the desired transition to planetary health within the chosen domains of intervention? Describe what you’re going to do and why. What do you want to learn, and how?
- Show transformative ambition. Also outline your transition timeline and where you currently stand within that timeline. The committee is looking for projects that will bring about real change, not just optimalisation.
- Co-creation and knowledge development: Show how different types of knowledge come together, and how partners contribute to the proposal and its implementation.
- Be creative and concrete: Design-oriented, activist or creative approaches with clear impact are welcome.
- Write in an accessible style: Bear in mind that the committee is broadly composed of experts from different areas of science and practice.
For this call, next to filling in the submission form, we also ask you to enclose a budget form, a signed commitment letter from all project partners and, if applicable, a signed declaration of knowledge institution without assessment and/or a de-minimis declaration.
Downloads for your application
- Do you already have an account in Isaac?
- Have you completed the application form?
- Have you completed the budget form?
- Did all project partners submit a letter of commitment?
- Have project partners from societal organisations and/or additional knowledge institutions without assessment submitted a de-minimis declaration?
You can read all the details about the application for funding in the call for proposals. If you have any questions, please contact the contact person.