The Constructive Advanced Thinking (CAT) programme supports small, interdisciplinary teams of early-career researchers to develop innovative ideas through a series of short, funded stays at Institutes for Advanced Study (IASs) across Europe. CAT is not a traditional research grant but a collaborative format designed to foster exchange, experimentation, and the development of new approaches in a highly interactive and interdisciplinary setting. The programme aims to support the development of innovative ideas for understanding and addressing current and emerging societal challenges. It combines a strong focus on societal relevance with a bottom-up, non-thematic approach. CAT encourages a collaboration with stakeholders outside academia (industry, policymakers, NGOs etc.) who are willing to support or engage in innovative research initiatives.

Beyond current frontiers of knowledge

With few guidelines and a very light application process, CAT is designed to maximize the creativity of research groups. This call has been incubated in the Network of European Institutes for Advanced Study (NETIAS) and also involves institutes beyond the network. The collaboration between several institutes in different countries aims at giving these groups access to a great variety of high-level thinkers and researchers in order to go beyond the current frontiers of knowledge and to develop highly innovative ideas on how to address very complex societal issues.

- The project must address emergent societal issues.

• Teams must consist of three to five members (including any stakeholder representatives) and must be fully constituted at the time of application.
• The Principal Investigator (team leader) must:
  -have a stable research position at a European (EU as well as UK and associated countries) higher education or research institution for the entire duration of the project
  -have obtained their PhD between January 2017 and September 2026
• No team member should have obtained their PhD before January 2017.Doctoral researchers may also participate.
• Each team must include participants from at least two different countries (based on current institutional affiliation; participants may be of any nationality)
• The team may include member(s) affiliated with a higher education or research institution outside the EU, UK, and associated countries. If applicable, applicants are asked to briefly outline the role of these team member(s) and how their participation contributes to the proposed project.
• The eligibility can be extended beyond 10 years after the PhD for any member of the group for certain properly documented circumstances such as maternity and paternity leaves, clinical training, long-term illness, national service, natural disaster or seeking asylum.
• There is no specific diploma or age requirement for representatives of stakeholder organizations.