Missing persons: prevention and investigation

Open EU call topic HORIZON-CL3-2026-01-FCT-03 · HORIZON Innovation Actions. Part of call HORIZON-CL3-2026-01: Civil Security for Society 2026. Next deadline 2026-11-05. Topic page: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/HORIZON-CL3-2026-01-FCT-03

Expected Outcome: Project results are expected to contribute to some or all of the following expected outcomes: - Improved skills, tools and training curricula for Police Authorities in Europe and Civil Society Organisations (or Non-Governmental Organisations) to work with at-risk groups to prevent persons from going missing. Those improved skills, tools and training curricula are to take into account European multicultural dimension, as well as legal and ethical rules of operation; - Enhanced investigation tools and methodologies for Police Authorities in Europe to tackle cold cases in the context of missing persons, based on modern (forensic) technologies and criminology; - Modern training curricula for Police Authorities, their improved cross-border cooperation and enhanced tools and methodologies to tackle new cases of missing persons; - Enriched European common approaches applied by Police Authorities in Europe to fight the issue of missing persons relying on the synergy of technology, the latest socio-psychological knowledge learned from cases, as well as field experience of Police Authorities and entities dealing with victims, while fully respecting fundamental rights such as privacy, protection of personal data and anonymity of victims.

Scope: The issue of missing persons is a multifaceted challenge that encompasses diverse categories and is influenced by various factors. People may go missing under a variety of circumstances, such as voluntary disappearances, abductions, cases related to mental health crises, or because of conflict, migration, geopolitical instability, natural disasters. Groups in a vulnerable situation - notably children, victims of…