Call open for Senior Experts: transformation of global food, land, and water systems with CGIAR

About this call

This call is the second round of the Senior Expert Programme (SEP), phase 2. The programme aims to promote knowledge and strengthen innovation in the field of global food and nutrition security through cooperation between the Netherlands and CGIAR. The call offers senior researchers from Dutch knowledge institutions the opportunity to spend part of their working time for a period of 1-3 years collaborating with one (or more) of the following CGIAR (Science) programs/accelerators:

CGIAR (Science) Programs: 

• Climate Action;
• Food Frontiers and Security;
• Policy Innovation;
• Scaling for Impact;

• Capacity Sharing;
• Digital Transformation;
• Gender Equality and Inclusion.

View here the full call for senior experts.

For more information about the 22 NL-CGIAR Senior Experts who have started this year, visit the information page of the Dutch Research Council (NWO).

Budget and Matchmaking

The deadline for submitting a proposal is 20 January 2026, before 14:00:00 CET. A Senior Expert can apply for 550.000 Euro for an appointment of maximum 3 years. A total of 3,9 Million Euro is available for this round.

NWO is organising an online matchmaking meeting about this new round on 24 September 2025 from 12.00 to 16.00 h CEST. Participants will receive more information about the call and the submission process, and there will be opportunities to meet with various CGIAR partners.

You can register for this meeting via the button below, on the NWO website. In the registration form, you can also indicate which CGIAR (Science) Programs/Accelerators you would like to speak to during this meeting.

About the NL-CGIAR research programme

The Senior Expert Programme (SEP) II is one of the instruments of the NL-CGIAR research programme phase II (2024-2030). This programme is part of the partnership between the Dutch government and CGIAR and focuses on promoting knowledge, knowledge utilisation and innovation for global food and nutrition security (SDG2). This is achieved by strengthening cooperation between CGIAR and Dutch research and knowledge institutions, and by working together with National Agricultural Research and Extension Services (NARES), civil society organisations, the private sector and government organisations. The NL-CGIAR research programme is funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and implemented by NWO. In implementing the programme, NWO works closely with CGIAR and the Netherlands Food Partnership, and coordinates with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food and Nature.