Call for Expression of Interest EIT Food Evaluators in Agriculture

Introduction 

EIT Food is the world’s largest food innovation community, creating connections right across the food system. Supported by the European Union (EU), we invest in projects, organisations and individuals which share our goals for a healthy and sustainable food system.  

We have built a unique not-for-profit business to carry out transformative programmes in skills, education, entrepreneurship, start-up investment and communications. We deliver these programmes in partnership with our members to create a culture and build a community which sees the long-term value in the food innovation we fund through open, competitive calls.  

EIT Food has a strategic approach to systems change to create societal and economic impact. This is underpinned by a robust Theory of Change and a clear set of impact indicators and goals published in our Strategic Agenda 2021-27.

EIT Food Calls and need for Evaluators

To select the highest quality activities and implementing participants, EIT Food runs several types of Calls throughout the year.

At this stage, we are seeking evaluators with expertise across resilient and climate-smart farming systems, digital and data-driven agriculture, water efficiency in agri-food, as well as smart, low carbon agrifood supply chains. Selected experts may support a range of calls, including EIT Food entrepreneurship programmes, regenerative and resilient agriculture landscape initiatives, and other current or future activities related to EIT food thematic areas.

EIT Food funds projects and individuals that drive innovation, sustainability, and resilience in the agrifood system. These include initiatives focused on product and process innovation, education and skills development and startup support to promote healthier diets, reduce environmental impact, and improve food system transparency. You can find an overview of our currently open call for proposals on our Open Calls page.

Each proposal submitted via these calls is carefully evaluated by a team of experts.

This Call for Expression of Interest

ЕIT Food invites experts from the agriculture industry to join our database of independent evaluators for our various calls for proposals. The deadline for applications is 23:59 CET on 29 March 2026.

Prior to assignment to an evaluator team, evaluators will be contracted and given a description of the tasks, duration, remuneration rates, and reimbursement methods. Evaluators will be trained, issued a Code of Conduct, including confidentiality, and a Conflict of Interest for each assignment to be reviewed and signed. 

EIT Food has a policy to attain a balanced and mixed-gender evaluation panel. In this context, EIT Food has set a target of 40% of the under-represented gender in all evaluation panels. 

Selected experts will be part of a database of evaluators that will be invited to assist EIT Food in selecting the best and most innovative proposals. If selected, evaluators will be tasked with: 

• Participating in online training sessions.
• Reviewing full proposal applications, with a specific focus on determining the financial, innovativeness and feasibility of the proposal.
• Qualitatively assessing proposals according to pre-defined evaluation criteria.
• Producing evaluation reports, proofreading and doing quality assurance.
• Preparing for and actively engaging in the Panel Meetings with the evaluation team and contribute to the panel report.
• Agreeing on which proposals get funding.

Evaluator profiles

With this open call, we would like to increase our database of evaluators for agriculture topics. The areas below refer to the main areas we are looking for experts for in this call

1. Agriculture innovation

At least 10 years professional experience in the agriculture sector and covering at least one of the topics below:

• Regenerative & Climate-Smart Agriculture (regenerative agriculture, carbon farming, nature-based solutions, holistic systems)
• Soil, Carbon & Ecosystem Health (soil health, carbon sequestration, biodiversity, ecosystem services)
• Sustainable Farming Systems & Practices (crop rotation, agroforestry, perennial systems, no-till)
• Animal Health  (animal production, holistic grazing, integrated crop–livestock systems)
• Sustainable Inputs & Nutrient Management (natural fertilizers, composting, biochar, input reduction)
• Integrated Pest & Management (IPM, disease management, animal health)
• Water & Climate Adaptation (water management, climate-specific systems: Mediterranean, tropical, northern, arid)
• Aquaculture & Diversified Production Systems
• Farm Systems Design & Agronomic Innovation (farm planning, landscape design, seed selection, research, practitioner expertise)
• Digital Agriculture & Data Systems (AI, remote sensing, GIS, field data collection, digital logistics)
• Impact Measurement & Carbon Accounting (MRV) (MRV systems, GHG accounting in AFOLU, LCA, KPIs, verification)
• Regenerative Finance & Impact Investment
• Policy, Standards & Certification (regenerative standards, carbon methodologies, ESG reporting, public policy)
• Entrepreneurship, Project Management & Scaling (business development, startup acceleration, grant management, scaling & replication)
• Sustainable Value Chains & Market Systems (traceability, market access, fair trade, decarbonized supply chains)
• Social Inclusion, Capacity Building & Stakeholder Engagement (farmer engagement, participatory design, gender, youth, community engagement)
• Circular Bioeconomy & Sustainable Food Innovation (circularity, resource efficiency, food waste, alternative proteins, fermentation, cell cultivation, enabling technologies)

Eligibility to become an Evaluator

• To be eligible to apply for this Call you must bring expertise on at least one of the above-mentioned topics and not be subject to EU administrative sanctions as listed in Annex 1.
• Fluency in English (written and spoken).
• Ability to work well with a team and an open questioning style to enable you to draw out honest intelligence from organisations during Panel meetings.

Application Procedure

Individuals with relevant experience are invited to apply by 29 March 2026, 23:59 CET. 

Steps in the application and selection a process:

1. Applicants should fill out the application form using the link here, completing all required fields, giving as much detail as possible, and uploading their CV.
2. Applications are evaluated by EIT Food on a rolling basis.
3. Applicants may be invited to do a mock evaluation.
4. EIT Food assesses the applications and notifies the selected applicants that they have been added to the Evaluator Database.
5. Independent experts will be selected based on the following criteria:

Technical Expertise, including proven track record in the expert areas - 65%

Experience with EU-funded project evaluations - 15%

Experience with the EIT Community - 20%

 Timeline and Deadlines

Applicants can apply until March 29th 2026. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and all applicants will be screened. Applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible. 

Applicants will be notified by April 30th of the outcome of their application.

Please note the following timeframes and next opportunities for evaluators:

• EIT Food Accelerator Network
  • Online application evaluations: 27 April - 6 May, 2026
  • Panel Interviews: 18-29 May, 2026
  • Online Tech Validation Pitches: November, 2026
• Multiple calls for regenerative agriculture landscapes from May 2026 onwards which may include evaluating calls for MRV providers, regenerative agriculture training providers, project managers and more.

After Selection: Contracting & Payments

If you are accepted, you will be added to the list of evaluators, and you might receive requests for assignments.

If you accept an assignment, you will enter into a direct agreement with EIT Food. The evaluator must acknowledge the receipt of the request from the EIT Food without undue delay. If the evaluator does not accept the assignment within three days, EIT Food will choose a different evaluator. Provision of the service will be agreed on an ad hoc basis with EIT Food and in all cases must be completed in accordance within three months from the day the beneficiary requested the service.

While there will be no compensation for being included in the database, when selected as an evaluator to review a specific Call for Proposals, EIT Food will pay a fee of 56.25 EUR per hour of work to all evaluators. It is estimated that on average it takes around 2-7 hours to evaluate one proposal, depending on the call type. You will always be allocated more than one proposal to review and the conditions for each call, as well as a tentative time window, will be shared with you before you sign on as an evaluator for a specific call.

Evaluators can not be paid more than EUR 90 000 in total during a period of four consecutive calendar years.

Tasks will be remunerated only if accomplished in accordance with the provisions of the Contract, within the given deadlines, to the highest standards of quality and if they were approved by EIT Food.

Conflict of Interest 

The task of the Evaluator is to be performed in a confidential, fair, and equitable manner, according to the rules of the evaluation process established by the EIT Food.

To ensure the independence of the work that they are called upon to perform in their capacity as 'independent evaluators', prior to the signature of their contract, evaluators will be required to attest that they abide by the terms of the EIT Food Code of Conduct (including confidentiality aspects) in the electronic exchange system.

Evaluators shall be excluded from participation in this call if they have a conflict of interest in connection with the proposals or proposers; a conflict of interest could arise, in particular as a result of economic interests, political or national affinities, family or emotional ties or any other relevant connection or shared interest.

A disqualifying conflict of interest exists if Evaluator:

• Was involved in the preparation of the KIC added value activity.
• If he/she or his/her organisation could stand to benefit, or be disadvantaged, as a direct result of the evaluation carried out.
• Has a close family relationship with any person representing a participating organisation in the KIC added value activity.
• Is a director, trustee or partner of any beneficiary, participating in the KIC added value activity, or is a subcontractor/third party carrying out work for any beneficiary in the KIC added value activity concerned.
• Is employed by one of the beneficiaries, participating in the KIC added value activity or by a subcontractor/third party carrying out work for any beneficiary in the KIC added value activity concerned.
• Is in any other situation that compromises his/her ability to evaluate the KIC added value activity impartially.

A potential conflict of interest may exist, even in cases not covered by the clear disqualifying conflicts indicated above, if an Evaluator:

• Was employed by one of the participating organisations in a KIC added value activity within the previous three years – in this case the reviewer should indicate this potential conflict of interest. This does not disqualify him / her from the review process all together, special measure will be put in place to maintain impartiality.
• Is involved in a contract or research collaboration with a participating organisation or had been so in the previous three years.
• Is in any other situation that could cast doubt on his/her ability to evaluate the KIC added value activity impartially, or that could reasonably appear to do so in the eyes of an external third party.
• At the signature of the contract, evaluators shall be aware that based on the contract terms, if an evaluator selected for performing evaluation tasks has a conflict of interest or potential conflict of interest with any proposed KIC Added value activity, they must declare such facts to EIT Food as soon as they become aware of this. In this case, they must immediately stop reviewing the proposal in question until instructed otherwise by EIT Food.

Detailed information on Conflict of Interest for Horizon Europe can be found in Horizon Europe Code of Conduct