Work Package in Horizon Europe: What It Contains

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Work packages (WPs) are the principal organising unit for Horizon Europe project plans. Annex 1 of the Grant Agreement lists each WP with: a WP number and title, lead beneficiary, participating beneficiaries with person-month allocations, start and end month, objectives, tasks, deliverables, and milestones. Typical Horizon Europe projects have 5 to 10 WPs, with WP1 usually ‘management and coordination’. Project budget is reported and (in lump-sum grants) paid per WP.

References

European Commission Horizon Europe Application Form Part B template; Annotated Grant Agreement.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does “WP” stand for in Horizon Europe documents?

WP stands for “work package.” Work packages are the principal organising unit for a Horizon Europe project plan, with the full project broken down into a set of numbered WPs in Annex 1 of the Grant Agreement.

How many work packages does a typical Horizon Europe project have?

Typical Horizon Europe projects have 5 to 10 work packages, each set out as its own entry in Annex 1 of the Grant Agreement.

Who is the work package leader?

Each work package listed in Annex 1 has a lead beneficiary, alongside the other participating beneficiaries and their person-month allocations. The lead beneficiary acts as the work package leader, with responsibility for that WP’s objectives, tasks, deliverables, and milestones.

What does WP1 usually cover in a Horizon Europe project?

WP1 is usually the “management and coordination” work package, separate from the WPs that carry out the project’s research and technical work.

What information does Annex 1 list for each work package?

For each work package, Annex 1 lists the WP number and title, lead beneficiary, participating beneficiaries with person-month allocations, start and end month, objectives, tasks, deliverables, and milestones.

How is a work package’s budget paid under a lump-sum grant?

Project budget is reported per work package, and in lump-sum grants it is also paid per work package rather than reimbursed against actual incurred costs.

Use in your systems

JATS XML <role> element

xml

<role vocab="credit"
      vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
      vocab-term="Work package (Horizon Europe)"
      vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/work-package-horizon-europe" />

Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)

json

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "DefinedTerm",
  "@id": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/work-package-horizon-europe",
  "name": "Work package (Horizon Europe)",
  "identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/work-package-horizon-europe",
  "description": "A defined sub-component of a Horizon Europe project that groups related tasks, deliverables, and milestones under a single work-package leader, with its own budget allocation and timeline.",
  "inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/research-lifecycle#set",
  "url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/work-package-horizon-europe",
  "sameAs": [
    "WP",
    "Work package"
  ],
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "publisher": {
    "@id": "https://casrai.org/#organization"
  },
  "dateModified": "2026-08-15T04:28:08",
  "inLanguage": "en"
}