About
The European Research Council (ERC) is the EU's premier funding organisation supporting excellent frontier research. Established by the European Commission, the ERC funds creative researchers of any nationality and age to run projects across Europe. The ERC is composed of an independent Scientific Council that sets scientific strategy, and the ERC Executive Agency (ERCEA) which manages daily operations and implementation of grant programs including Starting Grants, Consolidator Grants, Advanced Grants, Synergy Grants, and Proof of Concept funding.
Funding Opportunities
ERC Plus Grant
The ERC Plus Grant is a new funding scheme designed to support outstanding researchers from Europe and anywhere in the world with bold ideas and a vision for transformative research that goes beyond the scope of existing ERC programmes. The grant supports principal investigators who address major scientific challenges with projects that could not be carried out with a regular ERC grant. Applications should be for projects that go beyond the scope of a regular ERC project, for example because they aim to transform the field or open new avenues of research. Scholars at all career stages can apply if they have an outstanding record of scientific achievement at the forefront of their field. Only some 30 ERC Plus Grants can be awarded annually across all fields and all career stages, making this an extremely competitive funding opportunity. A researcher is allowed to hold only one ERC Plus Grant in their lifetime.
ERC Proof of Concept Grant
The ERC Proof of Concept Grant is designed for Principal Investigators who have already received an ERC frontier research grant (Starting, Consolidator, Advanced or Synergy) and want to explore the commercial or societal potential of their work. The grant aims to facilitate exploration of the commercial and social innovation potential of ERC funded research by supporting activities that verify the innovation potential of ideas arising from ERC funded projects. The objective is to enable ERC-funded ideas to progress on the path from ground-breaking research towards innovation. Proof of Concept Grants support activities such as testing, experimenting, demonstrating and validating ideas; conducting research to address technical weaknesses; establishing viability and technical issues; clarifying intellectual property rights protection or knowledge transfer strategies; involving industrial partners, societal or cultural organizations, policymakers or other stakeholders; and assessing potential end users of the expected innovation. The grant provides EUR 150,000 as a lump sum for a period of 18 months, though most activities are expected to be completed within 12 months.
ERC Advanced Grant
The ERC Advanced Grant provides long-term funding for established, leading principal investigators to pursue ground-breaking, ambitious research projects. Applicants are expected to be active researchers with a track-record of significant research achievements and exceptional leadership in terms of originality and significance of their research contributions. The grants support frontier research carried out by individual researchers leading their own teams across any field of research on a bottom-up basis without predetermined priorities. The Principal Investigator must conduct research at a host institution located in an EU Member State or associated country, and can employ researchers of any nationality as team members.
ERC Starting Grant
The ERC Starting Grant is designed for talented early-career scientists who have already produced excellent supervised work, are ready to work independently, and show potential to be research leaders. The grant supports researchers of any nationality with 2-7 years of experience since completion of PhD who have a scientific track record showing great promise and an excellent research proposal. Starting Grants may be awarded up to €1.5 million for a period of 5 years, with an additional €1 million available to cover further eligible costs such as start-up costs, major equipment, access to large facilities, and major experimental and field work costs when necessary. For Principal Investigators currently based in non-associated third countries relocating to the EU or an Associated Country, the maximum additional funding may be up to €2 million. The ERC operates on a 'bottom-up' basis without predetermined priorities, accepting applications in any field of research. Proposals are evaluated by international peer reviewers on the basis of excellence as the sole criterion.
ERC Synergy Grant
The ERC Synergy Grant supports collaborative research projects addressing ambitious research problems that cannot be tackled by a single Principal Investigator working alone. This program brings together groups of two to four Principal Investigators with different skills and resources to achieve outstanding intrinsic synergetic effects. Proposals are evaluated on the sole criterion of scientific excellence and can be submitted in any field of research on a bottom-up basis without predetermined priorities. The grant provides substantial funding to support frontier research conducted at public or private research organizations in EU Member States or associated countries.
At a Glance
- Total Funding Opportunities
- 6
- Active Now
- 5
- Source Domain
- erc.europa.eu
Catalog Data
This funder profile was automatically extracted from grant listings. Information may be incomplete.
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