Two types of ERC grants are available. These funding streams operate on a bottom-up basis across all research fields, without predetermined priorities:
Background
European research has a lack of opportunities for young investigators to develop independent careers and make the transition from working under a supervisor to being independent research leaders in their own right.
Objective of the Scheme
The scheme is designed to support excellent researchers at the stage at which they are starting or consolidating their own research team (one to several researchers, depending on the research project).
Size of the ERC Starting Grants
Up to € 1.5 mio per grant; each grant for up to 5 years. If the Principal Investigator moves to a European country from a third country, he may apply for additional € 0.5 mio.
Eligibility
The Starting Grant is open to investigators who are working or intend to work in any part of the EU and associated countries and are in the position of starting or consolidating their first independent research team. Applicants must have been awarded their PhD between 2 and 12 years before the date of the publication of the call for proposals (special circumstances will be taken into account, such as maternity/paternity leave, military/civil service (+4.5 years max.)). In case of uncertainty whether your certificate fulfils the eligibility criteria, please consult Annex 4 (p. 45-46) of the Work Programme on 'PhD and Equivalent Doctoral Degrees'.
A checklist might help assessing whether you are a competitive ERC Starting Grant candidate.
Supported Fields
Applications may be made in any field of research according to the bottom-up principle, i.e. investigator driven research. Trans-disciplinary proposals are encouraged.
Peer Review Evaluation
Excellence is the only selection criterion. The peer-review evaluation process for ERC Starting Grants is carried out by means of high level panels. The following lists of panel chairs and panel members are publicly available: 1st StG panel members, 2nd StG panel chairs and 2nd StG panel members.
1st, 2nd and 3rd Call: State of Play
1st call, 2007: 299 grants were awarded, see the list of successful candidates for names. Various descriptive statistics on the grantees show amongst others that researchers performing their projects in Switzerland were especially successful: With 14 Grants (plus one at CERN), Switzerland ranked second in terms of grantees per inhabitants. This brochure portrays the grantees in Switzerland.
2nd call, 2009: 237 grants were awarded, among which there are 18 grantees in Switzerland. With this excellent result Switzerland ranks 5th in terms of the total amount of grants, after UK, France, Germany, and Spain. For statistics see here. The list with the names of the grant winners (first 219): Physics and Engineering, Life Sciences, Social Sciences and Humanities.
3rd call, 2010: The 3rd call closed on 28 October (Physical Sciences and Engineering, PE), 18 November (Life Sciences, LS) and 9 December 2009 (Social Sciences and Humanities, SH). The evaluation panel meetings, step 1, took place between January and March 2010 (PE: January, LS: February, SH: March). Step 2 evaluation timeframes had to be extended due to interviews which could not take place as scheduled because of the airtraffic impairment in April. The final panel chairs meeting is now scheduled for September.
4th call (ERC-StG-2011): The 4th ERC Starting Grant call was published on 20 July 2010. The following deadlines apply: 14 October 2010 for Physical Sciences and Engineering, 9 November 2010 for Life Sciences and 24 November 2010 for Social Sciences and Humanities.
Calls and Deadlines
The ERC publishes a call for Starting Grants once a year in summer with deadlines in autumn.
Questions? Please contact your regional office or Katja Wirth, the National Contact Point (NCP) of the ERC (on maternity leave from June to October 2010 and replaced by Judith Zbinden).
Background
ERC Advanced Grants provide an opportunity to established top scientists and scholars to pursue frontier research of their choice. The grants are intended to promote substantial advances at the frontiers of knowledge and to encourage new productive lines of enquiry, new methods and techniques.
Objectives of the Scheme
The aim is to fund individual teams led by established Principal Investigators, regardless of nationality, age or current location. Applicants must have an outstanding track record of research achievements which are recognised as such.
Size of the ERC Advanced Grants
Up to € 2.5 Mio per grant; each grant for up to 5 years. The amount will depend on the nature of the project and the size of the team. In exceptional cases the grant may be up to € 3.5 Mio.
Eligibility
The Advanced Grant is open to excellent and established investigators who are working or intend to work in any part of the EU and associated countries.
Profile of the Applicant
Applicants for the Advanced Grant are expected to be active researchers and to have a track record of significant research achievements in the last 10 years. Depending on the research field, these achievements include at least 10 publications as senior author in major international peer reviewed scientific journals, or at least 3 major monographs. Other benchmarks, such as patents, invited presentations etc., are listed in the Work Programme p.22/23 or refer to the checklist to assess whether you are a competitive candidate.
Who should apply?
Outstanding research leaders who fulfill the requirements in the Work Programme p.22/23 and who have an excellent project idea.
In special cases a proposal can be submitted by co-investigators.
Supported Fields
Applications may be made in any field of research, according to the bottom-up principle, i.e. investigator driven research.
Peer Review Evaluation
A single submission of the full proposal is followed by a two-step evaluation. The peer review evaluation is carried out by 25 thematic panels. The names of the corresponding Panel Chairs and Panel Members are published annually by the ERC Scientific Council. A and B panels have been set up; both panels are active in turns (every 2nd year) and are appointed every year for a maximum of 3 active calls. List of Panel A chairs - List of Panel A members - List of Panel B chairs - List of Panel B members not published yet.
First and second Advanced Grant Call, State of Play
First call, 2008: The grants were awarded in autumn 2008; for names see the names in the list of successful applicants. Researchers in Switzerland were especially successful: They got 27 grants out of 288 grants, as revealed by various descriptive statistics.
2nd call, 2009: The 2nd call for the ERC Advanced Investigator Grant closed in spring 2009. The ERC awarded 236 Grants in autumn 2009; for names see the list of successful candidates. Researchers in Switzerland got 29 grants, as revealed among others by descriptive statistics. Thus Switzerland as a host country for top researchers ranks 4th in the country ranking.
Calls
The ERC launches a call every year in autumn, with deadlines in spring of the following year. The 3rd Advanced Grant call opened on 29 October, with deadlines on 24 February 2010 (Physical Sciences and Engineering), 17 March 2010 (Life Sciences) and 7 April 2010 (Social Sciences and Humanities) and is currently in evaluation.
The 4th call (ERC-AdG-2011) should be published on 2 November 2010 with the following deadlines: 9 February 2011 for Physical Sciences and Engineering, 10 March 2011 for Life Sciences and 6 April 2011 for Social Sciences and Humanities.
Questions? Please contact your regional office or Katja Wirth, the National Contact Point (NCP) of the ERC (on maternity leave from June to October 2010 and replaced by Judith Zbinden).