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The ERC Starting Independent Researcher Grants (ERC Starting Grants)

The objective is to provide support to the independent careers of outstanding researchers. They are either located in or moving to the EU and associated countries, and are at the stage of establishing their first research team or programme (less than 10 years after PhD), whatever their nationality.

An ERC Starting Grant will be between €100,000 and €400,000 per year for a period of up to 5 years. This grant will cover up to 100% of the total direct costs with a provision of 20% towards indirect costs (i.e. overheads). The level of the grant offered will be determined by the peer review evaluation, on the basis of the needs of the project, judged by the panel against the requested budget of the proposal.

Proposals are submitted by the Principal Investigator, on behalf of the hosting institution which is the “applicant legal entity”. Applications may be made in any field of research with particular emphasis on frontier and interdisciplinary research in new and emerging fields. The ERC has established the following indicative budget for each of the 3 main scientific domains:

  • Physical Sciences & Engineering: 45%
  • Life Sciences: 40%
  • Social Sciences & Humanities: 15%

A two-stage application procedure will be followed. At the first stage, a proposal will be presented and evaluated, describing the project and the qualifications of the Principal Investigator. Successful Principal Investigators at the first stage will be invited to submit a more detailed proposal by the second stage deadline.

The grants are open to researchers of any nationality who would like to set their research activity up in Europe. The Principal Investigator can be of any age and nationality and he/she can reside in any country in the world at the time of the application. He/she must have been awarded his/her first PhD more than 2 and less than 8 years prior to the deadline of the call for proposals (extensions can be made in documented circumstances).

The institution hosting the Principal Investigator for at least the duration of the grant must be in the European Union Member, Associated or Candidates States, or from an International European Interest Organisation (such as CERN, EMBL, etc.) or the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre. The country of primary residence of the Principal Investigator during the period of the grant must be in one of the eligible states.

Other legal entities, including those located in third countries like Australia, may however be involved and receive funding to support the work of additional team members, if so specified in the grant award. This presupposes that in such cases the scientific added value is properly justified and accepted during evaluation by the peer review panels.

Evaluation criteria:

  • Principal Investigator: potential to become a world class research leader
  • Quality of the proposed research project
  • Research environment (to be assessed only during stage 2 evaluation)

More details about the scheme:

The ERC Advanced Investigator Grants (ERC Advanced Grants)

The objective is to support excellent frontier research projects by leading established researchers across the EU Member States and Associated Countries, whatever their nationality.

More details about the scheme:

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