European Research Council

1. European Research Council Michał Kleiber Konferencja „Uczestnictwo w Programach Ramowych UE” Warszawa, dnia 25 kwietnia 2006 r.

2. FP7 • Cooperation • Ideas • People • Capacities → European ResearchCouncil (ERC) European Research Council

3. ERC: • Scientific Council (SC) • Secretariat of SC: Secretary General + ? • Dedicated Implementation Structure: Director + ? (ExecutiveAgency) European Research Council

4. The European Research Council Identification Committee: • Lord Patten of Barnes, Chancellor of Oxford and Newcastle Universities (Chairman) • Dr. Catherine Bréchignac, Director, Institut d’Optique, Université Paris Sud • Prof. Jüri Engelbrecht, Vice-President of the Estonian Academy of Science • Prof. Guido Martinotti, Facolta di Sociologia Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca • Prof. Erwin Neher, Director, Max-Plank-Institut für biophysikalische Chemie, Göttingen European Research Council

5. Dr. Claudio BORDIGNON (IT) –medicine (hematology) Prof. Manuel CASTELLS (ES) – information sociology Prof. Dr. Paul J. CRUTZEN (NL) – atmospheric chemistry Prof. Mathias DEWATRIPONT (BE) – economics Dr. Daniel ESTEVE (FR) – physics Prof. Pavel EXNER (CZ) – physics/math Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim FREUND (DE) – chemical physics Prof. Wendy HALL (UK) – electronics & computer science Prof. Dr. Carl-Henrik HELDIN (SE) – medicine (cancer research) Prof. Dr. Michal KLEIBER (PL) – computational science & engineering Prof. Maria Teresa V.T. LAGO (PT) – astrophysics Prof. Dr. Fotis C. KAFATOS (GR) – molecularbiology Prof. Norbert KROO (HU) – physics Dr. Oscar MARIN PARRA (ES) – biology Lord MAY (UK) – zoology Prof. Helga NOWOTNY (AT) – sociology Prof. Christiane NÜSSLEIN-VOLHARD (DE) – biology Prof. Leena PELTONEN-PALOTIE (FI) – medicine(molecular biology) Prof. Alain PEYRAUBE (FR) – linguistics Dr. Jens R. ROSTRUP-NIELSEN (DK) – chemical & process engineering Prof. Salvatore SETTIS (IT) – history/archeology Prof. Dr. med. Rolf M. ZINKERNAGEL (CH) – medicine (immunology) Members of the ERC Scientific Council: European Research Council

6. The mandate of the Scientific Council includes: • Scientific strategy:establishment of the overall scientific strategy for the programme. On a permanent basis, the establishment of the work programme and necessary modifications, including calls for proposals and criteria on the basisof which proposals are to be funded, and, as may be required, the definition of specific topics or target groups (e.g. young/emerging teams). • Monitoring and quality control:as appropriate, from a scientific perspective, establishment of positions on implementation and management of calls for proposals, evaluation criteria, peer review process including the selection of experts and the methods for peer review and proposal evaluation, on the basis of which the proposal to be funded will be determined; as well as any other matter affecting the achievements and impact of the Specific Programme, and the quality of the research carried out. Monitoring quality of operations and evaluation of programme implementation and achievements and recommendations for corrective of future actions. • Communication and dissemination: communication with the scientific community and key stakeholders on the activities and achievements of the programme and the deliberations of the ERC. Regularly report to the Commission on its activities. European Research Council

7. The Commission will be responsible for formally adopting the workprogramme for the „ideas” programme. • It will exercise this responsibilityin line with the approach set out above. • As a general rule, theCommissionwill adopt the work programme as proposed by the Scientific Council. • If the Commission is unable to adopt the work programme as proposed, for example because the letter does not correspond to the objectives of the programme, or does not conform to community legislation, the Commission will be required to state its reasons publicly. • This procedure is designed to ensure that operation of the ERCaccording to the principles or autonomy and integrity, are fully and transparently respected. European Research Council

8. Budget of ERC : € 8,4 billion, i.e. € 1,2 billion per year FP7: € 51 billion European Research Council

9. Frontier Research: Classical distinctions between basic and applied research have lost much of theirrelevance at a time when many emerging areas of science and technology (e.g.biotechnology, ICT, materials and nanotechnology) often embrace substantial elements of both. Frontier research stands at the forefront of creating new knowledge about the worldexploring at the same time possibilities of generating knowledge that is potentially useful. Frontier research pursues questions irrespective of established disciplinary boundaries. It may well involve multi- or trans-disciplinary research that brings together researchers from different disciplinary backgrounds, withdifferent theoretical and conceptual approaches, techniques, methodologies and instrumentation, perhaps even different goals and motivations. The task of funding agencies is confined to supporting the bestresearchers with the most exciting ideas. European Research Council

10. The frontier research project needs to be: • financially attractive: it should cover a sufficient proportion of the total costs of the research to attract the very best researchers. • administratively simple and transparent: this means reduction of administrative requirements for the researcher (and recipient organisation) to the minimum necessary for accountability, at the proposal stage (ex-ante), for the purpose of reporting during the project, and for final payments (ex-post). • flexible in application:if the project requirements and context change, the utilisation of the grant must be easy to adjust during implementation. This includes portability of the grant. European Research Council

11. Scientific Strategy (I) • The key principles of the ERC: • stimulating investigator-initiated frontier research across all fields of research on the basis of excellence, • encouraging cross-disciplinary and unconventional (high-risk) projects. • Significant budget should be available for the first year. To allow a smooth start up, the first year should be limited to a single call, possibly with several sub calls in order to spread the load. European Research Council

12. Scientific Strategy (II) • In the start up phase, priority will be given to a call for early stage independent investigators. The objective of this call will be to provide adequate support to the independent careers of excellent researchers who are at the stage of establishing their first research team. • Oversubscription is likely a serious problem. European Research Council

13. Scientific Strategy (III) • In addition to a funding stream for early stage investigators, a further funding stream should be established for more „regular” projects led by investigators at all career stages. • The balance of funding across broad domains is to be initially establishedfrom the experiences of the national funding institutions in the Member States and potentially abroad. More specific guidelines would ultimately emerge from ERC operational experience. European Research Council

14. Scientific Strategy (IV) • Cross-disciplinary and emerging, unconventional research should be encouraged without compromising coherent funding of research in established disciplines. • Substantial grants (of € 100,000 to 500,000 per year for 3-5 years) should be considered to differentiate grants according to the scientific field of the proposal, as some scientific disciplines require more expensive equipment. European Research Council

15. Scientific Strategy (V) • Grants should be flexible, and should broadly provide for actual costs of research (including a certain overhead percentage) in order to allow for real independence. The possibility is also suggested that some element of co-financing by universities would be useful to ensure commitment on their part and positive side effects. • Specialist referee reports and panels should be used for the evaluation of proposals. Both panel members and referees should be carefully selected, possibly with the advice of national research councils. European Research Council

16. Scientific Strategy (VI) • Thorough discussion is needed on the composition and the number of panels. • There is a strong preference for a two stage procedure for the evaluation of submitted proposals. European Research Council

17. The Early Stage Independent Investigators scheme (ESII): • ~ 1/3 of the ERC’s annual budget • ~ 200 grants annually, each for 3 to 5 years at the level of € 100 000 ÷ 400 000 per year • Support for researchers at the stage at which they are starting their independent research or, depending on the field, establishing their first research team. • The selection panels will be empowered to assess whether applicants are being granted independence by their administrative superior. • Applicants should be less than 10 years from the award of their PhD. • Two –step submission procedure: • outline proposals • final proposals European Research Council

18. The Leading Established InvestigatorGrant Scheme (LEIG): • € 100 000 ÷ € 500 000 per year • 3-5 years • ≤ 2 M € • overhead ≤ 20 % European Research Council