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European Research Council (ERC) Funding Schemes for Competitive Research

Learn about the ERC and its focus on frontier research, funding opportunities for young and established researchers, key principles of ERC grants, and eligibility criteria for applying. Discover how ERC grants aim to increase competitiveness, retain talent in Europe, and support independent research careers.

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European Research Council (ERC) Funding Schemes for Competitive Research

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  1. UNIVERSITY STRATEGY AND THE EUROPEAN RESEARCH COUNCIL Mathias Dewatripont June 2007

  2. ERC and FP7 Original focus: For the first time, broader interpretation of research as a source of European competitiveness: • ‘Frontier research’, • ‘Bottom-up’ / ‘investigator-driven’. • Centered solely on scientific quality. • Not bureaucratic, flexible. • High-quality evaluation, organized by the scientific community.

  3. ERC and FP7 • ERC = around 15% of the budget of FP7, that is, around one billion Euros a year (NSF: 4 billion Euros a year). • Natural complementarity: ‘bottom-up’ versus ‘targeted’ research.

  4. Objectives of funding schemes • Keep (young) researchers in Europe • Favour “brain gain” and “reverse brain drain” • Improve career opportunities and independence - especiallyfor young researchers: ERC Starting Grant attract & retain the next generation • Increase competition, recognition and international visibility for excellent individual scientists and scholars in Europe: ERC Advanced Grant attractive & prestigious grants for established leaders

  5. ERC Starting Grant(ERC Starting Independent Researcher Grant) • Key ideas: Retain, Repatriate, Recruit • Support researchers at the start of their independent research career and establishment of their first research team • Provide a structure for transition from working under a supervisor to independent research • Supply grantsto support the creation of excellent new teams of which bring energy and new ideas to their disciplines

  6. ERC Starting Grant(ERC Starting Independent Researcher Grant) • ~ €300M initially (approximately ⅓ of ERC annual budget) • €100k – 400k per year (increments of € 50k) • 2000+ Starting Grants over 7 years of FP7

  7. ERC Advanced Grant(ERC Advanced Investigator Researcher Grant) • Designed to support excellent investigator-initiated research projects by established investigators • Should complement the ERC Starting Grant scheme by targeting researchers who have already established their independence as team leaders • €100k-500k per year • max € 2-3 million per grant

  8. ERC budget 2007-2013 • Total (FP7 Ideas budget): € ≈7.5 bn • ≈1/3 Starting Grants, ≈ 2/3 Advanced Grants • Less than 5% for operational ERC management • 1st Call • StG only, € 300 Mio. • 2nd Call • AdG only, late 2007, € 550 Mio. • 3rd call onwards: • 1/3 StG + 2/3 AdG (up to € 1.7 bn in 2013).

  9. Who can apply ? Individual Teams • The Team Leader (“Principal Investigator”) has the • power to assemble his/her research group; • freedom to choose the research topic. • Individual teams should consist of a grouping of researchers which meets the needs of the project, without “artificial” administrative constraints; thus members may be drawn from one or several legal entities, from either within or across national boundaries, including third countries

  10. Who can apply? European and International Teams • Ideas (ERC specific programme) encourages participation of researchers from European and non-European countries • Level of participation varies with regard to roles and funding • Roles: • Principal Investigator • Can be of any nationality • But: PI’s host organisation needs to be established in EU Member States or Associated Countries, or be a international European Interest Organisations (such as CERN, EMBL, etc.) or the JRC • Team Members • Can be of any nationality and established in almost any country • International Cooperation Partner Countries (ICPC) • Industrialised Countries, e.g. Australia, Canada, Japan, USA

  11. ERC Grant Agreement Key Principles • Financially Attractive • 100% direct costs plus 20% flat rate for indirect costs • Up to 5 year duration • Flexible in application • Easy to adjust during execution • Portability • Administration simple and transparent • Preparation of grant agreements without “negotiations” • Short annual reports plus detailed final report

  12. Some general considerations • How ‘elitist’? • Success rate low: around 3% this time. • ‘Champions’ League’, not Structural Fund. • Still, no desire to favor ‘top universities’: key is quality of PI + project. • Desire to help PI: flexibility of use of budget, max 20% for institution, portability. • On the other hand, freedom of contracting; moreover, grant can be used to pay wage of PI. • Questions: (i) Do these schemes ‘help’ European universities compete internationally? (ii) : How can ERC do more to help?

  13. Further Information Website of the ERC:http://erc.europa.eu

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