ERC awards €761M to the next generation of scientists in Europe

(Press-News.org) Ekaterina Zaharieva, European Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation, said:

‘Among the winners in this new round of EU funding are researchers of 51 nationalities. They will be advancing knowledge across a wide range of scientific fields, including cancer, mental health and quantum science. We see leading scientists coming to Europe with these new grants, and many choosing to remain here thanks to this support. This demonstrates Europe’s potential to attract and keep top scientific talent.’

President of the European Research Council Prof. Maria Leptin said:

‘All these bright minds and the plethora of brilliant ideas that they will go after really inspire me, and so does their scientific creativity. It also gives hope that Europe empowers them and backs them. Yet, we could do more! Only 12% of all proposals in this competition are being funded, even if many more are excellent. More investment in this type of science is needed for Europe to reach its full potential.’

Projects selected for funding

As part of the EU’s Horizon Europe programme, these ERC grants will help researchers make discoveries across a wide range of fields. The grantees include a researcher in the Netherlands exploring new ways to make artificial touch feel more natural and realistic; an Austria-based scientist investigating how aging reshapes human tissues and triggers disease; a researcher in Estonia studying whether attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adults mirrors childhood ADHD; and another scientist, based in Spain, examining how plants protect themselves from excessive sun exposure.

These are just some examples of the research that the new grantees will conduct.

Facts and figures

The successful candidates plan to carry out their projects at universities and research centres across 25 countries, including Germany (99 grants), the UK (60), the Netherlands (44), and France (41). They come from Europe and beyond, with 51 different nationalities amongst the grantees, notably Germans (87 researchers), Italians (55), French (33), and UK and Spanish researchers (32 each). This competition attracted 3,928 proposals, marking a 13% increase in demand from last year’s Starting Grant call. Just over 12% of the proposals will be funded.

The number of women grantees remain fairly stable with 42% female winners in this year’s Starting Grants, and 44% in 2024, and 43% in 2023. A Starting Grant amounts to €1.5 million for a period of up to five years. However, additional funds can be made available to cover costs related to moving from a country outside the EU or associated countries, purchasing major equipment or the access to large facilities, or major experimental and fieldwork-related costs.

This round of grants is estimated to create some 3,000 jobs within the teams of the new grantees.

See more statistics and the full list of winners.

Applicants based in Switzerland

The statistics and list of successful candidates are provisional. The European Commission and the Swiss Government have successfully concluded negotiations on the association of Switzerland to Horizon Europe and the signature of the agreement is expected to take place in 2025. If the association agreement has not yet come into force by the date of the signature of the grant agreement, applicants with Swiss host institutions will not be eligible to receive funding. In that case, if the signature of the association agreement is not imminent, the applicants will be given the possibility to transfer their proposal to an eligible host institution in an EU Member State or in an associated country.  

About the ERC 

The ERC, set up by the European Union in 2007, is the premier European funding organisation for excellent frontier research. It funds creative researchers of any nationality and age, to run projects based across Europe. The ERC offers four core grant schemes: Starting Grants, Consolidator Grants, Advanced Grants and Synergy Grants. With its additional Proof of Concept Grant scheme, the ERC helps grantees to bridge the gap between their pioneering research and early phases of its commercialisation. The ERC is led by an independent governing body, the Scientific Council. Maria Leptin has been the President of the ERC since November 2021. The overall ERC budget from 2021 to 2027 is more than €16 billion, as part of the Horizon Europe programme, which is under the responsibility of Ekaterina Zaharieva, European Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation. 

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