ERC grants

The European Research Council (ERC) aims to provide attractive, long-term funding to support excellent investigators and their research teams, in order to set a clear and inspirational target for frontier research across Europe.

ERC provides different kinds of grants:

• Starting Grants, for researchers of any nationality with 2-7 years of experience, funding up to 1,5 million of euros (in some circumstances up to 2 million of euros) for 5 years;
• Consolidator Grants, for researchers of any nationality with over 7 and up to 12 years of experience, funding up to 2 million of euros (in some circumstances up to 2,75 million of euros) for 5 years;
• Advanced Grants, for scientifically independent researchers of any nationality and any age, funding up to 2,5 million of euros (in some circumstances up to 3,5 million of euros) for 5 years;
• Proof of concept, for Principal Investigators benefitting from an ERC Advanced, Synergy, Consolidator or Starting Grant , funding up to 150.000 euros for a period up to 18 months.

Consolidator grant, call 2017

ERC Consolidator Grants are designed to support excellent Principal Investigators at the career stage at which they may still be consolidating their own independent research team or programme. Applicant Principal Investigators must demonstrate the ground-breaking nature, ambition and feasibility of their scientific proposal.

Consolidator Grants may be awarded up to a maximum of 2 million of euros for a period of 5 years (The maximum award is reduced pro rata temporis for projects of a shorter duration. This does not apply to ongoing projects).

However, up to an additional 750.000 euro can be requested in the proposal to cover (a) eligible "start-up" costs for Principal Investigators moving to the EU or an Associated Country from elsewhere as a consequence of receiving the ERC grant and/or (b) the purchase of major equipment and/or (c) access to large facilities (As any additional funding is to cover major one-off costs it is not subject to pro-rata temporis reduction for projects of shorter duration. All funding requested is assessed during evaluation).

The Principal Investigator shall have been awarded their first PhD over 7 and up to 12 years prior to 1 January 2017. A competitive Consolidator Grant Principal Investigator must have already shown research independence and evidence of maturity, for example by having produced several important publications as main author or without the participation of their PhD supervisor. Applicant Principal Investigators should also be able to demonstrate a promising track record of early achievements appropriate to their research field and career stage, including significant publications (as main author) in major international peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journals, or in the leading international peer-reviewed journals of their respective field. They may also demonstrate a record of invited presentations in well-established international conferences, granted patents, awards, prizes etc.

It is expected that this call with a budget of 575 million of euros. The submission deadline is 9 February 2017, 17.00 (Brussels local time).

> ERC - Starting grant, call 2017

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