European Research Council

The European Research Council supports frontier research, cross disciplinary proposals and pioneering ideas in new and emerging fields which introduce unconventional and innovative approaches. The ERC's mission is to encourage the highest quality research in Europe through competitive funding and to support investigator-driven frontier research across all fields of research, on the basis of scientific excellence. A total budget of 13 095 million euro is available for the implementation of the ERC funding schemes under Horizon 2020.

What are the main ERC principles?

• 1 researcher; 1 host institution; 1 project; 1 selection criterion: scientific excellence
• No consortia, no networks, no co-financing
• Applications can be made in any field of research, including social sciences and humanities
• Independent researchers from anywhere in the world, of any age and career stage can apply
• Host institutions must provide conditions for the researcher to direct the research and manage its funding
• The grant is 'portable' to another host institution, if the grantholder wishes so
• Research must be carried out in one of the EU member states or associated countries

What type of grants does the ERC fund?

• ERC Starting Grant for young, early-career top researchers (2-7 years after PhD) - up to 1.5 million euro for 5 years.
• ERC Consolidator Grant for already independent excellent researchers 7-12 years after PhD) -up to 2 million euro for 5 years.
• ERC Advanced Grant for senior research leaders with significant research achievements in the last 10 years - up to 2.5 million euro for 5 years.
• ERC Proof of Concept Grants for ERC grant holders who want to check the market and/or innovation potential of research results from ERC-projects - lump sum of 150,000 euro for 18 months.
• ERC Synergy Grants to address ambitious research questions that can only be answered by the coordinated work of a small group of 2-4 principal investigators - up to 10 million euro for 6 years.

Watch our series of instructional videos that explain in an entertaining, practical way all you need to know about the application and evaluation process.