The ERC starting grant call 2024 opened this month, with a deadline for submission of October 24th, 2023. European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grants are designed to support excellent Principal Investigators in all scientific fields at the career stage at which they are starting their own independent research team or program.
ERC Starting Grants in brief:
- For researchers of any nationality with 2-7 years of experience since completion of PhD or an equivalent doctoral degree (Extensions are possible under certain circumstances — see the latest ERC Work Program), a scientific track record showing great promise and an excellent research proposal
- Applications can be made in any field of research
- Research must be conducted in a public or private research organization (known as a Host Institution, or HI). It could be the HI where the applicant already works or any other HI located in one of the EU Member States or Associated Countries.
- Funding per grant: up to €1.5 million. However, an additional €1 million can be made available to cover eligible “start-up” costs for researchers moving from a third country to the EU or an associated country and/or the purchase of major equipment and/or access to large facilities and/or other major experimental and fieldwork costs. An ERC grant can cover up to 100% of the total eligible direct costs of the research plus a contribution of 25% of the total eligible costs towards indirect costs.
- Duration: up to 5 years
- Sole evaluation criterion: scientific excellence of researcher and research proposal
- Calls for proposals: published once a year
ERC Starting Grant call 2024
Resources:
- Starting Grants webpage with tips on how to apply
- Information for Applicants to the Starting Grant 2024 Call
- EURAXESS North America webinars presenting ERC calls
Participation of team members from all over the world:
ERC grants support projects carried out by an individual researcher ('Principal Investigator') who can employ researchers of any nationality as team members. It is also possible to have one or more team members located in a non-European country. Vacancies for team members of an ERC project can be published on the EURAXESS Jobs portal.
Initiatives, under the form of Implementing Arrangements (IAs), exist for ERC-funded teams in Europe to host non-European talented scientists. IAs exist with Canada and the United States, among other countries. Find out more about the agreements.
About ERC:
Set up in 2007 by the EU, the European Research Council is the first pan-European funding organization for frontier research. It aims to stimulate scientific excellence in Europe by encouraging competition for funding between the very best, creative researchers of any nationality and age. The ERC also strives to attract top researchers from anywhere in the world to come to Europe. It funds young, early-career top researchers ("ERC Starting Grants"), already independent excellent scientists ("ERC Consolidator Grants"), and senior research leaders ("ERC Advanced Grants"). With its Synergy Grants, the ERC also supports groups of two to maximum four Principal Investigators (PIs) working together and bringing different skills and resources to tackle ambitious research problems. One of the PIs can be based outside of Europe, including in North America.