Gianpietro van de Goor, PhDDeputy Head of Unit “Strategic matters and

relations with the ERC Scientific Council”

ERC-DIS / European Commission

Kalkara/Malta, 11 September 2008

FP7 IDEAS Programme

The ERC funding schemes: Starting Grant

European Research Council

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ERC Starting GrantERC Starting Grant(ERC Starting Investigator Researcher Grant)

Principal Investigator – (2 to 9) 3 to 8 years after PhD Support researchers at the start of their independent research

career and establishing or consolidating their own independent research team (or research programme)

Provide a structure for transition from working under a supervisor to an independent research leader

~ up to 2,000.000 Euros per grant (for 5 years, pro rata reduction for shorter periods) ~ ⅓ of ERC annual budget per year, annual calls ~ 300 Starting Grants per year, ~1500 Starting Grants over 7 years of FP7 (2007-2013)

Read the Guide for Applicants !

European Research Council

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Indicative budget: ~ € 300 Mio.

Call launch end of July 2008 with 3 call deadlines Physical Sciences on 29th October 2008 Social Scienceson 19th November 2008 Life Sciences on 10th December 2008

3 main research domains + interdisciplinary research domain, with separate indicative budgets

- PE: Physical Sciences & Engineering (39%) - LS: Life Sciences (incl. medical) (34%) - SH: Humanities & Social Sciences (14%)- Interdisciplinary (13%)

ERC Starting Grant ERC Starting Grant Next Call 2008/2009 - Preliminary information

European Research Council

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ERC Starting GrantERC Starting GrantProfile of the PI

• Any nationality or age• Any current place of work – but: working or moving to work in Europe

(EU member state, FP7 Associated Country)

• 3-8 years of experience after PhD - certain types of career breaks are accepted up to a maximum of 2 years read the Guide for read the Guide for Applicants!Applicants!

• Potential for research independence and evidence of maturity at least one important publication without participation of PhD supervisor

• Track-record of early research achievements appropriate to their research field and career stage Starters vs Consolidators

• First StG call (300 grants, 21 host countries, 32 nationalities, 170 host institutes)

Average Age: 35 years (spans from 24, 28 to 44y) Average experience: 6-7 years Average grant size: Gender: 26% women (as low as 12% in LS2 up to 71% in SH4)

European Research Council

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ERC Starting GrantERC Starting GrantEarly research achievements track-record

1. Publications, as main author indicating those without the presence as co-author of their PhD supervisor) in major international peer-reviewed multi-disciplinary scientific journals and/or in the leading international peer-reviewed journals of their respective research fields, also indicating the number of citations (excluding self-citations) they have attracted.

2. Granted patent(s) (if applicable).

3. Invited presentations to peer-reviewed, internationally established conferences and/or international advanced schools (if applicable)

4. International Prizes/Awards/Academy memberships(if applicable)

European Research Council

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ERC Starting GrantsERC Starting GrantsProposal content and submission (preliminary)

ERC Starting Grant proposal

PART A – online forms

A1 Proposal and PI info“A1T” “Track Record”A2 Host institution infoA3 Budget

PART B1 – submitted as .pdf

Section 1 Track Record of PI Scientific Leadership Potential 2 p.CV (including “funding ID”) 2 p.Early achievements track record 2 p.Extended synopsis 5 p.

PART B2 – submitted as .pdf

Section 2 Scientific proposal 15 p.

Section 3 Research Environment 2 p.

Annexes – submitted as .pdf

Statement of support by hostPhD certificate (incl. supporting

documents to extend the eligibility window)

European Research Council

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ERC Starting GrantsERC Starting GrantsProposal evaluation

Step 2

Evaluation- Indiv. assessments- Interdisciplinary flag- Interviews- PANEL MEETINGS- Ranking

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Step 1

Evaluation- Indiv. Assessments- PANEL MEETINGS- Ranking

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Submission

+ Annexes

Eligibility Check

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Proposal - B Proposal – B1+B2Proposal – B1

European Research Council

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ERC Starting Grant ERC Starting Grant „Similar type of funding“

• Same/similar conceptual aim of the grant scheme Establishing or consolidating a research team Establishing or consolidating scientific independence

• Similar scale of funding: €100-400’000 per year for up to 5 years, i.e. up to € 2 Mio)

• Same research project (similar/same objectives or approaches applied)

e.g.Marie-Curie Excellence Grants

European Young Investigators Awards (EURYI, € 0,75-1,25 Mio. for 5 years)

NWO Innovational Research Incentives Scheme “Vidi” (up to € 600’000 for 5 years)

DFG Emmy Noether Programme (funding of Independent Junior Research Group, for up to 5-6 years)

SNSF Professorship Programme (establishment of independent team, for up to 4-6 years, in average: € 1 Mio.)

European Research Council

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ERC Starting GrantERC Starting GrantMultiple Applications/Resubmissions

General Only one ERC grant managed by a Principal Investigator (or Co-

Investigator) can be active at any time No Principal Investigator (or co-Investigator) may be associated

with more than one application to the ERC during the same year

Starting Grant No Principal Investigator who has submitted an eligible proposal

to a Starting Grant call may apply to the next Starting Grant call, unless his/her proposal was evaluated above the quality threshold during the 2nd step but not funded due to insufficient available budget

StG Principal Investigators can compete during the last 2 years of their grant for an AdG

Read the Guide for Applicants!