European Research Council

FP7 IDEAS Programme

The European Research CouncilAn overview with focus on international participation

ERC EA Unit A1 Support to the Scientific Council

European Research Council

Support for the individual scientist – no networks!Global peer-reviewNo predetermined subjects (bottom-up)Support of frontier research in all fields of science and humanities

The ERC supports excellence in frontier research through a bottom-up, individual-based, pan-European competition

│ 2

What is ERC?

Le

gis

lati

on

Str

ate

gy

Scientific governance: independent Scientific Council with 22 members; full authority over funding strategySupport by the ERC Executive Agency (autonomous)Excellence as the only criterion

Budget: € 7.5billion (2007-2013) - 1.1 billion €/year

European Research Council

10.8%

4%

7.3%

15.1%

17.8%

21.6%

23.4%

0

300

600

900

1200

1500

1800

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Mil

lio

n E

uro

FP7 budget € 50.5 billion ERC budget € 7.5 billion; Increase by € 250 M/year

Co-operation (65 %)

Ideas (15 %)

People (9 %)

Capacities (8 %)JRC non-

nuclear (3 %)

European Research Council

ERC Structure

The European Commission• Provides financing through the EU framework programmes• Guarantees autonomy of the ERC• Assures the integrity and accountability of the ERC• Adopts annual work programmes as established by

the Scientific Council

The ERC Agency• Executes annual work programme as established by the Scientific Council• Implements calls for proposals and provides information and support to applicants• Organises peer review evaluation• Establishes and manages grant agreements• Administers scientific and financial aspects and follow-up of grant agreements• Carries out communications activities and ensures information dissemination

to ERC stakeholders

The ERC Scientific Council• 22 prominent researchers proposed by an independent

identification committee• Appointed by the Commission (4 years, renewable once)• Establishes overall scientific strategy; annual work programmes

(incl. calls for proposals, evaluation criteria); peer review methodology; selection and accreditation of experts (25 panels for all areas of science)

• Controls quality of operations and management• Ensures communication with the scientific community

European Research Council

more than 2.600 funded proposals, 58% of them StG in more than 480 different host institutions in 26 countries,

total 4 billion but “excellence attracts excellence”: 50% of PIs in 50

institutions highly competitive: average success rate 12 % strong structuring effects: competition among European

researchers for first time ever, EU value added strengthening peer-review-based evaluation systems in

Europe

│ 5

After 5 years of existence…A success story

European Research Council

Starting Grantsstarters (2-7 years after PhD)

consolidators (7-12 years after Phd) up to € 2.0 Mio for 5 years

Advanced Grants track-record of significant research achievements in the last 10 years

up to € 3.5 Mio for 5 years

Synergy Grants2 – 4 Principal Investigatorsup to € 15.0 Mio for 6 years

Proof-of-Concept bridging gap between research - earliest

stage of marketable innovation up to €150,000 for ERC grant holders

ERC Granting schemes

European Research Council

Two main ERC grant schemes

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 47 49 51 53 55 57 59 61 63 65 67 69 71 73

Age of Grantees

Nu

mb

er

of

Gra

nte

es

Starting Grant• Attract/retain next-generation leaders

(2-12 years after PhD)

• Up to € 2 Million for 5 years€ 500 000 ‘set up’ funds for thosemoving from overseas

Advanced Grant • Attract/retain current world-leaders• Up to € 3.5 Million for 5 years

€ 1 Million ‘set up’ funds for thosemoving from overseas

European Research Council

ERC offers independence, recognition & visibility

• to work on a research topic of own choice, with a team of own choice

• to gain true financial autonomy for 5 years

• to negotiate with the host institution the best conditions of work

• to attract top team members (EU and non-EU) and collaborators

• to move with the grant to any place in Europe if necessary (portability of grants)

• to attract additional funding and gain recognition; ERC is a quality label

│ 8

Creative freedom of the individual grantee

European Research Council

Incentive: Additional “start-up” funding for scientists moving to Europe

(EUR 500 000 for Starting and EUR 1 Million for Advanced grantees)

Flexibility: Grantee can keep affiliation with home institute outside Europe (“significant part” of work time in Europe) Team members can be based outside Europe Grantee can move within Europe with the grant

Negotiation: Several European countries/host institutes assist applicants and reward grantees with top-up funds or long-term professorships

Attractive featuresfor researchers from outside Europe

European Research Council

│ 10

ERC funding process Peer Review EvaluationStarting and Advanced Grants

Panel Members are appointed by the ERC Scientific Council

25 Panels covering all fields of science, technology and scholarship

2 sets of Panels: StG Panels, AdG Panels

Each Panel consists of the Panel Chairand 10-15 Panel Members

Panel Chair oversees evaluation process for the proposals assigned to his/her panel in collaboration with the ERC staff

Evaluation criteria:

Principal Investigator

Intellectual capacity and creativityCommitment

Research project

Ground-breaking nature and potential impactMethodology

European Research Council

Social Sciences & Humanities

6 panels

Individuals, institutions and marketsInstitutions, values, beliefs and behaviourEnvironment, space and populationThe Human MindCultures and cultural productionThe study of the human past

25 panels for all areas of science

Physical MathematicsSciences Fundamental constituents of matter& Condensed matter physicsEngineering Physical and analytical chemical sciences

Synthetic chemistry and materials10 panels Computer science and informatics

Systems and communication engineering Products and processes engineering Universe sciences Earth system science

Life Molecular and structural biology and biochemistrySciences Genetics, genomics, bioinformatics and systems biology

Cellular and developmental biology9 panels Physiology, pathophysiology and endocrinology

Neurosciences and neural disordersImmunity and infectionDiagnostic tools, therapies and public healthEvolutionary, population and environmental biologyApplied life sciences and biotechnology

European Research Council

Speeding up the discovery process: ERC Synergy grant

2012 work programme on a pilot basis 2 – 4 Principal Investigators; complementary skills,

knowledge & resources; to jointly address frontier research problems

Up to €15m for up to six years

Based on ERC principles (no consortia, no networks):• bottom-up and risk-taking• driven by scientific demand• PIs expected to spend significant “core time” together • only one Host Institution, but groups not required to be

physically located in the same place

710 submissions to the first Synergy Call

European Research Council

More information on ERC

Ideas NCPs http://erc.europa.eu/national-contact-points

ERC Website http://erc.europa.eu

ERC Helpdesk http://erc.europa.eu/about-erc/links

Quarterly ERC e-newsletter and e-News Alerts

Euraxess-Jobs http://ec.europa.eu/euraxess/index.cfm/jobs/index

EU delegation to South Africa http://www.eusa.org.za/en/contacts/

New ERC calls Expected Publication Deadline

Starting 2013 10 July 2012 17 Oct. 2012Consolidator 2013 7 Nov. 2012 21 Feb. 2013

Advanced 2013 10 July 2012 22 Nov. 2012

Synergy 2013 10 Oct. 2012 10 Jan. 2013

PoC 2013 January 2013