│ 1

European Research Council

Supporting top researchers across the world

Dr Vaida Bankauskaite

Scientific Officer

Life Sciences

5 December 2016

Nicosia, Cyprus

│ 2

Outline

• What is the ERC?

• How ERC research proposals are

evaluated?

• Some tips on preparing an ERC proposal

│ 2

│ 3

What is ERC

• An autonomous funding body set up by the EU in 2007 and led by

scientists

• Funding excellent researchers of any nationality, to carry out frontier

research in Europe, via annual competitions

• In all fields of science and humanities, without thematic priorities

• 1 team, 1 Host Institution, 1 project, 1 selection criterion

• Substantial grants and a recognised label of excellence

International, top level peer-review process

│ 3

│ 4

ERC offers independence, recognition & visibility

• fund research on any topic: completely "bottom-up"

• financial autonomy for 5 years

• ability to negotiate with the host institution the best

conditions of work

• to attract top team members and collaborators

• portability

• ability to attract additional funding

│ 4

What do ERC grants offer?

Creative Freedom of the Individual Grantee

│ 5

What is the ERC?Horizon 2020 Budget € 77 billion

ERC Budget € 13 billion

FP7

H2020

│ 5

│ 6

Researchers career development and

complementary funding schemes

Post-docs

Senior Professor

Students

Post Graduates

Junior Professor/ Junior Researcher

Associated Professor

Full Professor

Erasmus

Marie Curie

ERC AdG - Advanced

ERC StG - Starters

ERC CoG – Consolidators

│ 7

Starting Grants

starters 2-7 years after PhD

(≥ 50% commitment)up to € 2.0 Mio

for 5 years

Advanced Grants track-record of

significant researchachievements in the

last 10 years(≥ 30% commitment)

up to € 3.5 Mio for 5 years

Proof-of-Concept bridging gap between research - earliest stage

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

What does ERC offer?ERC Grant Schemes

Consolidator Grants

consolidators 7-12 years after PhD(≥ 40% commitment)

up to € 2.75 Mio for 5 years

│ 7

│ 8

Extensions of eligibility window possible for StG and CoG for

documented cases of:

• Maternity – 18 months per child (before or after PhD)

• Paternity – actual time taken off

• Military service

• Medical speciality training

• Caring for seriously ill family members

• No limit to the total extension

Extension of eligibility window

│ 9│ 9

ERC grants- size

€1.5M (StG) - possibility of an additional €.5M

€2.0M (CoG) - possibility of an additional €.75M

€2.5M (AdG) - possibility of additional €1.0M

Reasons for additional funds:

start-up costs when moving to Europe

access to large facilities

major equipment

│ 10

Physical Sciences & Engineering

PE1 Mathematics

PE2 Fundamental Constituents of Matter

PE3 Condensed Matter Physics

PE4 Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences

PE5 Synthetic Chemistry and Materials

PE6 Computer Science and Informatics

PE7 Systems and Communication Engineering

PE8 Products and Process Engineering

PE9 Universe Sciences

PE10 Earth System Science

Life Sciences

LS1 Molecular and Structural Biology and

Biochemistry

LS2 Genetics, Genomics, Bioinformatics and

Systems Biology

LS3 Cellular and Developmental Biology

LS4 Physiology, Pathophysiology and

Endocrinology

LS5 Neurosciences and Neural Disorders

LS6 Immunity and Infection

LS7 Diagnostic Tools, Therapies and Public

Health

LS8 Evolutionary, Population and

Environmental Biology

LS9 Applied Life Sciences and Non-Medical

Biotechnology

│ 10

Evaluation Panel Structure (WP2016)

Social Sciences and Humanities

SH1 Individuals, Markets and Organisations

SH2 Institutions, Values, Environment and Space

SH3 The Social World, Diversity, Population

SH4 The Human Mind and Its Complexity

SH5 Cultures and Cultural Production

SH6 The Study of the Human Past

│ 11│ 11

Submission to panels

• Proposals are submitted to a Targeted Panel (of PI's choice)

– Can flag one “Secondary Review Panel”

• Applicant chooses his/her panel, this panel is “responsible” and takes ownership for the evaluation of the particular proposal

• Switching proposals between panels not possible unless clear mistake on part of applicant, or due to the necessary expertise being available in a different panel

• But: In case of cross-panel or cross-domain proposals, evaluation by members of other panels possible

│ 12

Evaluation of excellence at two levels:

• Excellence of the Research Project

Ground breaking nature

Potential impact

Scientific Approach

• Excellence of the Principal Investigator

Intellectual capacity

Creativity

Commitment

How ERC research proposals are evaluated?Excellence is the sole evaluation criterion

│ 12

│ 13

Remote assessment by Panel members of section 1 – PI and synopsis

Panel meeting

Proposals retained for step 2

STEP 1

Remote assessment by Panel members and reviewers of full proposals

Panel meeting + interview (StG and CoG)

Ranked list of proposals

STEP 2

Feedback toapplicants

• Right balance between generalist + specialized review

• Appropriate treatment of interdisciplinary proposals

How ERC research proposals are evaluated?Evaluation of proposals: review procedure

│ 13

│ 14│ 14

• Panel members: typically 600 / call

High-level scientists

Recruited by ScC from all over the world

About 12 members plus a chair person

• Referees: typically 2000 / call

Evaluate only a small number of proposals

Similar to normal practise in peer-reviewed

journals

Other

(7%)

Who evaluates the proposals?

(7%)

USA

│ 15│ 15

How to apply?

Go to http://erc.eu:

which grant am I eligible for?

read FAQ

check successful applicants’ profiles

check panels http://erc.europa.eu/evaluation-panels

Find a host institution:

check National Contact Point (NCP)

contact EU Grants office at target institution

│ 16│ 16

ERC grants- funded projects

Menu allows

searching by

Funding Scheme,

Call Year and

Country of Host

Institution.

│ 17

PART A – online forms

A1 Proposal and PI info

A2 Host Institution info

A3 Budget

PART B2 – submitted as .pdf

• Scientific Proposal 15 p.

Annexes – submitted as .pdf

• HI support letter

• copy of PhD (StG, CoG);

• document for extension of

eligibility window (StG, CoG)

PART B1 – submitted as .pdf

• Extended Synopsis 5 p.

• CV 2 p.

• Early Achievements (StG

and CoG) or 10-year Track

Record (AdG) 2 p.

How to prepare and submit an ERC

research proposal? Proposal structure

Read the Information to Applicants │ 17

│ 18

In Step 1: Panel members (generalists and with multidisciplinary approaches) see only Part B1 of your proposal: Prepare it accordingly!

Pay particular attention to the ground-breaking nature of the research project – no incremental research. State-of-the-art is not enough. Think big!

Know your competitors – what is the state of play and why is your idea and scientific approach outstanding?

Only the extended Synopsis is read at Step 1: concise and clear presentation is crucial (evaluators are not necessarily all experts in the field)

Outline of the methodological approach (feasibility)

Show your scientific independence in your CV (model CV provided in the part B1 template)

Funding ID to be filled in

│

18

Differences in Part B1 and Part B2

│ 19

Preparing an applicationHints and tips (Generalities)

Register early, get familiar with the system and templates and start filling in the forms

A submitted proposal can be revised until the call deadline by submitting a new version and overwriting the previous one

Follow the formatting rules and page limits.

Download and proof-read the proposal before submitting.

Make use of the help tools and call documents (Information for Applicants, Work Programme, Frequently asked questions) to prepare your proposal

Talk to the National Contact Points and your Institution's grant office

│ 19

│ 20│

20

Preparing an applicationCheck the statistics on granted projects and

on submissions

Menu allows

searching by

Funding Scheme,

Call year,

Domain/Panel

and Grantees by

Country of Host

Institution.

│ 21│

21

Preparing an application Check past panel members for the call

│ 22

Some useful tools and links

│ 22

Read Information for Applicants and Work Programme

View the step-by-step videoIntroduction to application process, including tips & tricks for the interviewhttps://vimeo.com/94179654

Consult ERC website for latest fundingopportunities, view ERC funded projects

│ 23│ 23

Questions to be asked yourself

as an applicant

• Am I internationally competitive as a researcher at my career stage and in my discipline?

• Am I able to work independently, and to manage a 5-year project with a substantial budget?

• Why is my proposed project important?

• Does it promise to go substantially beyond the state of the art?

• Why am I the best/only person to carry it out?

• Is it timely? (Why wasn't it done in the past? Is it feasible now?)

• What's the risk? Is it justified by a substantial potential gain? Do I have a plan for managing the risk?

│ 24

Few tips and advise

• Panels instructed to seek out high-risk research

• Remember that Part B1 will be seen by "generalists"

(panel members)

• If you make it to Step 2, reviewers see both B1 and B2,

so do not repeat / duplicate part B1 in part B2

• Do not include unnecessary partners and collaborators; it

is not supposed to be a "consortium"

│ 25│ 25

ERC Grants - Proposal Submission

Online (via the Participant Portal)

http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/home.html

One deadline per call

Submit to a specific panel (one of 25) but you canindicate a secondary panel

│ 26│ 26

Common reasons for rejection:

project

• Objectives

• Scope: too narrow– too broad / unfocussed

• Hypothesis

• Incremental research

• Preliminary data

• Incremental vs groundbreaking research

• Work plan not detailed enough/ unclear

• Insufficient risk management

│ 27│ 27

Common reasons for rejection:

principal investigator

Insufficient track record

In case of interdisciplinary proposal, track record of

the colloborators

Insufficient (potential for) scientific independence (for

St and CoG)

Insufficient experience in leading projects

│ 28

Participation of Cyprus in ERC calls

LS PE SH Total

StG 1 1 2 4

2007 2 2

2010 1 1

2013 1 1

CoG 2 2

2013 1 1

2014 1 1

AdG 1 2 1 4

2008 1 1

2011 1 1

2012 1 1 2

Total 2 5 3 10

│ 29

Participation of Cyprus in ERC calls

StG2007 Dr Elena ANDREOUNew Results on Structural Change Tests:

Theory and ApplicationsUniversity of Cyprus SH 1 PoC

StG2007 Dr Marios AVRAAMIDESMultiple Systems of Spatial Memory: Their

role in Reasoning and ActionUniversity of Cyprus SH 2 PoC

AdG2008 Prof Johannes LELIEVELDConsistent computation of the chemistry-

cloud continuum and climate change in CyprusCyprus Institute PE

StG2010 Dr Antonis KIRMIZISFunctional and regulatory protein networks of

chromatin modifying enzymesUniversity of Cyprus LS

AdG2011 Prof Marios POLYCARPOUFault-Adaptive Monitoring and Control of

Complex Distributed Dynamical SystemsUniversity of Cyprus PE 1 PoC

AdG2012 Prof Philippos PATSALISA Novel Non-Invasive Prenatal Diagnosis for

Genetic Disorders

Cyprus Foundation for

Muscular Dystrophy

Research

LS 1 PoC

AdG2012 Prof Christoforos PISSARIDES Employment in Europe University of Cyprus SH

StG2013 Dr Triantafyllos STYLIANOPOULOS

Re-engineering the tumor microenvironment

to alleviate mechanical stresses and improve

chemotherapy

University of Cyprus PE

CoG2013 Dr Constantinos SKORDISTheories and Models of the Dark Sector: Dark

Matter, Dark Energy and GravityUniversity of Cyprus PE

CoG2014 Prof Stelios CHOULISSolution Processed Next Generation

Photovoltaics

Cyprus University of

TechnologyPE

TOTAL 10 5 PoC

│ 30│ 30

ERC future calls

• Deadlines 2017

• CoG: February 2017

• AdG: End of August 2017

│ 31│ 31

ERC Grants – Further Information

More information on

http://erc.europa.eu

Support to applicants

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

To subscribe to ERC newsletter and news alerts

http://erc.europa.eu/keep-updated-erc

Follow us on

https://www.facebook.com/EuropeanResearchCouncil

https://twitter.com/ERC_Research

│ 32

Thank you