European Research Council
European Research CouncilIts mission and calls for proposals
Dr Gabor NagyERC EA
Head of UnitAdvanced Grants
June 2011
European Research Council
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What is the ERC?
ERC is a new type of funding body in Europe to support excellence in frontier research, a bottom-up, individual-team, pan-European competition
• Scientific Council with 22 members
• Support by the ERC Executive Agency
• Significant budget (1.2 billion €/year)
• Excellence as the only valid criterion
• Support for the individual scientist – no networks!
• International peer-review
• No predetermined subjects (bottom-up)
• Support of frontier research in all fields of science and humanities
Le
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Str
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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 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
• Controls quality of operations and management• Ensures communication with the scientific community
European Research Council
• Prof. Claudio BORDIGNON (IT – Medicine)• Prof. Nicholas CANNY, (IE – History)• Prof. Sierd A.P.L. CLOETINGH (NL – Earth Sciences)• Prof. Mathias DEWATRIPONT (BE – Economics) • Prof. Tomasz DIETL (PL – Physics)• Prof. Daniel DOLEV (IL – Computer Sciences) • Prof. Carlos M. DUARTE (ES – Biology)• Prof. Daniel ESTEVE (FR – Physics)• Prof. Pavel EXNER (CZ – Applied Mathematics & Mathematical Physics) • Prof. Hans-Joachim FREUND (DE- Physics & Physical Chemistry)• Prof. Carl-Henrik HELDIN (SE – Molecular Cell Biology)• Prof. Timothy HUNT (UK - Biology)• Prof. Norbert KROO (HU – Physics)• Prof. Maria Teresa LAGO (PT – Astrophysics)• Prof. Henrietta L. MOORE (GB – Social Anthropology) • Prof. Helga NOWOTNY (AT – Social Studies of Science), ERC President• Prof. Christiane NÜSSLEIN-VOLHARD (DE – Genetics)• Prof. Alain PEYRAUBE (FR – Linguistics) • Dr. Jens ROSTRUP-NIELSEN (DK – Chemistry)• Prof. Mart SAARMA (FI – Biology)• Prof. Anna TRAMONTANO (IT- Biochemistry)• Prof. Isabelle VERNOS, (ES – Molecular Biology)
ERC Scientific Council Members
European Research Council
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
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ERC Grant SchemesERC Grant SchemesFunding Strategy
Aim: Retain – Repatriate – Recruit
Favour “brain gain” and “reverse brain drain”
improve career opportunities and independence - especially for young researchers
increase competition, recognition and international visibility - for excellent individual scientists and scholars in Europe
raise aspiration and achievement of basic research in Europe
Activities: Two complementary funding schemes
ERC Starting Grant (StG)
ERC Advanced Grant (AdG)
European Research Council
ERC Granting schemes
Starting Grants Advanced Grants
StG 2010AdG 2010
• Attract/retain next-generation leaders• Address funding gap early in independent
career• Establish independent research
team & program• up to € 2.0 Mio for 5 years
• Attract/retain current world-leaders• Stimulate investigator-driven, breakthrough
research• up to € 3.5 Mio for 5 years
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
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 the grantees
Nu
mb
er o
f g
ran
tees
Age of grantees
Nu
mb
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f g
ran
tees
European Research Council
Social Sciences and Humanities SH1 Individuals, institutions & markets SH2 Institutions, values, beliefs and behaviour SH3 Environment & society SH4 The Human Mind and its complexity SH5 Cultures & cultural production SH6 The study of the human past
Physical Sciences & Engineering PE1 Mathematical foundations PE2 Fundamental constituents of matter PE3 Condensed matter physics PE4 Physical & Analytical Chemical sciences PE5 Materials & Synthesis PE6 Computer science & informatics PE7 Systems & communication engineering PE8 Products & process engineering PE9 Universe sciences PE10 Earth system science
Life Sciences LS1 Molecular & Structural Biology &
Biochemistry LS2 Genetics, Genomics, Bioinformatics &
Systems Biology LS3 Cellular and Developmental Biology LS4 Physiology, Pathophysiology &
Endocrinology LS5 Neurosciences & neural disorders LS6 Immunity & infection LS7 Diagnostic tools, therapies & public health LS8 Evolutionary, population & environmental
biology LS9 Applied life sciences & biotechnology
ERC Panel Structure: 25 PanelsERC Panel Structure: 25 Panels
European Research Council
• Panel Members appointed by the ERC; selected and recruited by ERC Scientific Council
• ScC has high “recruiting power”
• Recruited / attracted from all over the world: ~18% from outside the European Research Area
• High level Panel Members add credibility / visibility / prestige to the programme
Several Panel Members with Nobel Prizes
• All areas of human knowledge broken into 25 Panels with ~12 Panel Members, incl. a Panel Chair
Evaluation – Peer review
European Research Council
Submitted proposals
European Research Council
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ERC Starting grant calls 2007 - 2011Submitted proposals by domain
4406
1112 1205
1690
3399
927 1029
14401362
464639
950
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
4500
5000
StG 2007 (9167) StG 2009 (2503) StG 2010 (2873) StG 2011 (4080)
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Life Sciences
Social Sciences and Humanities
European Research Council
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ERC Advanced grant calls 2008 - 2011Submitted proposals by domain
997
736
902 917
766
512
621
789
404335
486
578
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
AdG 2008 (2167) AdG 2009 (1583) AdG 2010 (2009) AdG 2011 (2284)
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Life Sciences
Social Sciences and Humanities
European Research Council
Selected proposals
European Research Council
Success rates ERC Starting & Advanced grant calls 2007 – 2010
3,3%
9,8%
15,0%
13,0%
15,5%
13,2%
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
16%
18%
2007 2009 2010 2008 2009 2010
Starting grant Advanced Grant
ERC calls
Se
lec
ted
/Re
ce
ive
d p
rop
os
als
(%
)
ERC 2011
European Research Council
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ERC Starting grant 2007 – 2010ERC Advanced grant 2008 - 2010
Origin of Grantees
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
UK FR DE CH NL IT ES IL SE BE AT FI DK HU NO EL PT IE CZ PL CY BG TR IS EE
Country of host institution
Nu
mb
er
of
Gra
nte
es
Grantees moving to the country ("European" & "non-European" nationals)
Grantees staying in the country: "Non-European" nationals
Grantees staying in the country: other "European" nationals
Grantees staying in the country: nationals of that country
ERC 2011
European Research Council
-110
-85
-60
-35
-10
15
40
65
90
115
140
UK CH FR DE NL ES AT SE IT DK BE FI IL NO IE PT HU BG CY CZ EL PL TR HR RO LU SL AL EE MT
Non-nationalsin host country
Nationals away from home country
ERC 2011: StG-07/299);09(245);10(431) & AdG-08(282);09(245)/10(266)
ERC Starting & Advanced grant calls 2007 - 2010
International exchange of researchers
Nu
mb
er
of
ER
C g
ran
tee
s
European Research Council
Early impacts
The European Research Council
European Research Council
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Fields Medals Fields Medals 2010 2010
Cédric VillaniInstitut Henri
Poincaré
Stanislav Smirnov
Geneva Uni.
Ngô Bảo Châu
Université Paris-Sud
Elon LindenstraussHebrew Univ.
*4 European winners in “Science” categories”
Wolf Prize Wolf Prize 2010* 2010*
ERC Grantee
AdG2008
ERC Grant holders feature prominently
in the announcements of
laureates of prestigious
research prizes.
David Baulcombe
Cambridge Univ.(Agriculture)
Axel Ullrich Max Planck (Medecine)
Alain AspectInst. d’Optique,
Palaiseau(Physics)
Anton ZeillingerVienna Univ.
(Physics)
ERC Grantee
AdG2008
AdG2010
ERC Grantee
AdG2008
AdG2010
Early impacts: ERC is reinforcing excellenceit attracts high calibre scientists
European Research Council
How to apply
The European Research Council
European Research Council
Evaluation and monitoring of ERC grants
Which advisory services did you use for preparing your proposal?
4,3
20,9
42,6
42,6
46,1
55,7
10,9
16,6
44,0
33,0
44,8
47,9
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
I didn't use any advisoryservices.
Service point hostinstitution
ERC
National Contact Point(NCP)
Service point institution(worked)
Colleagues
percentage
StG 2009_rejected (n=466)
StG 2009_funded (n=117)
Source: ERC CSA Project MERCI 2011
European Research Council
Planned deadlines for 2012 calls
• Tentative => check website for latest news
• Date of publication StG 2012: 19 July 2011 (tbc)
• Call closure deadline for submission:• Physical Sciences & Engineering: October 2011 (tbc)• Life Sciences: November 2011 (tbc)• Social Sciences & Humanities: November 2011 (tbc)
• Call budget: € 730 Mio
• Date of publication AdG 2012: November 2011 (tbc)
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European Research Council
Further information
•ERC website : http://erc.europa.eu
•ERC News Alerthttp://erc.europa.eu/newsalert
•ERC National Contact Pointsinform, raise awareness and provide advice on ERC funding opportunities, application, follow-up http://erc.europa.eu/ncp
•ERC helpdeskhttp://ec.europa.eu/research/enquiries
•Euraxess (EU portal for researchers) :http://ec.europa.eu/euraxess
European Research Council
Thank you!
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