1. European Research Council (ERC)
Horizon 2020
European Research Council (ERC)
Edward Ricketts
University of Edinburgh
13 November 2013

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4. What is Horizon 2020? Budget of EUR 70,2 billion
The European Union’s funding instrument for research and innovation from
Budget of EUR 70,2 billion
From research to innovation – from basic research to bringing ideas to the market
Focus on societal challenges EU society is facing (e.g. health, clean energy, food security, integrated transport)
Concentration of resources on areas of high growth and innovation potential
Provides key measures to support industrial leadership, particularly innovative SMEs
Significant investment in excellence
Horizon 2020 overarching priority:
Exiting the economic crisis through sustainable growth

5. Horizon 2020 structure Excellent Science Industrial Leadership
European Research Council (ERC)
Future and Emerging Technologies (FET)
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
Research Infrastructures
Industrial Leadership
Leadership in Enabling and Industrial Technologies (LEIT) - ICT, KETs, Space
Access to Risk Finance
Innovation in SMEs
Societal Challenges
Health and Wellbeing
Food security
Transport
Energy
Climate action
Societies
Security
Widening Participation; Science with and for Society
European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT)
EURATOM
Joint Research Centre (JRC)

6. Excellent Science: Rationale
Total budget 30% of Horizon 2020
Overall objective: “to strengthen the excellence of European research”
New research and ideas are drivers of competition
Attract and retain high potential individuals
Fund the most talented and creative researchers
Develop and maintain world-class research infrastructures

7. Excellent Science European Research Council
Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Research Infrastructures
Future and Emerging Technologies

8. ERC in Horizon 2020
“The ERC shall provide attractive and flexible funding to enable talented and creative individual researchers and their teams to pursue the most promising avenues at the frontier of science….. scientific excellence shall be the sole criterion on which ERC grants are awarded. The ERC shall operate on a ‘bottom-up’ basis without predetermined priorities”.
Horizon 2020 proposal text

9. ERC in Horizon 2020 – What can be funded?
The ERC seeks to fund the best ‘frontier research’ proposals submitted by excellent researchers in the area of their choice
Will fund projects led by a Principal Investigator, if necessary supported by a research team (no requirement for collaboration or forming consortia across different EU countries)
25 panels in 3 domains which proposals can be submitted to:
Physical Sciences and Engineering (PE)
Life Sciences (LS)
Social Sciences and Humanities (SH)
Total ERC budget: €11.6bn

10. ERC in Horizon 2020 – Five schemes
Starting Grants
2-7 years post-PhD
Up to €2m for 5 years
Consolidator Grants
7–12 years post-PhD
Up to €2.75m for 5 years
Advanced Grants
Leading researchers
Up to €3.5m for 5 years
Synergy Grants
2 – 4 PIs
Up to €15m for 6 years
Proof of Concept
ERC grant holders
€150k for up to 18 months

11. Team members in ERC projects
Career Stages
ERC Advanced
Post-docs
Senior
Professor
Students
Post
Graduates
Junior Professor/
Junior Researcher
Associate Professor
Full Professor
ERC Consolidators
ERC Starters
Marie Curie
Erasmus
Team members in ERC projects

12. ERC: guiding principles
Scientific excellence is the sole evaluation criterion
Significant funding is provided to attract exceptional research leaders
Grants are awarded to the host institution that engages and hosts the Principal Investigator – the PI will be employed by the host institution
The host institution guarantees the PI’s independence and provides the research environment to carry out the project and manage its funding

13. ERC Starting / Consolidator Grants
Aim to support excellent researchers at the stage of starting or consolidating their own independent research team or programme
Eligibility windows for PIs (same as for 2013 calls):
Starting Grants: 2 to 7 years after the PhD award
Consolidator Grants: 7 to 12 years after the PhD award
This is measured from the publication date of the call, and extensions are permitted only in a few strict cases (parental leave, long-term illness, etc)

14. ERC in Horizon 2020 – What type of researcher are the ERC targeting?
Starting Grants and Consolidator Grants
The ERC panel will evaluate the PI’s “intellectual capacity, creativity and commitment”. This includes:
ability to propose and conduct ground-breaking research and achievements going beyond the state-of-the-art
abundant evidence of creative independent thinking
the ERC grant would contribute significantly to the establishment and/or further consolidation of the PI's independence
commitment to the project (minimum 50% of the PI’s total working time)
* please note that this is the wording from the 2013 ERC calls

15. ERC in Horizon 2020 – should I apply?
Starting Grants
Who is a competitive candidate?
Must be able to show potential for excellence and evidence of maturity:
expectation for at least one important publication without the participation of the PhD supervisor
promising track record of early achievements appropriate to field and career stage, including:
significant publications (as main author) in major international peer-reviewed journals
and/or monographs
invited presentations, granted patents, awards, prizes etc
good leadership potential and must convince the ERC panel that the PI will be able to lead an ambitious ‘frontier research’ project
(emphasise that these are not eligibility criteria)

16. ERC in Horizon 2020 – should I apply?
Consolidator Grants
Who is a competitive candidate?
Must be able to show potential for excellence and evidence of maturity:
it is expected that applicants will have produced several important publications without the participation of their PhD supervisor
promising track record of early achievements appropriate to field and career stage, including:
significant publications (as main author) in major international peer-reviewed major scientific journals
and/or monographs
invited presentations, granted patents, awards, prizes etc
good leadership potential and must convince the ERC panel that you will be able to lead an ambitious ‘frontier research’ project

17. ERC Advanced Grant
Aims to support excellent, leading researchers to pursue groundbreaking research which opens up new directions in the field of their choice
Aims to “encourage substantial advances at the frontier of knowledge; as well as new productive lines of enquiry, methods and techniques”
No eligibility requirement concerning a PhD, but the PI must have an excellent track record of research achievements during the last 10 years

18. ERC in Horizon 2020 – What type of researcher are the ERC targeting?
Advanced Grants
The ERC panel will evaluate the PI’s “intellectual capacity, creativity and commitment” and their track record should be characterised by:
groundbreaking research & achievements going beyond the state-of-the-art
abundant evidence of creative independent thinking
sound leadership in the training and advancement of young scientists
commitment to the project (minimum 30% of the PI’s total working time)
* please note that this is the wording from the 2013 ERC calls

19. ERC in Horizon 2020 – should I apply?
Advanced Grants
Who is a competitive candidate?
track record of significant achievements in last 10 years:
10 publications (as senior author) in major international journals
or 3 major research monographs
if appropriate to the research field, also:
granted patents
invited presentations
led expeditions
organised international conferences
international recognition (awards, prizes)
contributions to launching the careers of outstanding researchers
an “exceptional leader in terms of originality and significance of research contribution, with international recognition”
* please note that this the wording from the 2013 ERC calls

20. ERC Synergy Grants
Pilot scheme which funds ambitious, groundbreaking proposals submitted by a group of between 2 to 4 PIs (and their teams)
Very low success rate for first call in 2012, and the 2013 call results expected to be announced in late 2013
No call is expected to be launched in 2014 /15 ……
But the scheme could continue within Horizon 2020, as a limited part of the ERC’s portfolio of schemes (tbc)

21. ERC Proof of Concept
Scheme for ERC grant holders to undertake further work to establish the innovation potential of an idea developed during the course of an ERC-funded project
Maximum grant: €150,000
Project duration: up to 18 months
Original ERC grant must be either ongoing or have ended less than 1 year before the publication date of the call

22. ERC grant application process
Applications submitted online through the Research Participant Portal
Apply to discipline-specific panel
Applications are in three parts
Part A: Admin forms
Part B1: Information on applicant and extended synopsis (5 pages) of proposal
Part B2: Detailed proposal (15 pages)

23. ERC Evaluation panels Life Sciences Physical Sciences and Engineering
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
Physical Sciences and 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
Social Sciences and Humanities
SH1: Individuals, institutions and markets
SH2: Institutions, values, beliefs and behaviours
SH3: Environment, space and population
SH4: The human mind and its complexity
SH5: Cultures and cultural production
SH6: The study of the human past

24. ERC in Horizon 2020 – What type of research projects can be funded?
Proposals evaluated solely on the basis of excellence (excellence of the PI and of the research project), and should address:
B1 Extended Synopsis (5 pages)
B2 Scientific Proposal (15 pages)
To what extent does the proposed research address important challenges?
To what extent are the objectives ambitious and beyond the state of the art?
How much is the proposed research high risk/high gain?
To what extent is the outlined scientific approach feasible?
To what extent is the proposed research methodology appropriate to achieve the goals of the project?
To what extent does the proposal involve developing novel methodology?
To what extent are the proposed timescales and resources necessary and properly justified?
* please note that this is the wording from the 2013 ERC calls

25. ERC evaluation process
Evaluation on excellence of PI and excellence of project
One stage application, two stage peer review evaluation
First stage evaluation looks only at Part B1
StG and CoG feature an interview at second stage
See here for lists of panel members for previous ERC calls:

26. Application results Step 1 evaluation applicants notified:
A: sufficient quality to pass to step 2 of the evaluation
B: high quality but not sufficient to pass to step 2
C: not sufficient quality to pass to step 2 of the evaluation
Step 2 evaluation applicants notified:
A: fully meets the ERC’s excellence criterion and is recommended for funding if sufficient funds are available
B. meets some but not all elements of the ERC’s excellence criterion and will not be funded.
Projects funded in ranking order – not all “A” projects funded

27. What is not changing in Horizon 2020
Single beneficiary nature of projects
Innovative/unconventional/invention/new/emerging research
High risk/high gain
No nationality or mobility requirements
Pursuit of questions at or beyond the frontiers of knowledge
Any field of research (except nuclear)
Interdisciplinary proposals encouraged
Grants portable
Max grant amounts/ max length of project / min PI time

28. What IS changing in Horizon 2020
A change in balance of funding between schemes:
Indicative budgets for 2014:
Starting Grants €485m (22% increase compared to 2013)
Consolidator Grants €713m (36% increase compared to 2013)
Advanced Grants €450m (32% decrease compared to 2013)
Overhead rate 25% not 20%
Note that maximum grant levels have not changed.
Open access to be the norm: “the terms and conditions laid down in the ERC Model Grant Agreement will address how scientific publications must be made available through open access”

29. What IS changing in Horizon 2020
Different resubmission rules
Applicants scoring A at step 1 = will be able to resubmit to the next year’s call
Applicants scoring B at step 1 = will not be able to resubmit to the next year’s call
Applicants scoring C at step 1 = will not be able to resubmit to the next two years’ calls
Takes effect from Existing rule applies for 2014.

30. ERC Calls in 2014 (very likely call dates)
Starting Grants: opens 11 December 2013, deadline 25 March 2014
Consolidator Grants: opens 11 December 2013, deadline 20 May 2014
Advanced Grants: opens 17 June 2014, deadline 21 October 2014
Synergy Grants: no call launched in 2014
Proof of Concept: opens 11 December 2013, two deadlines on 1 April and 1 October 2014

31. ERC in Horizon 2020 – Budget
ERC allocated around €12.7 billion for Horizon 2020 (compares to the allocation of €7.5 billion for FP7). Highest amount of funding to go to the Starting Grants and Consolidator Grants schemes.
But due to the progressive increases in the annual ERC budget until 2013, the amount allocated for the 2014 calls will in fact be lower than in 2013:
(amount on the left is in millions, i.e. €500 million to €3 billion)

32. ERC since 2007: a few statistics
UK was the most successful country in applying to the ERC in FP7:
Over 800 grants based in around 75 different UK institutions
Around 15% success rate for proposals submitted by UK institutions (about 11% average overall)
Around 20% of all ERC grants based in the UK
6 of the 11 Synergy Grants projects funded in 2012 feature at least one UK-based PI
See here for examples of funded projects:

33. Staying informed Sign up to the UKRO portal and you will receive:
Updates on content of programme
Information on call dates and management/financial issues
Proposal writing workshops from January 2014 onwards
ERC website contains information on previous calls, guides to applicants, Q&A and details of evaluation panels for previous years’ calls

34. Thank you! Questions? ERC National Contact Point helpdesk
Tel:
Contact
Phone: