European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Investigator Grant 2013: Scheme Outline Deadline: 22nd November, 2012 at 16.00 GMT Dr Barry Dixon – Research Facilitator (EU & Overseas) School of Arts & Humanities, School of Humanities & Social Sciences

Prompts you can use here: ERC Advanced Grant What? Who? How? Assessment Prompts you can use here: - 20 Minutes, 3+1 Elements (Three Questions + and what makes a good HERA project) – alternatively delete the 3+1 behind HERA if that’s too unconventional

What is the European Research Council (ERC)? The ERC was established in 2007 by the European Commission and is currently funded through the EU’s 7th Framework Programme (‘Ideas’) It’s goal is to support investigator-initiated ‘frontier’ research across all disciplinary fields Four types of grants are available: - ERC Starting Grants - ERC Consolidator Grants - ERC Advanced Grants - ERC Synergy Grants

What is the ERC Advanced Grant? ERC Advanced Grants are designed to support established research leaders who have made original and significant contributions to research. As per the call guidelines, “the grants are intended to promote substantial advances at the frontiers of knowledge, and to encourage new productive lines of enquiry and new methods and techniques, including unconventional approaches and investigations at the interface between established disciplines.” The aim is to fund projects carried out by individual teams which are headed by a single Principal Investigator (PI) and, as necessary, include additional team-members. The constitution of the research team is flexible Advanced Grants can be up to a maximum of €2,500,000 for a period of 5 years (pro rata for projects of shorter duration). However, in exceptional cases, an additional amount of up to €1,000,000 funding can be made available The deadline is 22nd November, 2012 at 16.00 GMT Note: The University Research Office will need 5 working days in order to check the application and provide the necessary supporting statement

What is the ERC Advanced Grant? Scientific Excellence of both the project and of the applicant is the only criterion meaning… INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION EUROPEAN ADDED VALUE THEMES

ERC Advanced Grant What? Who? How? Assessment

Who can apply? Applicants can be of any nationality, of any age and can reside in any country at the time of application The PI does not necessarily need to be employed by the host institution at the time of submission. If not already employed, though, the PI must be engaged by the host institution for at least the duration of the grant Applicants must spend at least 30% of their time on their project, while spending at least 50% of their time in Europe

Who can apply? A competitive Advanced Grant Principal Investigator must be able to demonstrate a significant record of achievement in research in the last 10 years The benchmarks most relevant to the arts, humanities and social sciences include: 10 publications as senior author in major international peer-reviewed journals 3 major research monographs of which at least one is translated into another language Other, alternative benchmarks include: 5 granted patents International prizes/awards 10 invited presentations at international conferences Major contributions to launching the careers of early-career researchers 3 research expeditions Recognised leadership in industrial innovation The organisation of 3 international conferences

ERC Advanced Grant What? Who? How? Assessment

How to apply? A proposal consists of administrative forms (Part A), a research proposal (Parts B1 and B2) and supporting documentation Submission is accepted only via the web-based Electronic Proposal Submission Service (EPSS). The application procedure consists of a single submission stage Strict rules apply for restrictions on submission of proposals (i.e. re-submissions, etc.) that must be checked before applying for a grant

How to Apply? Part A (1-3) of the Application Form: Administrative Information Part A1: General Information on the Proposal and the Principal Investigator Part A2: General information on the Host Organisation Part A3: Budget (grants cover up to 100% of eligible costs and 20% of indirect costs) - Note: VAT is NOT an eligible cost

How to Apply? Part B (1-2) of the Application Form: the Research Proposal Part B1 - Extended synopsis of the proposal (max 5 pages) - CV (max 2 pages) - 10-year track-record (max 2 pages) Part B2: The Scientific Proposal (max 15 pages) - State of the art and objectives - Methodology - Resources - Ethical and security sensitive issues

ERC Advanced Grant What? Who? How? Assessment

Assessment A single submission of an ERC Advanced Grant proposal will be followed by a two-step peer review evaluation At the first step, Part A and Part B1 ONLY are assessed by peer review evaluation panels (ERC panels), which may be supported by additional remote reviewers Part B2 is only evaluated for the selected applications that make it through to the second round. This means that all relevant information relating to the project should be contained in Part B1 At the second step, the full application (Parts A, B1 and B2) is then assessed by the evaluation panels

Assessment These are the review panels for Humanities and Social Sciences: SH1: Individuals, Institutions and Markets SH2: Institutions, Values, Beliefs and Behaviour SH3: Environment, Space and Population SH4: The Human Mind and its Complexity SH5: Cultures and Cultural Production SH6: The Study of the Human Past

Assessment As per the scheme guidelines: “In general, projects wholly or largely consisting in the collation and compilation of existing material in new databases, editions or collections are unlikely to constitute ground-breaking or "frontier" research in themselves, however useful such resources might be to subsequent original research. Such projects are therefore unlikely to be recommended for funding by the ERC's panels” The detailed elements applying to the excellence of the research project and the Principal Investigator(s) are: Research Project: Ground-breaking nature and potential impact of the research project To what extent does the proposed research address important challenges? To what extent are the objectives ambitious and beyond the state of the art (e.g. novel concepts and approaches or development across disciplines)? How much is the proposed research high risk/high gain? Scientific Approach To what extent is the outlined scientific approach feasible (based on Extended Synopsis)? To what extent is the proposed research methodology appropriate to achieve the goals of the project (based on Scientific Proposal)? To what extent does the proposal involve the development of novel methodology (based on Scientific Proposal)? To what extent are the proposed timescales and resources necessary and properly justified (based on Scientific Proposal)?

Assessment 2. Principal Investigator(s): Intellectual capacity, creativity and commitment Is the track record of the PI characterized by ground-breaking research and has his/her achievements typically gone beyond the state-of-the-art? Does the track record of the PI contain abundant evidence of creative, independent thinking? Has the PI demonstrated sound leadership in the training and advancement of young scientists? Does the PI demonstrate the level of commitment to the project necessary for its execution and demonstrate the willingness to devote a significant amount of time to the project?

Assessment Call Applications Received Of Which Cambridge Specific   Call  Applications Received Of Which Cambridge Specific Evaluated Funded Success Rate Advanced Grant 2008 2,167 2,034 282 13.9% 32% Advanced Grant 2009 1,583 1,526 245 16.1 24% Advanced Grant 2010 2,009 1,967 271 13.8 26% Advanced Grant 2011 2,284 2,245 294 13.1 27% Advanced Grant Total 8043 7,772 1,092

Going Forward All info available here: http://erc.europa.eu/advanced-grants Ask questions or discuss your proposal with me: bd336@cam.ac.uk General questions can also be addressed to the UK’s National Contact Point for the ERC at: erc-uk@bbsrc.ac.uk

Questions ?