EUROPEAN COMMISSION FP7 Specific Programme IDEAS

The ERC’S Funding Strategy European Research Council (ERC) grants support individual researchers of any nationality and age who wish to pursue their frontier research. The ERC encourages in particular proposals that cross disciplinary boundaries, pioneering ideas that address new and emerging fields and applications that introduce unconventional, innovative approaches. The European Research Council (ERC) is the first European funding body designed to support investigator – driven frontier research through open and direct competition. Its main aim is to stimulate scientific excellence in Europe by supporting and encouraging the very best, truly creative researchers to identify and explore new opportunities and directions in any field or research. European Research Council (ERC) funding schemes are open to top researchers of any nationality or age who wish to carry out their frontier research in the 27 EU Member States or Associated countries.

The ERC’S Funding Schemes The ERC offers two types of long –term grants, both operating on a “bottom-up” basis without predetermined research priorities: – ERS Starting Independent Researcher Grants (ERC Starting Grants) The objective is to support the independent careers of outstanding researchers, who are at the stage of establishing or consolidating their first research teams or programmes. – ERC Advanced Investigator Grants (ERC Advanced Grants) The objective is to support pioneering frontier research projects by leading established researchers. Two additional schemes have been launched in Synergy Grants - For 2012 the ERC has introduced the 'Synergy Grant', which is intended to enable a small group of Principal Investigators and their teams to bring together complementary skills, knowledge, and resources in new ways, in order to jointly address research problems. -Proof of Concept - The ERC launched the new funding initiative, called "Proof of Concept", in March 2011, open to researchers who have already been awarded an ERC grant.

ERC Starting Grants in brief ERC Starting Grants aim to support up-and-coming research leaders who are about to establish or consolidate a proper research team and to start conducting independent research in Europe. The scheme targets promising researchers who have the proven potential of becoming independent research leaders. It will support the creation of excellent new research teams and will strengthen others that have been recently created.

ERC Advanced Grants in brief ERC Advanced Grants allow exceptional established research leaders of any nationality and any age to pursue ground-breaking, high-risk projects that open new directions in their respective research fields or other domains. The ERC Advanced Grant funding targets researchers who have already established themselves as independent research leaders in their own right.

Synergy Grants ERC Synergy Grants in brief: Research proposal: pioneering frontier research in any field of science, engineering or scholarship Groups applying for the ERC Synergy Grant must be made up of a minimum of two and a maximum of four Principal Investigators (PIs) and, as necessary, their teams One of the PIs acts as the 'Corresponding PI' with the ERCEA on behalf of the group No specific eligibility criteria are foreseen for PIs applying for the ERC Synergy Grants, but only exceptional proposals are likely to be funded in what are expected to be extremely competitive calls Similarly Synergy Groups are not required to be co-located but the PIs in the group will have to demonstrate their commitment to the group project including willingness to spend significant 'core time' together at the same physical location The Host Institution that engages the Corresponding Principal Investigator for the duration of the grant should be a legally recognised public or private research organisation situated in one of the EU Member States or Associated CountriesEU Member StatesAssociated Countries Funding: up to a maximum of €15 million for a period up to 6 years (pro rata for projects of shorter duration) Calls for proposals: published annually with one deadline For 2012 the ERC has introduced the 'Synergy Grant', which is intended to enable a small group of Principal Investigators and their teams to bring together complementary skills, knowledge, and resources in new ways, in order to jointly address research problems.

Apply for Funding- Check out these three steps: I.Before the call is published Are you interested in applying for a call? Before the call is published on the Participants Portal check out the following points: 1.Find out which ERC grant and which call is made for you 2.Identify in which host institution you would like to do your research project and with whom 3.Get in touch with the National Contact Point (NCP) of your country. They will support you during the whole submission process

Apply for Funding- Check out these three steps: II. Once the call you are interested in is published on the Participants Portal, check out these following points: 1.Read carefully the Guide for Applicants (see under documents) 2.Contact your future host institution and gather all the concrete details on your future journey there 3.Start writing your proposal early enough to submit it to external opinions. Your NCP might be able to do some "pre-screening" of your application and gives you a helpful feedback 4.Make yourself familiar with EPSS, the Electronic Proposal Submission Service. Proposals must be submitted electronically, via EPSS. Do not wait until the last minute to get familiar with EPSS! Once you have submitted your project, you can still modify it until the deadline by submitting a new version which will overwrite the old one. 5.Do not miss the call deadline for submission! Call deadlines are absolutely firm and are strictly enforced!call deadline for submission

Apply for Funding- Check out these three steps: III. After the call for submission deadline 1.You will get an "acknowledgement of receipt" by e- mail, confirming that your proposal has been successfully submitted 2.The ERC will first check whether your proposal meets the eligibility criteria that apply to the call 3.External experts will then evaluate all the proposals 4.About 4-5 months after the call deadline, you will receive from the ERC a letter giving you "initial information" on the evaluation of your proposal

ERC proposal submission procedure and proposal description Proposal Submission Proposals are submitted by the Principal Investigator who has scientific responsibility for the project, on behalf of the host institution which is the applicant legal entity. Proposal submission is made electronically. Early registration and submission is strongly recommended and should be done as early as possible in advance of the call deadline. Proposal description Part A of the electronic forms requests administrative information about the project and the Principal Investigator. Part B requests the main proposal where the following elements are required: Part B - Section 1 Scientific leadership potential: 1 page Curriculum Vitae: 2 pages Early achievements track-record: 2 pages Extended Synopsis: 5 pages Part B - Section 2 Scientific Proposal: 15 pages Additional necessary elements of the proposal: 1. Host Institution Binding Statement of Support 2. Ethical Review table (incorporated in Section 2 of the proposal) 3. PhD record and supporting documentation for eligibility checking (for StG)

INTERNATIONAL PEER REVIEW EVALUATION ERC grant applicants are evaluated on the basis of scientific excellence as sole criterion, which is examined on two distinct aspects of the research proposal: the principal investigator; the research project. To guarantee transparency, fairness and impartiality in the treatment of proposals, grant applicants are selected following an international peer review evaluation process based on 25 panels covering fields of science, engineering and scholarship.

Panels structure 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 processes 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 biotechnology: agricultural, animal, fishery, forestry and food sciences; biotechnology, chemical biology, genetic engineering, synthetic biology, industrial biosciences; environmental biotechnology and remediation; Social Sciences & Humanities: SH1 Individuals, institutions and markets: economics, finance and management SH2 Institutions, values, beliefs and behavior SH3 Environment, space and population: environmental studies, demography, social geography, urban and regional studies SH4 The Human Mind and its complexity SH5 Cultures and cultural production SH6 The study of the human past: archaeology, history and memory

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