1. European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant Information Session: Key Insights from Grant Holders & Assessors 13 June EC deadline: Sept 2016, Research Operations Office deadline: 25 Aug 2016, 17:00
Dr Andrea Salter – Research Facilitator (Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences)

2. Session Outline: Brief Introduction: ERC Advanced Grant scheme outline
Key Insights from Grant Holders and Assessors: On applying for and assessing ERC Advanced Grants: - Professor Nick Thomas, Professor Graeme Barker & Professor Martin Jones
Q & A

3. European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Programme “Exiting the economic crisis through sustainable growth”
Excellent Science
Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Future and Emerging Technologies (FETs)
European Research Council (ERC)
Research Infrastructures
Industrial Leadership
Leadership in Enabling and Industrial Technologies (LEIT) – ICT KETs, Space
Access to Risk Finance
Innovation in SMEs
Grand Societal Challenges
Health and Well-being
Food Security
Transport
Energy
Climate
Societies
Security
Widening Participation, Science with and for Society
European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT)
EURATOM
Joint Research Centre

4. 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 Horizon 2020 Programme
Its 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 (*possibly a call in 2018/19)
Key documentation!
ERC Work Programme 2016
ERC Advanced Grant Guide for Applicants
Link to Call and Submission Service
All links available from the AHSS research group webpages

5. Features of ERC grants
Bottom-up approach, curiosity driven, research topic own choice
All fields of science and scholarship are eligible
Scientific Excellence is the only evaluation criterion
Individual team + research project , attracting top team members according to choice of PI (EU and non-EU)
Irrespective of nationality, gender or age of researchers
Prestige and potential to attract further funds
Significant, flexible grants, activity and funds managed by Host & team
Host organisation located in EU or Associated Country; portability of grant

6. High flexibility: aims of the project can be modified through amendments to the grant agreement (full justification needed and process can be lengthy)
Reporting: financial report every 18 months, scientific report at mid-term and end of the project; also ethical reporting
Open Access, Research Integrity and ethical principles
As per the ERC Work Programme 2016: “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.” p. 31

7. For Advanced Grants: PI’s time commitment: Budget:
a minimum of 30% of their total working time on the ERC project
a minimum of 50% of their total working time in an EU Member State or Associated Country
Budget:
a maximum of €2.5 million for a period of 5 years (pro rata).
An additional amount of up to €1 million can be requested (start-up costs, major equipment, access to large facilities – less usual in the AHSS)
Costs covered = 100% of the total eligible and approved direct costs and flat-rate financing of indirect costs on the basis of 25% of the total eligible direct costs. A budget is drawn up in X5.

8. The ‘Individual Team’ Concept
Projects made up of individual research teams headed by a single Principal Investigator (PI) of any nationality. They can include, for instance: post- doctoral researchers, PhD students, technicians, project consultants, research assistants, and *project administrators (*recommended)
Teams may be of national or trans-national character.
With the focus on the PI, the concept of individual team is fundamentally different from that of a traditional 'network' or 'research consortium'; proposals of the latter type should not be submitted to the ERC.
In certain fields (e.g. in the humanities and mathematics), where research is often performed individually, the ‘team’ may consist solely of the Principal Investigator.
The PI does not need to be employed by the host institution at the time when the proposal is submitted. If not already employed by the host institution, the PI must be engaged by the latter at least for the duration of the grant.

9. Scientific Excellence?
The research project?
Applications can be made in any field of research with particular emphasis on the frontiers of science, scholarship and engineering.
In particular, proposals of an interdisciplinary nature, which cross the boundaries between different fields of research, pioneering proposals addressing new and emerging fields of research or proposals introducing unconventional, innovative approaches and scientific inventions are encouraged.
The Principal Investigator?
They are designed to support excellent Principal Investigators at the career stage at which they are already established research leaders with a recognised track record of research achievements.
Applicant Principal Investigators must demonstrate the ground breaking nature, ambition and feasibility of their scientific proposal.
Unlike most other schemes under H2020: no themes, no need for international cooperation and no emphasis on European added value

10. Excellence - the sole evaluation criterion
Excellence of the Research Project
Ground breaking nature? Important challenge? Substantially beyond the current state of art? Ambition and high-gain/high-risk balance
Potential impact Possibility of a major break-through?
Scientific Approach Feasibility, novel concepts/methodology
Excellence of the Principal Investigator
Intellectual capacity: Track-record, capacity to go significantly beyond the state of the art, evidence of creative independent thinking
Intellectual creativity of the PI
Commitment: Willing to devote a significant part of PI's working time & evidencing this
Referees and panels (see later slides) evaluate and score each criterion, which results in a ranking of the proposals.

11. Excellent Principal Investigators
A competitive Advanced Grant Principal Investigator must be able to demonstrate in the application a Track Record of significant research achievements in the last 10 years (n.b. extensions to this possible if documented, including for maternity, paternity, long-term illness reasons)
At least matching one or more of the following benchmarks (according to research field) is necessary. The benchmarks most relevant to the arts, humanities and social sciences include:
10 publications as senior author in major international multidisciplinary peer-reviewed journals and/or peer-reviewed conference proceedings
3 major research monographs, with at least one translated
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

12. 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 Participant Portal. 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

13. Restrictions on Resubmissions
A researcher may participate as Principal Investigator in only one ERC frontier research project at any one time.
A researcher participating as Principal Investigator in an ERC frontier research project may not submit a proposal for another ERC frontier research grant, unless the existing project ends no more than two years after the call deadline.

14. How to Apply?
Part A of the Application Form: Administrative Information (online only)
General Information on the Proposal and the Principal Investigator
General information on the Host Organisation
Budget (grants cover up to 100% of eligible costs and 25% of indirect costs)
Ethics
Call-specific questions

15. How to Apply?
Part B (two parts) of the Application Form: the Research Proposal (both submitted as pdf)
Part B1:
Extended synopsis of the proposal (max 5 pages)
CV (max 2 pages – Funding ID is separate)
10-year Track Record (max 2 pages – 10 representative publications in major journals, major monographs, invited presentations, organisation of international conferences, international prizes, etc…)
Part B2:
The Scientific Proposal (max 15 pages), incl:
State of the art and objectives
Methodology
Resources (including project costs)
Annexes
(submitted as pdf)
Host Institution Support Letter
Extension documentation
Ethical Self-Assessment (if applicable)

16. 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

17. Assessment
These are the review panels for Arts, the Humanities and Social Sciences:
SH1 Individuals, Markets and Organisations Economics, finance and management.
SH2 Institutions, Values, Environment and Space Political science, law, sustainability science, geography, regional studies and planning.
SH3 The Social World, Diversity, Population Sociology, social psychology, demography, education, communication.
SH4 The Human Mind and Its Complexity Cognitive science, psychology, linguistics, philosophy of mind.
SH5 Cultures and Cultural Production Literature, philology, cultural studies, anthropology, study of the arts, philosophy.
SH6 The Study of the Human Past Archaeology and history.

18. Hints and tips (Part B1)
Pay particular attention to the ground-breaking nature of the research project – no incremental research. State-of-the-art is not enough, needs to go beyond this
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 (evaluators are not necessarily all experts in the field)
Outline of the methodological approach (feasibility)
Demonstrate your independence and creativity
Show your ability to think outside the box
Avoid any suspicion of plagiarism

19. Hints and tips (Part B2) Other tips:
Provide sufficient detail on methodology, work plan, selection of case studies etc. (15 pages)
Check coherency of figures, justify requested resources (seek RGA help regarding this)
Explain involvement of team members; avoid unjustified partners/collaborators
Provide alternative strategies to mitigate risk
Other tips:
Check the kinds of projects that have already been funded by the ERC or under H2020 in your research area
Check the constituents of the Evaluation Panel

20. Typical reasons for rejection:
Proposed project
Scope: Too narrow or too broad/unfocused
Incremental research/continuation of previous work
Work plan/team composition not detailed enough/unclear
Insufficient risk management
Principal Investigator
Insufficient track-record
Insufficient leadership profile

21. How to Apply? Steps to Applying:
1.) Get a user ID with the European Commission via the European Commission Authentication Service (ECAS). Access here:
2.) Access the proposal submission service here:
3.) Fill in the pre-registration data including the unique PIC number for Cambridge ( )
4.) Ensure the details of the host institution are correct (ask your RGA/DA for correct contact information for Cambridge)
5.) Edit your proposal, including filling in Part A and downloading the templates for Part B
6.) Submit your proposal

22. ERC Advanced Grant 2016 Deadline: 1 September 2016
ROO deadline: 25 August 2016 (and £1million+ (HSS only): 12 August 2016)
Budget in million EUR (estimated grants): 540 (235)
Planned date to inform applicants:
Stage 1: January 2017
Stage 2: March 2017 (no interviews for Advanced Grants)
Indicative date for signing grant agreement: July 2017
Indicative start date for projects: 1 September 2017

23. Success Rates
Call 
Applications Received
Of Which
Evaluated
Funded
Success Rate %
Advanced Grant 2008
2,167
2,034
282
13.9
Advanced Grant 2009
1,584
1,526
245
16.1
Advanced Grant 2010
2,009
1,967
271
13.8
Advanced Grant 2011
2,284
2,245
301
13.4
Advanced Grant 2012
2,304
2,269
319
14.1
Advanced Grant 2013
2,408
2,363
290
12.3
Advanced Grant 2014
2,287
2,250
192
8.5
Totals
15,043
14,654
1,901
13.1
Source:

24. Going forward Who to contact
Discuss intention to apply with Departmental Administrator and HoD.
Local Research Committee dates?
HoD approval required (and also Million + form if the School of the Humanities and Social Sciences).
Contact your Research Grant Administrator for assistance with the budget and all financial aspects of the application.
Create an account on the Participant Portal well before the deadline.
I can answer questions, offer feedback on drafts of your application, and discuss any aspect of your project and application.
The University’s Research Operations Office will need 5 working days to check and approve your application. (The earlier you submit to them the better, to allow time for any potential issues to be resolved. If you feel your application might bring up particular issues (equipment, HR issues, etc…), contact ROO for clarification before formal submission. Once they have checked your application they will provide you with the letter of institutional support required to complete your application.

25. Going Forward
All info available here:
Full details of the call and documentation are available on the EC’s Participant Portal, including the submission service
Ask questions or discuss your proposal with me:
General questions can also be addressed to the UK’s National Contact Point for the ERC at:
University Procedures for retired staff requiring Voluntary Research Agreements:

26. ? Questions Key documentation! ERC Work Programme 2016
ERC Advanced Grant Guide for Applicants
Link to Call and Submission Service
All links available from the AHSS research group webpages