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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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 GMT
Note: The University Research Office will need 5 working days in order to check the application and provide the necessary supporting statement

5. 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

6. ERC Advanced Grant
What?
Who?
How?
Assessment

7. 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

8. 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

9. ERC Advanced Grant
What?
Who?
How?
Assessment

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. ERC Advanced Grant
What?
Who?
How?
Assessment

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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)?

17. 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?

18. 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

19. Going Forward
All info available here:
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:

20. Questions ?