Horizon 2020European Union funding for Research & Innovation
The European Research Council
© Art & Build Architect / Montois Partners / credits: S. Brison 7 July 2017
European Research Council (ERC) Grants
Jose Labastida
Head Scientific Department
Austin, 15-2-2018
Horizon 2020European Union funding for Research & Innovation
Outline
• What is the ERC?
• What does ERC offer?
• How to prepare and submit an ERC research proposal?
• How ERC research proposals are evaluated?
• ERC achievements
• Participation of non-EU/AC nationals
• Research visits to ERC projects (agreement with NSF)
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What is the ERC?
Horizon 2020European Union funding for Research & Innovation
What is the ERC?ERC in the H2020 Structure
Ø The HORIZON 2020 main components: § Excellent Science
è World class science is foundation of technologies, jobs, well-beingè Europe needs to develop, attract, retain research talentè Researchers need access to the best infrastructures
§ Industrial leadership§ Societal challenges
Ø Excellent Science: § European Research Council§ Future and Emerging Technologies§ Marie Sklodoswka Curie Actions§ Research Infrastructures
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Horizon 2020European Union funding for Research & Innovation
What is the ERC?Horizon 2020 Budget € 77 billion ERC Budget € 13 billion
FP7
H2020
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What does ERC offer?
Horizon 2020European Union funding for Research & Innovation
ERC offers independence, recognition & visibility• to work on a research topic of own choice, with a team of own choice• to gain true financial autonomy for 5/6 years• to negotiate with the host institution the best conditions of work• to attract top team members (EU and non-EU) and collaborators• to move with the grant to any place in Europe if necessary (portability
of grants)• to attract additional funding and gain recognition; ERC is a quality
label
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What does ERC offer?Creative Freedom of the Individual Grantee
Horizon 2020European Union funding for Research & Innovation
Starting Grantsstarters
2-7 years after PhD(≥ 50% commitment)
up to € 2.0 Mio for 5 years
Advanced Grants track-record of
significant researchachievements in the
last 10 years(≥ 30% commitment)
up to € 3.5 Mio for 5 years
What does ERC offer?ERC Grant Schemes
Consolidator Grantsconsolidators
7-12 years after PhD(≥ 40% commitment)
up to € 2.75 Mio for 5 years
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Synergy Grants2 – 4 Principal Investigatorsup to € 14.0 Mio for 6 years
Horizon 2020European Union funding for Research & Innovation
PI Profile:§ Any current place of work but working or moving to work in Europe (EU member
state or H2020 Associated Country)
§ Any nationality or age§ StG: 2 and up to 7; CoG: 7 and up to 12 years of experience after PhD; AdG and
SyG: no constraints§ Potential (StG) or evidence (CoG) for independence and maturity; strong
leadership (AdG)
§ Good track-record appropriate to their research field and career stage
What does ERC offer?Principal investigator profile and commitment
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PI Commitment: § Minimum 50% (StG), 40% (CoG), 30% (AdG, SyG) of PI working time on ERC
project
§ Minimum 50% of PI working time in a EU Member Sate or Associated Country
Horizon 2020European Union funding for Research & Innovation
Starting Grant (StG):Up to 1.5 million € for a period of 5 years (pro rata for projects of shorter duration). Up to 0.5 million € additional
Advanced Grant (AdG): Up to 2.5 million € for a period of 5 years (pro rata for projects of shorter duration). Up to 1.0 million € additional
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What does ERC offer?Funding
Consolidator Grant (CoG):Up to 2.0 million € for a period of 5 years (pro rata for projects of shorter duration). Up to 0.75 million € additional
to cover (a) eligible "start-up" costs for Principal Investigators moving from a another country to the EU or an Associated Country as a consequence of receiving the ERC grant and/or (b) the purchase of major equipment and/or (c) access to large facilities.
additional
Synergy Grant (AdG): Up to 10 million € for a period of 6 years (pro rata for projects of shorter duration). Up to 4 million € additional
Horizon 2020European Union funding for Research & Innovation
• Is located in an EU Member State or an Associated Country
• Hosts the PI for the duration of the project
• Is a legal entity: university, research center, business research unit, etc.
• Is committed to ensure that the PI may:
o Apply for funding independently
o Manage research and funding project
o Publish independently as senior author
o Have access to reasonable space and facilities
• Signs Grant Agreement
• Overhead: 25%
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What does ERC offer?Role of the host institution
Horizon 2020European Union funding for Research & Innovation
• No constraints on eligible costs as long as they are for the execution of the project
• Rules of the HI apply
• High flexibility: aims of the project can be modified through amendments to the grant agreement
• Grants have a light reporting along the project life-time: financial report every 18 months, scientific report at mid-term and end of the project
• Grants have 25-40% pre-financing
• PI is empowered to manage the research activity and the funds of the project
• Grants are portable
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What does ERC offer?Features of ERC grants
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Which calls are available in 2018?ERC 2018 Work Program
StartingGrant
ConsolidatorGrant
AdvancedGrant
SynergyGrant
Call identifier ERC-2018-StG ERC-2018-CoG ERC-2018-AdG ERC-2018-SyG
Call Opens 18/07/2017 24/10/2017 17/05/2018 19/07/2017
Deadline 17/10/2017 15/02/2018 30/08/2018 14/11/2017
Budget million EUR(estimated number
of grants)583 (391) 553 (287) 452 (194) 250 (30)
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How to prepare and submit an ERC research proposal?
Horizon 2020European Union funding for Research & Innovation
• Have a ground-breaking idea
• Design a research project to implement the idea
• Convince yourself on the feasibility of the project
• Ask yourself if you have the capabilities to build and supervise a research team to carry out the project
• Contact a HI where the project will be developed (the HI must be located in EU or any of the H2020 associated countries)
• Get the support from the HI
• Write your research proposal
• Submit your research proposal within the deadline
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How to prepare and submit an ERC research proposal? Main considerations
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How to prepare and submit an ERC research proposal? ERC panel structure for StG, CoG and AdG calls
Social Sciences and Humanities§ SH1 Markets, Individuals and Institutions§ SH2 The Social World, Diversity and Common Ground§ SH3 Environment, Space and Population§ SH4 The Human Mind and Its Complexity§ SH5 Cultures and Cultural Production§ SH6 The Study of the Human Past
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 & Public
Health§ LS8 Evolutionary, Population and
Environmental Biology§ LS9 Applied Life Sciences and Biotechnology
Physical Sciences & Engineering§ PE1 Mathematics§ PE2 Fundamental Constituents of Matter§ PE3 Condensed Matter Physics§ PE4 Physical & Analytical Chemical Sciences§ PE5 Synthetic Chemistry and Materials§ PE6 Computer Science & Informatics§ PE7 Systems & Communication Engineering§ PE8 Products & Process Engineering§ PE9 Universe Sciences§ PE10 Earth System Science
Horizon 2020European Union funding for Research & Innovation
PART A – online forms
A1 Proposal and PI infoA2 Host Institution infoA3 Budget
PART B2 – submitted as .pdf
• Scientific Proposal 15 p.
Annexes – submitted as .pdf• Statement of support of HI• If applicable: explanatory
information on ethical issues;copy of PhD (StG, CoG); document for extension of eligibility window (StG, CoG)
PART B1 – submitted as .pdf• Extended Synopsis 5 p.• CV 2 p.• Early Achievements (StG
and CoG) or 10-year Track Record (AdG) 2 p.
How to prepare and submit an ERC research proposal? Proposal structure
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How ERC research proposals are evaluated?
Horizon 2020European Union funding for Research & Innovation
Ø Goal of the evaluation: select the best frontier research proposalsØ Only evaluation criteria: excellenceØ Method: peer reviewØ Structure: 25 panels distributed in 3 scientific domains (10 Physical
Sciences, 9 Life sciences and 6 Social Sciences and Humanities)Ø Each panel consists of 1 panel chair and 12-16 panel members
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PeersReview procedure
What makes ERC evaluation exceptional?
How ERC research proposals are evaluated?Main features of the evaluation process forStG, CoG and AdG calls
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Ø Panel members: typically 375 / call§ High-level scientists§ Recruited by ScC from all over the
world: ~14% from outside Europe§ About 12-16 members plus a chair
personØ Referees: typically 2000 / call
§ Evaluate only a small number of proposals
§ Similar to normal practise in peer-reviewed journals
EU and AssociatedCountries
(86%)
US (7%)
Other (7%)
How ERC research proposals are evaluated?Peers
Horizon 2020European Union funding for Research & Innovation
Remote assessment by Panel members of section 1 – PI and synopsis
Panel meeting
Proposals retained for step 2
STEP 1
Remote assessment by Panel members and reviewers of full proposals
Panel meeting + interview (StG and CoG)
Ranked list of proposals
STEP 2
Feedback toapplicants
• Right balance between generalist + specialized review• Appropriate treatment of interdisciplinary proposals
How ERC research proposals are evaluated?Evaluation of proposals: review procedure
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ERC achievements
Horizon 2020European Union funding for Research & Innovation
ü 8,000 "research champions" and
their teams supported
ü 55,000 team members, mostly PhDs
and postdocs, working on ERC
projects
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ERC achievementsSupporting research talent and advancing the frontiers of knowledge
ü 75% of a sample of completed ERC
projects resulted in scientific
breakthroughs or major advances
ü ERC grantees won prestigious awards:
6 Nobel Prizes, 4 Fields Medals, 5 Wolf
Prizes…
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ERC achievementsEnhancing visibility of European research results
Organization Papers
Category normalized
citation impact
Percentage top 1% papers
Percentage of international
collaborations
European Research Council (ERC) 40.422 2,46 4,84% 59,24%Wellcome Trust 41.040 2,10 3,60% 55,62%US Dapertment of Energy (DOE) 123.864 2,09 3,92% 39,39%UK Medical Research Council 38.442 2,08 3,76% 48,81%Swiss National Science Foundation 50.598 1,90 3,01% 59,03%US National Institutes of Health (NIH) 617.950 1,73 2,61% 28,37%US National Scienc Foundation (NSF) 380.893 1,73 2,76% 36,36%French National Research Agency 41.385 1,62 2,04% 47,65%German Research Foundation (DFG) 171.959 1,55 1,92% 48,56%
Clarivate Analytics study based on acknowledgments to funders from papers in the Web of Science in the period 2007-2016
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ü There is no innovation without frontier research!ü 600 Proof of Concept Grants awardedü ERC projects have led to 800 patent applicationsand setting up 75 new ventures (2007-2013)
ERC achievementsPromoting innovation
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Participation of non-EU/AC nationals
Horizon 2020European Union funding for Research & Innovation
Almost 8% of all ERC grants to principal investigators of non-EU/AC nationality
Participation of non-EU/AC nationals30 non-EU/AC nationalities
Horizon 2020European Union funding for Research & Innovation Note: ERC grantees residing outside EU/AC at the time of application
Mainly European researchers moving/returning from the USCountry of residence International grantees EU/AC nationals TotalArgentina 1 1Australia 2 6 8Canada 3 5 8China 2 2Egipt 1 1India 1 1 2Japan 2 2Korea 1 1Lebanon 1 1Malaysia 1 1Pakistan 1 1Russia 2 2Senegal 1 1USA 47 125 172Total 56 147 203
Participation of non-EU/AC nationalsGrantees who applied from non-EU or non-Associated countries
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Research visits to ERC projects
Horizon 2020European Union funding for Research & Innovation
§ NSF Career Awardees: − Single and long-term (6-12 months) or− Multiple short-term visits: should aggregate to an agreed-upon minimum
(e.g., 6 months).
§ NSF Postdoctoral Fellows:− Single and long-term research visits (6-12 months).− Time spent in Europe will be in addition to (rather than in lieu of) their
NSF-funded postdoctoral fellowship.
§ ERC Principal Investigator− Hosts the US-based scientist as a member of the research team
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Research visits to ERC projectsTypes of visits
NSF-EC agreement: cooperation between US-based scientists and EU-based scientists through research visits to ERC funded projects (since 2012).
NSF
EC
Horizon 2020European Union funding for Research & Innovation
§ For Career Awardees:− The salary is covered by the NSF.− NSF also provides support for travel expenses of the visiting researcher and
also for the travel expenses of accompanying family members in case oflong-term visits.
− ERC grant covers subsistence costs: a per diem or any other applicablemodality of the Host Institution.
§ For Postdoctoral Fellows:- NSF provides support for travel expenses of the visiting researcher and also
those of accompanying family members.- The salary and any applicable social/health coverage expenses is covered
from the ERC grant.
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Research visits to ERC projectsConditions
46 USA-based researchers have visited ERC projects
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ERClaunches a call for expression of interest
Principal Investigatorexpresses interest in hosting one or more scientists supported by a non-EU funding agency
ERC sends the list of interested PIs to the non-EU based funding agencies
Non-EU based funding agencylaunches a call for proposals to their eligible scientists
Non-EU based scientistcontacts the Principal Investigator to seek agreement on a possible research visit
Principal Investigator accepts or not the research visit; If accepted, the Principal Investigator and the Host Institution provide a letter of support
Non-EU based funding agencyevaluates the proposals and funds the successful ones
Non-EU based scientistplans an executes the research visit in agreement with the Principal Investigator
Research visits to ERC projectsMechanism
Horizon 2020European Union funding for Research & Innovation
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