The European Research Council

© Art & Build Architect / Montois Partners / credits: S. Brison 7 July 2017

Jose M Fernandez de Labastida

Head Scientific Management Department

ERC: El programa de trabajo

2018 y la futura convocatoria

Synergy Grants

Support for the individual scientist – no networks!

Global peer-review

No predetermined subjects (bottom-up)

Support of frontier research in all fields of science

and humanities

The ERC supports excellence in frontier research through

a bottom-up, individual-based, pan-European competition

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What is ERC?

Le

gis

lati

on

S

tra

teg

y

Scientific governance: independent Scientific Council

with 22 members including the ERC President; full

authority over funding strategy

Support by the ERC Executive Agency (autonomous)

Excellence as the only criterion

Budget: € 13 billion (2014-2020) - 1.9 billion €/year

€ 7.5 billion (2007-2013) - 1.1 billion €/year

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ERC in the H2020 Structure

The HORIZON 2020 main components:

Excellent Science

World class science is foundation of technologies, jobs, well-being

Europe needs to develop, attract, retain research talent

Researchers need access to the best infrastructures

Industrial leadership

Societal challenges

Excellent Science:

European Research Council (budget under H2020: € 13 billion)

Future and Emerging Technologies

Marie Skłodoswka Curie Actions

Research Infrastructures

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ERC H2020 Budget

ERC Budget

€ 13 billion

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Starting Grants

starters

(2-7 years after PhD)

up to € 2.0 Mio

for 5 years

Advanced Grants track-record of

significant research

achievements in the

last 10 years

up to € 3.5 Mio

for 5 years

Proof-of-Concept bridging gap between research - earliest

stage of marketable innovation

up to €150,000 for ERC grant holders

ERC Grant Schemes

Consolidator Grants

consolidators

(7-12 years after PhD)

up to € 2.75 Mio

for 5 years

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After 10 Years, a Success Story

The first reported ERC

publications began to appear in

2008 and since then publications

acknowledging ERC funding have

gone from contributing less than

0.1% of EU top 1% publications

in 2008 (2) to nearly 7% in 2014

(973). In 2014, for the first time

authors based in the EU

appeared on more top 1% cited

publications (14,172) than

authors based in US (14,093) in

absolute numbers.

7

For the first time in 2014, EU overtook US in the top 1% most

cited papers. ERC funded researchers contributed to 1,000 of

these papers.

ERC ranked first among research-funding

organizations worldwide

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

funder

acknowledgments

from papers in the

Web of Science in

the period 2007-

2016

http://stateofinnovation.com/10th-anniversary-of-the-european-research-council-erc

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Work Programme 2018

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Main changes in Work Programme 2018:

Modification of panel descriptors

Reintroduction of the Synergy Grant Funding Scheme

Work Programme 2018

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SH3 The Social World, Diversity, Population: Sociology, social psychology, social

anthropology, demography, education, communication

SH5 Cultures and Cultural Production: Literature, philology, cultural studies, study of

the arts, philosophy (anthropology removed)

PE2 Fundamental Constituents of Matter: Particle, nuclear, plasma, atomic,

molecular, gas, and optical physics (light change in descriptors)

PE3 Condensed Matter Physics: Structure, electronic properties, fluids,

nanosciences, biological physics (formerly 'biophysics')

Work Programme 2018 Modification of panel descriptors

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LS1 Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics:

Molecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms and interactions; biochemistry; structural

biology, molecular biophysics; , metabolism; signalling pathways

LS2 Genetics, ’Omics’, Bioinformatics and Systems Biology: Molecular genetics,

quantitative genetics, genetic epidemiology, epigenetics, genomics, metagenomics,

transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, glycomics, bioinformatics, computational

biology, biostatistics, systems biology

LS3 Cellular and Developmental Biology: Cell biology, cell physiology, signal

transduction, organogenesis, developmental genetics, pattern formation, stem cell

biology, in plants and animals and where appropriate in microorganisms

LS4 Physiology, Pathophysiology and Endocrinology: Organ physiology,

pathophysiology, endocrinology, metabolism, ageing, tumorigenesis, cardiovascular

diseases, metabolic syndromes

Work Programme 2018 Modification of panel descriptors

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LS5 Neuroscience and Neural Disorders: Neural cell function and signalling, systems

neuroscience, neural bases of cognitive and behavioural processes, neurological and

psychiatric disorders

LS6 Immunity and Infection: The immune system and related disorders, biology of infectious

agents and infection, biological basis of prevention and treatment of infectious diseases

LS7 Applied Medical Technologies, Diagnostics, Therapies, and Public Health:

Development of tools for diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of diseases, pharmacology,

clinical medicine, regenerative medicine, epidemiology and public health

LS8 Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology: Population, community and

ecosystem ecology, evolutionary biology, behavioural ecology, microbial ecology

LS9 Applied Life Sciences, Biotechnology and Molecular and Biosystems engineering:

Applied plant and animal sciences; forestry; food sciences; applied biotechnology;

environmental, and marine biotechnology; applied bioengineering; biomass, biofuels;

biohazards

Work Programme 2018 Modification of panel descriptors

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Brief history

The SyG Funding Scheme was introduced in 2012

"ERC Synergy Grants are 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. The aim is to promote substantial advances in 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."

Two pilot SyG calls run in 2012 and 2103

150 Million Euro were allocated to each call

24 projects were funded (11 + 13) and the success rates were 1,6% and 3,0%

The pilot was evaluated by the ERC ScC during 2014 and 2015 with the help of external

experts

In 2016 the ScC decided to reintroduce the SyG funding scheme as soon as enough

budget is available (no major impact in the budget of the other calls and a reasonable

success rate)

Work Programme 2018 Reintroduction of the SyG Funding Scheme

A Synergy Grant scheme would be a valuable addition to the current

ERC frontier schemes because of:

– Its high international recognition - putting European research on

the global map, often in leading position;

– The highly ambitious research goals it will trigger – that cannot be

achieved by a single PI;

– The complementarity of PIs/teams it favours;

– The cross-fertilization of disciplines and signs of new fields

emerging it generates;

– The close collaboration it triggers which goes much beyond any

regular EU framework collaborative project.

Work Programme 2018 Outcome of the assessment of the 2012/13 calls

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SyG Calls of 2012 and 2013 Successful Host Institutions

• NANOCOSMOS – "Gas and Dust from the Stars to the

Laboratory: Exploring the NanoCosmos"

– Corresponding PI : Jose Cernicharo Quintanilla

CSIC (ES)

– PIs: Jose Angel Martin Gago, Christine Joblin (FR)

17

SyG 2013: List of projects funded with PIs in

Spanish Host Institutions

'Understand the formation

of cosmic dust and

chemical complexity

in Space and on Earth '

• IMBALANCE-P – "Effects of phosphorus limitations on Life,

Earth system and Society"

– Corresponding PI: Josep Penuelas

Centro de Investigaciones ecologicas y

aplicaciones forestales (ES)

– PIs: Michael Obersteiner, Ivan Janssens, Philippe Ciais

18

"Quantify the responses of ecosystems

and society in a world increasingly rich in

N and C but limited in Phosphorus"

Natural

ecosystems

responses

Earth

system &

climate

responses

Societal

responses

SyG 2013: List of projects funded with PIs in

Spanish Host Institutions

• 4D-GENOME – "Dynamics of human genome architecture

in stable and transient gene expression changes"

– Corresponding PI : Miguel Beato del Rosal

Fundació Privada Centre de Regulació

Genòmica (ES)

– PIs: Thomas Graf, Guillaume Filion, Marc Marti-Renom

19

'Do temporal changes in the genome 3D structure contribute to gene

regulation?'

SyG 2013: List of projects funded with PIs in

Spanish Host Institutions

ERC Synergy Grants are intended to enable minimum two to maximum four

Principal Investigators and their teams to bring together complementary skills,

knowledge, and resources in new ways, in order to jointly address ambitious

research problems.

The aim is to promote substantial advances at the frontiers of knowledge, to

cross-fertilize scientific fields, and to encourage new productive lines of

enquiry and new methods and techniques, including unconventional

approaches and investigations at the interface between established disciplines.

This should enable transformative research not only at the forefront of European

science but also to become a benchmark on a global scale.

Applicants Principal Investigators must demonstrate the synergies,

complementarities and added value that could lead to breakthroughs that would

not be possible by the individual Principal Investigators working alone.

Work Programme 2018 Objectives of the 2018 SyG Call

Groups applying for the ERC Synergy Grant must be made up of a minimum of

two and a maximum of four Principal Investigators and, as necessary, their

teams. One of the Principal Investigators must be designated as the

Corresponding Principal Investigator.

Applications are expected from a group of innovative and active Principal

Investigators and must present an early achievement track-record or a 10-year

track-record whichever is most appropriate for their career stage (see Starting,

Consolidator and Advanced Grant profiles above). There is little prospect of an

application succeeding in the absence of such a record.

Work Programme 2018 Profile of the SyG Principal Investigator

• Indicative budget foreseen: 250 M€ To select 25-30 projects

• 2 or 3 or 4 Principal Investigators PI can come from the same HI, different HIs within one country, or

from different countries (within EU or AC)

• No restrictions on location of PIs

• Indicative call opening: 19 July 2017

• Indicative call closure: 14 November 2017

• Proposals to be evaluated between November 2017 and

September 2018.

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Work Programme 2018 SyG Call: main features (I)

• PIs to be considered as equal, but a corresponding PI to

be designated who will be the administrative contact for

the duration of the project.

• Normal maximum budget of 10 M€ per grant

With additional 4 M€ more in case:

a) "start-up' costs for Principal Investigators moving to the EU or AC

and/or

b) the purchase of major equipment and/or

c) access to large facilities

• Time commitment: ≤ 50% of working time in EU or AC

and ≤ 30% of working time on the ERC project

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Work Programme 2018 SyG Call: main features (II)

A single submission of the full proposal will be followed by a three-step

evaluation, including interviews. The evaluation will be conducted by means of

a structure of dedicated panels. The panels may be assisted by independent

experts working remotely.

Applicant Principal Investigators can request during the electronic proposal

submission that up to four specific persons should not act as an evaluator in

the evaluation of their proposal

At step 1, the extended synopsis of the scientific proposal and the Principal

Investigators’ track records and CVs will be assessed (and not the full scientific

proposal).

At step 2, the complete version of the retained proposals will be assessed

(including the full scientific proposal).

Work Programme 2018 SyG: Submission and evaluation (I)

At step 3, the most competitive of the retained proposals will be identified and their

Principal Investigators may be invited for an interview to present their project to a

panel meeting in Brussels.

The composition of the panels at each step is not predefined but will be decided

dynamically in relation to the proposals received.

Step 1 panels will be formed from approximately 80 panel members and chairs.

Five step 2 panels will be formed after the step 1 filtering to ensure the best expertise

for a group of proposals. The five step 2 panels will be composed using the step 1

panel members, grouping them into panels of around 15 experts each.

In step 3, the interview panels may be reconfigured to ensure the best expertise for

the proposals.

Work Programme 2018 SyG: Submission and evaluation (II)

A Principal Investigator whose proposal was evaluated as category B at step 1

or step 2 in the Synergy Grant call for proposals under Work Programme 2018

may not submit a proposal to the Synergy Grant calls for proposals made under

Work Programme 2019.

A Principal Investigator whose proposal was evaluated as category C at step 1

in the Synergy Grant call for proposals under Work Programme 2018 may not

submit a proposal to any ERC research grant calls for proposals made under

Work Programme 2019 or for the Synergy Grant call in 2020.

All Principal Investigators whose proposal was rejected on the grounds of a

breach of research integrity in the Synergy Grant calls for proposals under Work

Programme 2018 may not submit a proposal to the calls for proposals made

under Work Programme 2019.

Work Programme 2018 SyG: Resubmission restrictions

• ERC foresees to be a highly competitive call

only exceptional proposals are likely to be funded that will demonstrate

that the truly ambitious research questions could lead to breakthroughs

only through the joint effort of the complementary and synergistic

group of PIs.

• ‘Synergy’ is not simply a successful collaboration

The interaction would yield something more than just the sum of the

individual parts.

To yield possibly either unforeseen, completely new science, to cross

fertilize disciplines or to solve important research problems that until now

could not be dreamt of solving.

• Tough future restrictions on submissions planned

applicants to think twice before applying: PIs evaluated with a C score in

2018 will not be able to apply to any ERC call in 2019.

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Work Programme 2018 Take home messages

Starting

Grant

Consolidator

Grant

Advanced

Grant

Synergy

Grant

Proof of Concept

Grant

Call identifier ERC-2018-StG ERC-2018-CoG ERC-2018-AdG ERC-2018-SyG ERC-2018-PoC

Call Opens 18/07/2017 24/10/2017 17/05/2018 19/07/2017 18/07/2017

Deadline or cut-off dates

for PoC 17/10/2017 15/02/2018 30/08/2018 14/11/2017

16/01/2018

18/04/2018

11/09/2018

Budget million EUR

(estimated number of

grants)

583 (391) 553 (287) 452 (194) 250 (30) 20 (130)

Work Programme 2018 Tentative call calendar

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Spain at ERC

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Spain at ERC ERC funded projects by country HI

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Host countries as of

03/04/2017

Linear fit

Spain at ERC ERC grants versus GERD

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Spain at ERC Top HIs in Spain

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299 PIs with Spanish nationality in Spain

96 foreign grantees in ES from 28 countries

95 Spanish PIs abroad in UK(36), FR(17), DE(13), CH(11) ..

Spain at ERC Grantees at home and abroad

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Spain at ERC ERC proof of Concept 2011-16

│ 35 * Number of instances that experts of a certain country of origin are contributing to the ERC peer review

Spain at ERC ERC panel member by country of HI and gender

23 19

25 27 26

34

54

30

46

14 12 13

15 15 13 13 12 11

37

31

38 42 41

47

67

42

57

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

2007-2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

StG+CoG

AdG

Total

Spain at ERC Evolution of the number of grants with Spanish HI

Total: 400 grants

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2013: 14 StG and 20 CoG

2014: 22 StG and 32 CoG

2015: 12 StG and 18 CoG

2016: 23 StG and 23 CoG

7,7% 7,8%

5,7% 5,6%

4,6%

5,6%

7,7%

4,6%

6,5%

5,0% 4,9% 4,8% 5,0% 4,7% 4,6%

6,8%

4,3% 4,8%

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

2007-2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

StG+CoG

AdG

Spain at ERC Evolution of the % of grants with Spanish HI

2013: 4,7% in StG and 6,4% in CoG

2014: 6,7% in StG and 8,6% in CoG

2015: 3,4% in StG and 6,0% in CoG

2016: 5,9% in StG and 7,3% in CoG

6,2%

9,1%

8,1% 8,6%

9,6% 11,4% 10,0%

7,5%

8,1% 8,3%

6,2% 6,1% 6,5%

5,6%

9,4%

12,2%

8,8%

8,0%

7,2%

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

StG+CoG

AdG

Spain at ERC Evolution of the % of applications with Spanish HI

2013: 10,7% in StG and 12,4% in CoG

2014: 8,6% in StG and 11,8% in CoG

2015: 6,9% in StG and 8,3% in CoG │ 38

2016: 7,7% in StG and 8,7% in CoG

2017: 7,4% in StG and 9,3% in CoG

567

227 234

350

454

799

581

374 426

464

134 96

130 129

216

294

190 157 174

701

323 364

479

670

1093

771

531 600

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

2007-2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

StG+CoG

AdG

Total

Spain at ERC Evolution of the number of applications with Spanish HI

2013: 354 StG + 445 CoG

2014: 283 StG + 298 CoG

2015: 203 StG + 171 CoG │ 39

2016: 226 StG + 200 CoG

2017: 228 StG + 236 CoG

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