The European Research Council · ERC achievements Enhancing visibility of European research results Organization Papers Category normalized citation impact Percentage top 1% papers

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


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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Horizon 2020European Union funding for Research & Innovation │ 3

What is the ERC?


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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What is the ERC?Horizon 2020 Budget € 77 billion ERC Budget € 13 billion

FP7

H2020

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What does ERC offer?


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


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)


What does ERC offer?ERC Grant Schemes

Consolidator Grantsconsolidators

7-12 years after PhD(≥ 40% commitment)


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Synergy Grants2 – 4 Principal Investigatorsup to € 14.0 Mio for 6 years


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


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


• 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


• 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


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)


How to prepare and submit an ERC research proposal?


• 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


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


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

Read the Information to Applicants │ 17


How ERC research proposals are evaluated?


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


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


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


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…


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


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


Participation of non-EU/AC nationals


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


Research visits to ERC projects


§ 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


§ 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


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


• More information: erc.europa.eu

• National Contact Point: erc.europa.eu/national-contact-points

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The European Research Council

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Documents

The European Research Council · ERC achievements Enhancing visibility of European research results Organization Papers Category normalized citation impact Percentage top 1% papers