The ERC Consolidator Grant

Support individual researchers of any nationality consolidating their independent career who have: > 7-12 years of experience since completion of PhD when the call for proposals is published > a promising track record of early achievements appropriate to their research field and career stage > an excellent research proposal > a host organisation based in an EU Member State (1), an Associated Country (2), or an International European Interest Organisation (3) > funding per grant: up to EUR 2.75 Mio. > duration: up to 5 years > calls for proposals published annually in the autumn with deadlines early the following year > evaluation criteria: scientific excellence The lack of sufficient opportunities for young investigators to develop independent careers leads to a dramatic waste of research talent across Europe. It limits or delays the emergence of the next generation of researchers and encourages highly talented researchers to seek advancement elsewhere, either in other professions or as researchers outside Europe. ERC Consolidator Grants are designed to support researchers (Principal Investigators) at the stage at which they are consolidating their own independent research team or programme. The scheme will strengthen independent and excellent new individual research teams that have been recently created.

The ERC Synergy Grant

Support small groups of researchers collaborating on projects at the frontiers of knowledge who: > jointly address complex research topics > demonstrate novel working arrangements to ensure face to face contact for significant periods of core time in the same place over the course of the project > one researcher nominated as the Corresponding PI > a host organisation based in an EU member State (1), an Associated Country (2), or an International European Interest Organisation (3) > funding per grant: up to EUR 15 Mio. > duration: up to six years > calls for proposals published annually in the autumn with deadlines early the following year > evaluation criteria: scientific excellence It is increasingly recognised that for complex scientific problems, collaboration between different researchers and their teams, often on interdisciplinary basis and using shared facilities, can lead to outstanding new ideas and unexpected discoveries. The Synergy Grant is aimed at teams of two to four PIs who wish to work together on a project built around a specialised infrastructure, to bring together new skills and disciplines or to collaborate with researchers from different institutions, sectors or countries.

1 Member States Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom 2 Associated Countries Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Faroe Islands, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Iceland, Israel, Liechtenstein, Republic of Moldova, Republic of Montenegro, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey. 3 International European Interest Organisation A definition of an International European Interest Organisation is available at: http://erc.europa.eu/faq