European Research Council Starting Grants for International Researchers (€1.5 Million)

Get latest opportunities in your email

About European Research Council Starting Grants for International Researchers

ERC grants support projects carried out by an individual researcher who can employ researchers of any nationality as team members. It is also possible to have one or more team members located in a non-European country.

• Sponsor Organisation: European Union

Benefits of European Research Council Starting Grants for International Researchers

Starting Grants may be awarded up to € 1.5 million for a period of 5 years. (pro rata for projects of shorter duration). However, an additional € 1 million can be made available to cover eligible “start-up” costs for researchers moving from a third country to the EU or an associated country and/or the purchase of major equipment and/or access to large facilities and/or other major experimental and field work costs.

An ERC grant can cover up to 100% of the total eligible direct costs of the research plus a contribution of 25% of the total eligible costs towards indirect costs.

European Research Council Starting Grants for International Researchers Requirements

Criteria 

Applications can be made in any field of research. The ERC's grants operate on a 'bottom-up' basis without predetermined priorities.

Location
Research must be conducted in a public or private research organisation (known as a host institution/HI). It could be the HI where the applicant already works, or any other HI located in one of the EU Member Statesor associated countries.

Host Institution
Applications for an ERC grant require a single Principal Investigator (PI) to submit the application on behalf of their host institution. The host institution must offer suitable conditions for the PI to independently lead the research and manage funding. The PI can be hosted by any legal entity in an EU Member State or associated country.

The PI does not need to be employed by the host institution at the time of proposal submission, but a mutual agreement and commitment are necessary if the proposal is successful.
 

Team
ERC grants support projects carried out by an individual researcher who can employ researchers of any nationality as team members. It is also possible to have one or more team members located in a non-European country.

Application Date and Process

ERC grant applications can only be submitted in response to a Call for Proposals.

The ERC has yearly calls for proposals covering all scientific fields.

For an ERC grant application to be complete, it needs to include the administrative forms, the research proposal and the supplementary documents. The completed proposal should be submitted by the specified closing date.

Calls are published on this page, the EU Funding & Tenders Portal and in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Step by step guide

 

Before the call is published:

1. Find out which ERC grant and which call is suitable for you.
2. Identify the host institution and team members you would like to work with. (see also the online research partner search services)
3. Contact the National Contact Point(NCP) in your country for support.

Once the call is open:

1. Read the call documents carefully.
2. Contact the host institution and gather all the details you need for the application.
3. Start writing your proposal. Allow time for other people to review your draft. Your NCP, peers and other scientists can all give you helpful support and feedback.
4. Familiarise yourself with the EU submission service. This is the online system through which proposals must be submitted. 
5. Submit your proposal as early as possible. Deadlines cannot be changed under any circumstances. You can update your submitted proposal any time before the deadline by simply submitting a new version, which will overwrite the old one.
6. You will get an ‘acknowledgement of receipt’ by e-mail for each submission.

After the deadline:

1. The ERC will check whether your proposal meets the call’s eligibility criteria.
2. External experts will evaluate all the eligible proposals.
3. You will receive further information as your proposal progresses through the evaluation. For more information we invite you to consult the timeframe for the current call.

How does the evaluation process work?

Proposals are evaluated by selected international peer reviewers who evaluate proposals on the basis of excellence as thesole criterion. It will be applied to the evaluation of both the research project and the Principal Investigator in conjunction.

Scholarship Application Portal

View details of European Research Council Starting Grants for International Researchers

Apply for European Research Council Starting Grants for International Researchers