European Research Council (ERC) grants

For whom?

ERC grants are given to top researchers of any nationality, to implement a groundbreaking, high-risk/high-gain frontier research project at any European institution, for the duration of 5 years.
An ERC grant allows you to address complex research questions which have a conceptual risk-factor.
Excellence is the only evaluation criterion, both of the Project and the Principal Investigator. Proposals are not evaluated on impact or implementation.
With this grant, promising young researchers can start or consolidate their own research team. Established researchers are evaluated based on their track record of the last 10 years prior to their application.

Get in contact with a Ghent University ERC grantee in your field. As true ERC ambassadors, they are willing to share their experiences with you.

Five grant types

For top researchers with 2 to 7 years of experience after PhD; the reference date is the 1st of January of the call year.
This period can be extended for mothers with 18 months per child, for paternity leave actually taken, or for long-time illness, military service or clinical training.
A Starting Grant can amount to €1.500.000 for 5 years,
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.
ERC Starting Grants website

For top researchers with 7 to 12 years of experience after PhD; the reference date is the 1st of January of the call year.
This period can be extended for mothers with 18 months per child, for paternity leave actually taken, or for long-time illness, military service or clinical training.
A Consolidator Grant can amount to €2.000.000 for 5 years.
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.
ERC Consolidator Grant website

For established researchers who have a recent track record which identifies them as leaders in their field of research.
An Advanced Grant can amount to €2.500.000 for 5 years.
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.
ERC Advanced Grants website

for a team of 2 to 4 Principal Investigators (PIs) with an outstanding track record, of all career stages, 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.
A Synergy Grant comprises up to €10.000.000 for 6 years
However, an addition € 4 million can be requested in the proposal in total to cover: eligible 'start-up' costs for Principal Investigators moving to the EU or an Associated Country from elsewhere as a consequence of receiving an ERC grant and/or the purchase of major equipment and/or access to large facilities
ERC Synergy Grant website

For ERC grantees only, funding further work (i.e. activities which were not scheduled to be funded by the original ERC frontier research grant) to verify the innovation potential of ideas arising from ERC funded projects.
One grant can amount up to €150.000 for 18 months.
ERC Proof-of-Concept website

An ERC grant covers 100% of all direct costs. On top of that, the amount of 25% of total direct costs is added for indirect costs (overhead).
The extra budget to start-up a new research facility or for purchasing large infrastructure or access to large facilities should be well justified.
At Ghent University, the salary of the Principal Investigator (PI) cannot be foreseen in the requested budget and there is no need to, since you will be paid by the university.

Host Support Letter. Contact the EU-team for a letter signed by the legal representative of Ghent University (i.e. rector).
Time commitment of the PI. The ERC requests their grantees commit at least a certain percentage of their time to grant activities, which should be shown by time registration during the project (via SAP MyApps-Timesheet).
- For StG and CoG: minimally 50% or 40% respectively. The PI should reside in Europe or an associated country for at least 50% of their working time.
- For AdG: at least 30% of their working time. The PI should reside in Europe or an associated country for at least 50% of their working time.

You can find the members of former ERC panels of previous calls on the ERC website.
The panels alternate in odd and even years. A few members are replaced.
Would you like to know who will evaluate your proposal? Check the panel of the call two years ago. The majority of the members will be the same.
Ask the EU team to predict the most appropriate panel for your project idea.

Only Part B1 is evaluated by some (at least 3) panel members, who assess the proposals in a more generic way.

Selected proposals are sent to a number of remote referees specialised in the subject and to a few panel members. They give individual feedback on the PI and the full project proposal.
Candidates are then invited for an interview at the ERC in Brussels, where they can give a short presentation on their project proposal, followed by questions from the panel members. In Horizon Europe, also AdG candidates are invited for an interview.
The panel members eventually decide on the final ranking of the candidates, based on the feedback of the remote referees and also based on the interview.

ERC grantees not having a fulltime professorship position, are granted a BOF-ZAP position during the ERC project. For this, you need to have approval from the relevant Faculty before submission. Contact the EU-team at least 3 months before the submission deadline.
On request, ERC grantees who already have a fulltime professorship position, can partly be relieved from education assignments by a central budget of maximally € 25.500 per semester. With this, the ERC grantee can be replaced by a visiting professor, a partime ZAP or a postdoctoral staff member. Contact BOF@UGent.be for specific details.