ERC THE EUROPEAN RESEARCH COUNCIL Marinela Popa, CNRS FP7 Information Day Moscow, 22 July 2011
ERC Organisation Independent scientific governance : Scientific Council, 22 members, high level scientists President : Helga Nowotny (AU) Vice-présidents : Pavel Hexner (CZ) and Carl-Henrik Heldin (SE) Dedicated Implementation Structure : Executive Agency (ERCEA) - practical implementation and management of operations Peer review : 25 panels Physical Sciences and Engineering 10 panels Life Sciences 9 panels Social Sciences and Humanities 6 panels
ERC Aim and Strategy A logical and revolutionary development of the European Research Area meant to boost European excellence in frontier research by investing in the best researchers and ideas through investigator-driven projects through competition at European level on the basis of scientific excellence as the sole criterion Part of the FP7 family and complementary to other FP7 supports to research Bottom-up vs. targeted research Individual teams vs. consortia FP7 Ideas programme provides funding Budget (2007-2013) : 7.51 bn (around 15% of FP budget) Average budget : ~1bn per year
Budget breakdown of the Seventh Framework Programme (2007-2013) Cooperation ten key thematic areas Ideas Exploratory research (ERC) People Researchers mobility (Marie Curie actions ) Capacities : - Research infrastructures - Research for the benefit of SMEs - Regions of knowledge - Research potential - Science in society - Specific activities of international cooperation
ERC Budget 2007-2013 1900 1800 1700 1600 1500 1400 1300 1200 1100 1000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Frontier research A new understanding of fundamental, forwardlooking research avoiding distinctions between basic and applied research between science and technology relying on traditional disciplines The term Frontier research reflects going beyond these categories critical importance of fundamental research in S&T risk-taking nature of research at and beyond the frontiers of knowledge fluidity of disciplinary boundaries
Objectives & Activities Objectives: Retain Repatriate Recruit improve career opportunities and independence - especially for young researchers increase competition, recognition and international visibility for excellent individual scientists and scholars in Europe Activities: two complementary funding schemes ERC Starting Grant (StG): attract & retain the next generation of independent research leaders ERC Advanced Grant (AdG): attract & reward established independent research leaders
Main principles Host institution located in one of the EU member states and associated countries No criteria of nationality for the Principal Investigators Individual teams Eligible costs :100% of the total eligible and approved direct costs, and as indirect costs a flat-rate of 20% of the total eligible direct costs All fields of research and technology Submission only electronically via EPSS (Electronic Proposal Submission System) Single submission of the full proposal Peer review evaluation Two-step evaluation
Starting Grants Call - statistics Starting Grants 2007: ERC launching call 9167 submitted proposals 299 (3.3%) selected projects Starting Grants 2009: 2503 submitted proposals 243 (9.7%) selected projects Starting Grants 2010: 2873 submitted proposals 427 (15%) selected projects
Advanced Grants Call - statistics Advanced Grants 2008 : 2167 submitted proposals 282 (13.0 %) selected projects Advanced Grants 2009 : 1584 submitted proposals 244 (15,4 %) selected projects Advanced Grants 2010 : 2009 submitted proposals 266 (13 %) selected projects
Ideas Work Programme 2012 Total budget of the call : 1.578M Starting Grants call: 730 M Advanced Grants call: 680 M Proof of Concept : 10 M NEW! Synergy Grant: 150 M
Call : ERC-2012-STG Budget : 730.03 M Call publication : 20 July 2011 STARTING GRANTS 2012 Deadlines : Physical Sciences and Engineering : 12 October 2011 Life Sciences : 09 November 2011 Social Sciences and Humanities : 24 November 2011 At 17:00:00 (Brussels local time) Maximum size of the grant: 1 500 000 for 5 years Principal Investigator coming from a third country: 2 000 000 Purchase of equipment: 2 000 000
STARTING GRANT 2012 The Principal Investigator must have been awarded their first PhD at least 2 and up to 12 years prior to the publication date of the call for proposals Two categories of investigators : «Starters» those awarded their PhD from 2 up to 7 years prior to the call publication «Consolidators» those awarded their PhD over 7 and up to 12 years prior to call publication
ADVANCED GRANTS 2012 Call identifier : ERC-2012-ADG Budget : 689.74 M Publication Call : 16 November 2011 Deadlines : Physical Sciences and Engineering : 16 February 2012 Life Sciences : 14 March 2012 Social Sciences and Humanities : 11 April 2012 At 17:00:00 (Brussels local time) Maximum size of the grant : 2 500 000 for 5 years Principal Investigator coming from a third country: 3 500 000 Purchase of equipment: 3 500 000
ERC + «Synergy»Grant Call identifier : ERC-2012-SyG Budget : 150 M Publication date: 25 October 2011 Deadline : 25 January 2012 Maximum size of the grant : 15 000 000 for 6 years
ERC + «Synergy»Grant 2 4 Principal Investigators (with one designated lead Principal Investigator) Expected (but not required) that ERC+ groups will be: Interdisciplinary, often using multidisciplinary approaches Physically located in the same place to ensure face to face contact for significant periods of "core time" over the course of the project Built around specialized infrastructure, new combinations of disciplines, or bringing together researchers from different institutions, sectors or countries
Proof of Concept Objective : conduct a proof of concept to verify if an idea generated by an ERC funded project has near term market potential Call identifier: ERC-2012-PoC Budget : 10 M Date of publication: 2 February 2012 Deadlines: First deadline: 3 May 2012 (at 17h00 Brussels local time) Second deadline: 3 October 2012 (at 17h00 Brussels local time) Eligibility criteria: all principal investigators already having an ERC grant Maximum size of the grant : 150 000 for one year
Useful Information ERC website http://erc.europa.eu/index.cfm CORDIS website (Find a call) http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/home_en.html French Ideas NCP website http://www.eurosfaire.prd.fr/7pc/erc/ French Ideas NCP contact: pcn-erc@cnrs-dir.fr
Thank you for your attention! Marinela Popa Marinela.Popa@cnrs-dir.fr