Objectiu de la convocatòria

ERC Starting Grants are designed to support excellent Principal Investigators at the career stage at which they are starting their own independent research team or programme. Principal Investigators must demonstrate the ground-breaking nature, ambition and feasibility of their scientific proposal.

Perfil dels Investigadors principals

The Principal Investigator shall have been awarded their first PhD at least 2 and up to 7 years prior to 1 January 2020. The eligibility period can be extended beyond 7 years in certain properly documented circumstances.

A competitive Starting Grant Principal Investigator must have already shown the potential for research independence and evidence of maturity, for example by having produced at least one important publication as main author or without the participation of their PhD supervisor. Applicant Principal Investigators should also be able to demonstrate a promising track record of early achievements appropriate to their research field and career stage, including significant publications (as main author) in major international peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journals, or in the leading international peer-reviewed journals of their respective field. They may also demonstrate a record of invited presentations in well-established international conferences, granted patents, awards, prizes, etc.

Requisits

The conditions specific to ERC grants are described in the ERC Work Programme 2020 under the heading Eligibility criteria and in the ERC Rules for Submission and Evaluation under Section 2.4. An overview is provided below:

Eligible proposals: All proposals must be complete and submitted by eligible Principal Investigators before the relevant call deadline. A complete proposal needs to include all parts or sections (see “Proposal submission and description” below). Incomplete proposals may be declared ineligible. The content of the proposal must relate to the objectives and to the grant type set out in the call, as defined in ERC Work Programme 2020. A proposal will only be deemed ineligible on grounds of ‘scope’ in clear-cut cases.

Eligible Principal Investigator: Principal Investigators may be of any age and nationality and may reside in any country in the world at the time of the application. All Principal Investigators funded through an ERC Starting grant shall spend a minimum of 50% of their working time in an EU Member State or Associated Country and a minimum of 50% of their working time on the ERC project.

Eligible Host Institution: The host institution (Applicant Legal Entity) must engage the Principal Investigator(s) for at least the duration of the project, as defined in the grant agreement. It must either be established in an EU Member State or Associated Country as a legal entity created under national law, or it may be an International European Interest Organisation (such as CERN, EMBL, etc.), the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) or any other entity created under EU law. Any type of legal entity, public or private, including universities, research organisations and undertakings can host Principal Investigators and their teams.

Dotació

Starting Grants may be awarded up to a maximum of EUR 1 500 000 for a period of 5 years (The maximum award is reduced pro rata temporis for projects of a shorter duration. This does not apply to ongoing projects).

However, up to an additional EUR 1 000 000 can be requested in the proposal to cover the following eligible costs when these are necessary to carry out the proposed work: (a) "start-up" costs for Principal Investigators moving to the EU or an Associated Country from elsewhere as a consequence of receiving the ERC grant and/or (b) the purchase of major equipment and/or (c) access to large facilities and/or (d) other major experimental and field work costs, excluding personnel costs.

Additional funding is not subject to pro rata temporis reduction for projects of shorter duration.

All funding requested is assessed during evaluation.

Durada

5 years

AVÍS IMPORTANT

Restrictions on submission of proposals: The restrictions for submission are related to the outcome of the evaluation in previous calls and are designed to allow unsuccessful Principal Investigators the time necessary to develop a stronger proposal. For further details please consult page 20-21 of the ERC Work Programme 2020 or the Frequently Asked Questions.

Convocatòria (URL)

https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/erc-2020-stg;freeTextSearchKeyword=erc;typeCodes=1;statusCodes=31094501,31094502;programCode=H2020;programDivisionCode=31047825;focusAreaCode=null;crossCuttingPriorityCode=null;callCode=Default;sortQuery=openingDate;orderBy=asc;onlyTenders=false;topicListKey=topicSearchTablePageState

For further information please see the ERC Work Programme 2020.