ERC Work Programme 2023 – Announcement of Calls for the ERC Starting Grant and Synergy Grant 2023
The European Research Council – ERC, announced on 11 July 2023 the adoption by the European Commission of its Work Programme for 2023, the third ERC Work Programme under Horizon Europe, the Framework Programme of the EU for Research and Innovation 2021-2027. This will provide funding of 1.2 billion euros to excellent scientists in order to perform ground breaking frontier research.
The ERC Work Programme 2023, introduces two new elements: Firstly, the addition of two new reasons for extension of the eligibility window for Starting and Consolidator Grants, for asylum seekers and researchers affected by natural disasters. Secondly, the change of the reference date towards the calculation of the eligibility period, which is now considered to be the certified date of the successful defence of their PhD degree. Furthermore, the 2023 Work Programme introduces a special grant in the frame of the ERC Science Journalism Initiative that will entail a support for journalists wishing to spend time at research institutions to better understand frontier research.
The timeline for the upcoming Calls for Proposals under the ERC Work Programme 2023, is presented in the following table:
The first two Calls for Proposals have already been announced. Specifically, ERC announced the ERC Starting Grant 2023 (ERC-2023-StG) Call for Proposals with a deadline on 25 October 2022 (17:00 Brussels time) and the proposal submission system is already open via the Funding and Tender Opportunities portal of the EC. The competitive ERC Starting Grants, support excellent researchers with 2 up to 7 years of experience after their PhD (extended in specific cases, such as maternity), that can already demonstrate a promising track record of early achievements appropriate to their research field and career stage and want to implement a ground breaking, ambitious project in any scientific field. The only evaluation criterion is scientific excellence. The funding is up to 1.5 million euros for up to 4 years, while an additional 1 million euros can be made available in certain occasions. More information can be found in the Information for Applicants to the Starting and Consolidator Grant Calls, in the ERC Work Programme 2023 and the rest of the official documents.
Additionally, ERC announced the ERC Synergy Grant 2023 (ERC-2023-SyG) Call for Proposals with a deadline on 8 November 2022 (17:00 Brussels time) and the proposal submission system is already open via the Funding and Tender Opportunities portal of the EC. The ERC Synergy Grants fund groups of 2 to 4 excellent Principal Investigators that come together to face an ambitious research problem, combining unique skills, knowledge and resources. The only evaluation criterion is scientific excellence, at the level of the project, the PIs and the synergy among them. The funding can reach up to 10 million euros, for up to 6 years, while additional funding of 4 million euros can be made available in certain occasions. More information is available in the Information for Applicants to the Synergy Grant Calls, the ERC Work Programme 2023 and the rest of the official documents.
Regarding ERC grants, the Research and Innovation Foundation (RIF) can support potential applicants during proposal preparation, via personalised support, pre-screening and full proposal checks, support during the interview stage and more. Furthermore, RIF has been selected to participate in the ERC Mentoring Initiative, via which it can provide access to mentors (former ERC panel members or ERC grantees) for the researchers that it supports. Interested researchers can contact the ERC National Contact Point (Katerina Karakasidou Malla, [email protected], tel. 22205036).