Call for Proposals: ERC Advanced Grant

The ERC frontier research grants operate on a ‘bottom-up’ basis and applications can be submitted in any field of research with an emphasis on the frontiers of science, scholarship and engineering. In particular, the ERC welcomes proposals of interdisciplinary nature, which cross the boundaries between different fields of research, pioneering proposals addressing new and emerging fields of research or proposals introducing unconventional, innovative approaches and scientific inventions. The focus is on the Principal Investigator and on the individual team.

Funding Information

• Advanced Grants will be awarded as a single lump sum contribution for the entirety of the project.
• Advanced Grants can be up to a maximum of EUR 2500000 for a period of 5 years. For projects of shorter duration, the maximum amount of the grant is reduced pro rata temporis.
• Additional funding up to EUR 1000000 can be requested in the proposal to cover the following eligible costs when these are necessary to carry out the proposed work:
  • “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
  • the purchase of major equipment and/or
  • access to large facilities and/or
  • other major experimental and field work costs, excluding personnel costs.

Eligibility Criteria

• Eligible Principal Investigators: The ERC actions are open to researchers of any nationality who intend to conduct their research activity in any EU Member State or Associated Country. 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 Advanced Grant must spend a minimum of 50% of their working time in an EU Member State or Associated Country and a minimum of 30% of their working time on the ERC project.
• Eligible Host Institution: The Host Institution (Applicant Legal Entity) must engage and host the Principal Investigator for at least the duration of the project. 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 research organisation (such as CERN, EMBL, etc.), the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) or any other entity created under EU law. International organisations with headquarters in a Member State or Associated Country will be deemed to be established in that Member State or Associated Country. Any type of legal entity, public or private, including universities, research organisations and undertakings can host Principal Investigators and their teams.
• A competitive Advanced Grant Principal Investigator is expected to be an active and established research leader with a track record of significant research achievements. No specific eligibility criteria with respect to the academic requirements are foreseen.
• Principal Investigators must provide a list of achievements reflecting their track record. A short narrative describing the scientific importance of the research outputs and the role played by the Principal Investigator in their production may also be included.

Ineligibility Criteria

• The following general restrictions apply for the ERC 2024 main frontier research calls (STG, COG, ADG and SYG):
  • A researcher may participate as a Principal Investigator in only one ERC main frontier research project at any one time. A new main frontier research project can only start after the duration of the project fixed in a previous main frontier research grant agreement has ended;
  • A researcher participating as a Principal Investigator in an ERC main frontier research project may not submit a proposal for another ERC main frontier research grant, unless the existing project ends less than two years after the call deadline;
  • A researcher who is a serving panel member for an ERC 2024 call or who served as a panel member for an ERC 2022 call may not apply to an ERC 2024 call for the same type of grant;
  • If a researcher applies to more than one ERC main frontier research grant calls published under the same Work Programme (i.e. from the same ‘call year’), only the first eligible proposal will be evaluated;
  • A researcher, whose proposal has been selected for funding and who is preparing a grant agreement under an ERC 2023 call, may not apply for a Starting, Consolidator or Advanced Grant under an ERC 2024 call.

For more information, visit European Commission.