FP7 IDEAS Programme The European Research Council … and its funding schemes. Ana Beramendi VETENSKAPSRÅDET

European Research Council │ 2 ERC Grant schemes ERC Grant schemes 3R and 2 schemes Aim: Retain – Repatriate – Recruit exceptional researchers in any field of science, engineering and scholarship to pursue pioneering frontier research Activities: Two complementary funding schemes  ERC Starting Grant (StG): attract & retain the next generation of independent research leaders - up to € 2.0 Mio for 5 years  ERC Advanced Grant (AdG): attract & reward established independent research leaders - up to € 3.5 Mio for 5 years Call Budget for Starting Grant 2010: € 528 Mio Call Budget for Advanced Grant 2010: € 590 Mio StG grant

European Research Council │ 3 ERC Grant schemes ERC Grant schemes Who can apply? – General requirements 1.Principal Investigator (PI)  Nationality, age or current place of work not relevant - but: working or moving to work in Europe (EU member state, FP7 Associated Country) 2.In conjunction with a Host organisation  Legally recognised public or private research organisation  To be located in MS or AC 3.Frontier Research Project  All fields of science, engineering and scholarship are eligible (investigator-driven, bottom-up) 4.Individual research team  PI has freedom to choose National or trans-national character, if scientific added value proven

European Research Council What is frontier research?  Research at the frontiers is:  Intrinsically risky  Characterised by an absence of disciplinary boundaries  of ground-breaking nature: addresses important challenges, has ambitious objectives, has novel or unconventional concepts and/or approaches  The ERC wants to avoid outmoded distinctions:  Between “basic” and “applied” research  Between “science” and “technology”  Between “traditional” disciplines

European Research Council │ 5 ERC Grant schemes Operational Principles  Application in response to calls for proposals  Principal Investigators applies in conjunction and on behalf of a research-performing host institution  Electronic Proposals Submission System (EPSS)  Single submission, staged evaluation procedure  to manage a large number of applications  Panel-based international peer review process  Scientific Council selects panels and peer reviewers  Panels assess and select proposals

European Research Council │ 6  ERC covers all fields of science, engineering and scholarship  3 main research domains + interdisciplinary research:  Physical Sciences & Engineering – 10 Panels  Life Sciences (incl. medical) – 9 Panels  Social Sciences & Humanities – 6 Panels  Interdisciplinary Research (cross-panel / cross-domain) – Panel Chairs meeting  The call budget will be pre-allocated to these areas as follows:  39% - 34% - 14% - 13% ERC Grant schemes ERC Grant schemes All fields, budget pre-allocation in areas

European Research Council ERC Panel structure Social Sciences and Humanities (SH)  SH1 - Individuals, institutions & markets  SH2 - Institutions, values, beliefs and behaviour  SH3 - Environment & society  SH4 - The Human Mind and its complexity  SH5 - Cultures & cultural production  SH6 - The study of the human past Physical Sciences & Engineering (PE)  PE1 - Mathematical foundations  PE2 - Fundamental constituents of matter  PE3 - Condensed matter physics  PE4 - Physical & Analytical Chemical sciences  PE5 - Materials & Synthesis  PE6 - Computer science & informatics  PE7 - Systems & communication engineering  PE8 - Products & process engineering  PE9 - Universe sciences  PE10 - Earth system science Life Sciences (LS)  LS1 - Molecular & Structural Biology & Biochemistry  LS2 - Genetics, Genomics, Bioinformatics & Systems Biology  LS3 - Cellular and Developmental Biology  LS4 - Physiology, Pathophysiology & Endocrinology  LS5 - Neurosciences & neural disorders  LS6 - Immunity & infection  LS7 - Diagnostic tools, therapies & public health  LS8 - Evolutionary, population & environmental biology  LS9 - Applied life sciences & biotechnology

European Research Council │ 8 ERC Grant Schemes Evaluation: Scientific Excellence is the sole criterion Evaluation of Excellence at three levels: Quality of Principal Investigator Quality of Research Project Research Environment Referees and panels evaluate and score criteria under Heading 1 and Heading 2 numerically which will result in the ranking of the projects:  1-4 per criterion (4:Outstanding, 3: Excellent, 2:Very Good, 1: Non- Competitive)  Threshold ≥ 2 per criterion. Note: Proposals passing quality thresholds and which lie above the budgetary cut-off level will be retained. Criteria under Heading 3 will be considered as "pass/fail" and commented but not scored

European Research Council │ 9 ERC Grant Agreement ERC Grant Agreement Concept  Agreement between ERC and Principal Investigator’s (PI’s) hosting organisation  Rights/obligations on scientific, financial, ethical conduct and monitoring, eligible costs, IPR, modifications, grant portability  Supplementary Agreement between PI and its hosting organisation  Rights/obligations: administration, project execution, IPR

European Research Council │ 10 ERC Grant ERC Grant The concept of ‘portability’ “Money follows the researcher”  The Principal Investigator (PI) is entitled to transfer the grant to another institution  normally after a minimum 2 years at the sponsoring institution  Proper justification and ERC approval required StG grant

European Research Council │ 11 ERC Starting Grant ERC Starting Grant Profile of the PI read the Guide for Applicants!Eligibility window: 2-10 years after PhD award - certain types of career breaks are accepted up to a maximum of 4.5 years read the Guide for Applicants!  Starters : award of PhD from 2 to 6 years prior to call publication  Consolidators : award of PhD over 6 and up to 10 years prior to call publication. Note: In order to assure comparable success rates for the starters and the consolidators the indicative budget of each panel will be divided in proportion to the budgetary demand of the proposals submitted by these two categories Potential for research independence and evidence of maturity  at least one important publication without participation of PhD supervisor and significant publications as main author.  Monographs, invited presentations in well-established international conferences, granted patents, awards, prizes, etc

European Research Council │ 12 ERC Advanced Grant ERC Advanced Grant Profile of the PI Any nationality or age Any current place of work – but: working or moving to work in Europe (EU member state, FP7 Associated Country) Applicants must be scientifically independent Strong leadership profile (impact, recognition) read the Guide for Applicants!Excellent track record (in recent years, achievements not older than 10 years) read the Guide for Applicants!

European Research Council ERC Starting Grant 2010 ERC Starting Grant 2010 Reapplication rules Major change for StG 2010 applicants (ERC-2010-StG):  Every other call, unless proposal was evaluated above the quality treshold at the end of step 1 of the evaluation. Note that for StG 2 (ERC-2009-StG) previous rule of reapplication still applies:  no PI can apply to the StG 3 (ERC-2010-StG) unless proposal was evaluated above the quality threshold during the step 2 but not funded due to insufficient budget │ 13

European Research Council ERC Advanced Grant 2010 Reapplication rules Modifications for AdG 2010 WP 2009WP 2010 Re-application rule: Applicants of either ERC-2008-AdG or ERC AdG calls need to have met the quality threshold after step 1 to be eligible for the ERC-2010-AdG call. Re- application rule unchanged: Applicants of either ERC-2008-AdG or ERC AdG calls need to have met the quality threshold after step 1 to be eligible for the ERC-2010-AdG call. Re-application rule changed: only allowed to re-apply for ERC-2011-AdG if proposal is evaluated above quality threshold at step-2 but not funded. Involvement of PI: recommendation in Guide for Applicants Involvement of PI: at least 30% of working time to the ERC-funded project while spending at least 50% of the total working time in an EU Member State or Associated Country

European Research Council │ 15 ERC Starting Grant ERC Starting Grant Proposal content and submission ERC Grant proposal StG 2010 PART A – online forms A1 Proposal, PI and HI data A2 Host institution info A3 Budget PART B1 * – submitted as.pdf Cover page1 p. Section 1 The Principal Investigator Scientific Leadership Potential2 p. CV (including “funding ID”) 2 p. Early achievements track record2 p. Extended synopsis5 p. PART B2 * – submitted as.pdf Section 2 Scientific proposal15 p. Objectives, methodology, resources, ethical issues table Section 3 Research Environment2 p. Annexes * – submitted as.pdf -Statement of support by host - If applicable: explanatory info and docs on ethical issues - Ethical Issues Table * use templates !

European Research Council PART A – online forms A1 Proposal, PI and HI data A2 Host institution/ other organisations A3 Budget (reference for grant) PART B1 – submitted as.pdf Cover page 1 p Section 1 Track Record of PI a) Scientific Leadership (factual!) 2 p. b) CV (including “funding ID”) 2 p. c) Early achievements track record 2 p. d) Extended synopsis 5 p. PART B2 – submitted as.pdf Section 2 Scientific proposal 15 p. Section 3 Research Environment 2 p. Annexes – submitted as.pdf -Statement of support by host - If applicable: explanatory info and docs on ethical issues - Ethical Issues Table - Co-Investigator Annex (if applicable) ERC Grant proposal AdG 2010 ERC Advanced Grant 2010 Modifications for AdG 2010

European Research Council │ 17 ERC Grant schemes ERC Grant schemes Proposal evaluation Step 2 Evaluation - Indiv. assessments - Interdisciplinary flag - Interviews (StG only) - PANEL MEETINGS - Ranking Step 1 Evaluation - Indiv. Assessments - PANEL MEETINGS - Ranking Submission Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Part – B Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Part – B + Annexes Eligibility Check Part - A Form A2 Form A3 Form A1

European Research Council │ 18 ERC Advanced Grant 2010 Guide for Applicants AdG 2010  Structure: separated from the ERC Starting Grants  Adjustments related to the WP 2010 changes  Reference to the new Co-Investigator annex (to be uploaded with personal data of Co-I e.g. Name/Gender/Address/Nationality)  Increased emphasis on various aspects of proposal preparation and submission such as: ─ONLY Part B1 (not Part B2) is reviewed in Step 1 of the evaluation ─Strongly encourage to use costing table template to facilitate the assessment of resources by the panels ─Download submitted EPSS documents to check their completeness and integrity before the deadline

European Research Council │ 19 ERC Advanced Grant 2010 EPSS - examples of changes Additional information/ questions A 1 form:  Yes/No: Permission to use the title and abstract when contacting remote referees  Yes/No: Agreement to devote at least 30% of the working time to the ERC-funded project (50% in Europe)  Contact person for the ERC at the Host Institution to communicate results

European Research Council │ 20 ERC Advanced Grant 2010 Lessons learnt for AdG 2010  Synopsis of Part B 1 should be carefully written (this is the only proposal information that is accessible and judged at step 1!)  Coherency of budget figures (A3 and Part B2, in case of doubt usually A3 figures serves as a reference)  Individual reviews are done remotely and are not harmonised (PIs sometimes do not seem to be aware of that)  Evalution report  Evaluation report consists of panel comments summarising the Panel decision (incl. key strength and weaknesses) and individual comments (Panel Members, remote referees) which may not be necessarily convergent!

European Research Council Deadlines Starting Grant 2010 Physical Sciences and Engineering Life Sciences Social Sciences and Humanities Advanced Grant 2010Advanced Grant 2010 Physical Sciences and Engineering Life Sciences Social Sciences and Humanities │ 21

European Research Council │ 22  Specific text of “Call for Proposal”  ERC Work Programme  ERC Guide for Applicants (!)  ERC Grant agreement Other:  ERC Guide for Grant Holders  ERC Guide for Peer Reviewers  ERC Rules on submission, evaluation, selection and award procedures Read always the last published versions ! available at

European Research Council │ 23 Up-to-date Information ERC website at NEW SECTION Funded Projects

European Research Council │ 24 Applicants Services Applicants Services Information and helpdesks ERC News Alert ERC National Contact Points In Sweden: Ana Beramendi, VR and Gunnar Sandberg, Vinnova ERC helpdesk EPSS helpdesk technical support on electronic proposal submission

European Research Council │ 25 Obrigado Danke! Merci! Thank you! Gracie! Gracias! Ευχαριστώ!