FP7 ERC UPDATE: WP2008 characteristics, priorities, specific elements (AdG) Theodore Papazoglou, PhD ERC/European Commission RTD, Directorate S

European Research Council │ 2 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 Basic / Frontier research in Europe  National activities: ─Research councils (DFG-1920, CNR-1923, CNRS-1939, SNF-1952), academies, etc.  Intergovernmental activities: ─CERN (1953), ESO (1962), ESA (1962/1975), EMBO (1963), ILL (1967), COST (1971), ESF (1974), EMBL (1978), Eureka (1985), ITER (1988), ESRF (1988), INTAS (1993)  EU activities (“supranational”): ─ECSC – Euratom – EC (1957), JRC (1959), JET (1973), FP1 (1984) … FP7 ( ) ─European Research Area – ERA (2000) Ideas/ERC ─FP7 ( ): Ideas/ERC, Marie Curie fellowships, research infrastructures, thematic priority areas

European Research Council │ 3 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 ERC, “Ideas” and FP7  A new “institution”  Which is also part of the “family” of FP7:  Co-operation  Ideas  People  Capacities  Complementary to other FP7 support to targeted research (bottom-up vs. targeted research)

European Research Council │ 4 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 FP7 Ideas Programme  Creates ERC  Provides funding ─Budget ( ) : € 7.51 bn (around 15% of FP7 budget) ─Average budget: € ~1 bn per year  Sets overall objectives for research and operating principles

European Research Council │ 5 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 Strategy & Activities ERC Scientific Council  Retain – Repatriate – Recruit  Favour “brain gain” and “reverse brain drain”  increase competition, recognition and international visibility for excellent individual scientists and scholars in Europe  ERC Advanced Grant: attract & reward established independent research leaders  Keep (young) researchers in Europe  improve career opportunities and independence - especially for young researchers  ERC Starting Grant: attract & retain the next generation of independent research leaders

European Research Council │ 6 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 The Scientific Council Organisation  22 Members of the Scientific Council elected the Chair and Vice-Chairs  One Chair: Prof. Fotis Kafatos  Two Vice-Chairs: Prof. Helga Nowotny and Dr Daniel Estève +Regular Plenary Meetings (every 1-2 months) +Secretariat of the ScC (Directorate S)

European Research Council │ 7 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 The Agency  Executes annual work programme as established by the Scientific Council  Implements calls for proposals and provides information and support to applicants  Organises peer review evaluation  Establishes and manages grant agreements  Administers scientific and financial aspects and follow-up of grant agreements

European Research Council │ 8 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 The European Union (represented by the European Commission)  Provides financing through the EU framework programmes  Guarantees autonomy of the ERC  Assures the integrity and accountability of the ERC  Adopts annual work programmes as established by the Scientific Council

European Research Council │ 9 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 The ERC Board Prof. Fotis Kafatos President of the ERC Prof. Helga Nowotny Dr Daniel Esteve Vice-Presidents of the ERC Prof. Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker ERC Secretary-General Jack Metthey Director of ERC DIS (EC RTD Directorate S)

European Research Council │ 10 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 The first home for the ERC Madou Plaza – Tour Madou Brussels 2 dedicated floors (5 th /6 th ) 140 work places 5 meeting rooms 1 auditorium (192 seats)

European Research Council │ 11 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 ERC Advanced Grant (ERC Advanced Investigator Researcher Grant) Flexible grants for ground-breaking, high-risk/high-gain research that opens new opportunities and directions including those of a multi- and inter-disciplinary nature Complement to the ERC Starting Grants, targeting researchers who are already established independent research leaders  for up to 5 years, i.e. normally up to ~2,500,000 Euro per grant (may go up to ~3.5 MEuro in specific cases)  ~ ⅔ of ERC annual budget, annual calls (= ~ 300 Advanced Grants per year)

European Research Council │ 12 Greece, 4-6/02/2008  Individual Research Teams:  headed by a single “Principal Investigator” (team leader)  of any nationality  if necessary, including additional team members.  The PI has the freedom to choose the research topic and the power to assemble his/her research team (including “co-Investigators”) meeting the needs of the project.  Teams can be of national or trans-national character  Hosting institution located in an EU member state or associated country ERC Grants Who can apply ?

European Research Council │ 13 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 ERC Advanced Grant Lessons learned from StG 1 1.Managing demand for grants  Maximise call budget  By combining budgets over 2 successive years (only one application per researcher in either 2008 or 2009)  Encourage the best to apply  Excellent track record (in recent years)  Strong leadership profile  Discourage trivial or low-quality applications  Applications should be substantive (one-stage submission with two stage evaluation)  Disincentives to submission of applications which are not of the highest quality

European Research Council │ 14 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 Benchmarks of 10 year “track record” Senior author publications in major peer-reviewed multi- disciplinary scientific journals and/or in the leading peer-reviewed journals of their respective research fields Monographs and any translations of monographs (if applicable). Granted patents (if applicable) Invited presentations into peer-reviewed, internationally established conferences and/or international advanced schools (if applicable) Expeditions that the applicant has led (if applicable) International conferences in the field of the applicant that have been organised (member of the steering and/or organising committee) by him/her (if applicable) International Prizes/Awards/Academy memberships (if applicable)

European Research Council │ 15 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 Indicators of “leadership profile” Content and impact of the major scientific or scholarly contributions of the applicant to his or her own research field and/or neighbouring research fields and, if applicable, their wider societal impact; The international recognition and diffusion that these major contributions have received from others (publications or appropriate equivalents/additional funding/ students/international prizes and awards/ institution- building/other); Ability to productively change research fields and/or to establish new interdisciplinary approaches

European Research Council │ 16 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 ERC Advanced Grant Re-application restrictions  Only one ERC Grant per investigator may be active at any time  One submission may be made to ERC-2008-AdG or ERC-2009-AdG  PIs submitting to ERC-2008-AdG or ERC-2009-AdG and failing quality threshold(s) will not be permitted to apply to ERC-2010-AdG  Additional restrictions on multiple submissions

European Research Council │ 17 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 Re-application AdG AdG1 (2008)AdG2 (2009) AdG3 (2010) AdG 4 (2011) Step 1 + Step 2 + Step 1 + Step 2 + Step 1 -

European Research Council │ 18 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 ERC Calls Indicative Schedule ( ) Work Programme RevisionERC ActionCall openCall Deadline Estimated Call value (€ M) Budgetary yearEvaluation Feb. 2007StG1Winter 06Spring Spring - Autumn 07 Spring 2008 StG2Summer 08Autumn Winter 08 - Spring 09 Spring 2009StG3Summer 09Autumn Winter 09 - Spring 10 Spring 2010StG4Summer 10Autumn Winter 10 - Spring 11 ERC Starting Grant Calls Indicative Schedule Work Programme RevisionERC ActionCall openCall Deadline Estimated Call value (€ M) Budgetary yearEvaluation Oct. 2007AdG1Autumn 07Spring Spring 08 - Autumn 08 Spring 2008AdG2Autumn 08Spring Spring 09 - Autumn 09 Spring 2009AdG3Autumn 09Spring Spring 10 - Autumn 10 Spring 2010AdG4Autumn 10Spring Spring 11 - Autumn 11 ERC Advanced Grant Calls Indicative Schedule

European Research Council │ 19 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 ERC Advanced Grant Lessons learned from StG 1 2.Evaluation  Methodology  Single stage application with 2-step peer review evaluation  Separate indicative budget for interdisciplinary and high risk proposals  Panel structure  25 panels across the 3 domains  Additional panels to take account of uneven demand and improve the boundaries between research areas

European Research Council │ 20 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 ERC Advanced Grant ERC Advanced Grant 1-stage submission / 2-step evaluation Proposals must contain:  CV + 10 year track record + scientific leadership profile + extended synopsis (and “co-investigator(s), if necessary)  Research proposal  Research Environment description Special role (and assessment of co-investigators) in proposals that are anticipated for interdisciplinary research Evaluation:  1 st step: Evaluation of P.I. (with special emphasis on track record/leadership profile/CV) & “Extended Synopsis”  2 nd step: Evaluation of Full Proposal (with referees, no interview)

European Research Council │ 21 Greece, 4-6/02/2008  3 main research domains + interdisciplinary research, with separate indicative budgets: ─Physical Sciences & Engineering (39%) ─Life Sciences (incl. medical) (34%) ─Humanities & Social Sciences (14%) ─Interdisciplinary (13%) ERC Advanced grant Indicative budgets

European Research Council │ 22 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 ERC Advanced Grant Panel structure  Increase panels to 25  Provisionally, each panel consists of the panel chair and ca. 10 panel members  Panel Chair oversees evaluation process for the proposals assigned to his/her panel in collaboration with the ERC staff  The Panel Chair gives high level credibility stamp and visibility to the whole evaluation process

European Research Council │ 23 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 ERC Grant schemes Panels: Interdisciplinary, forward-looking constitution Examples (Panels for ERC Advanced Grant)  SH1: Individuals, institutions and markets:  SH1: Individuals, institutions and markets: economics, finance and management  PE10: Earth system science:  PE10: Earth system science: physical geography, geology, geophysics, meteorology, oceanography, climatology, ecology, global environmental change, biogeochemical cycles, natural resources management  LS5: Evolutionary, population and environmental biology:  LS5: Evolutionary, population and environmental biology: evolution, ecology, animal behaviour, population biology, biodiversity, biogeography, marine biology, ecotoxicology, prokaryotic biology

European Research Council │ 24 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 ERC Advanced Grant Submission of Proposals  Early registration (via EPSS)  To provide ERC with indication on number & area of proposals  One-stage electronic submission (only via EPSS)  Full Proposal  Including elements that will be evaluated during the first step

European Research Council │ 25 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 Evaluation Criteria Scientific Excellence is the sole Criterion 1.Quality of Principal Investigator 2.Quality of research project 3.Research Environment and Resources  Referees and panels evaluate and score criteria 1 and 2 numerically, which will result in the ranking of the proposals  Criteria 3 will be considered (step 2) on a "pass/fail" basis and commented but not scored

European Research Council │ 26 Greece, 4-6/02/ Support for monitoring and assessment of the ERC through call for tender and call for proposals:  Assessing the direct and indirect impacts of the ERC  Evaluating the implementation of the “Ideas” programme  Contributing to future ERC policy and initiatives 2.Support to Scientific Council (chairman and vice- chairs) through grants to named beneficiaries Coordination & Support Actions (CSA)

European Research Council │ 27 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 Submission Deadlines ERC-2008-AdG Physical Sciences & Engineering (PE1-PE10): 28/02 Social Sciences & Humanities (SH1-SH6): 18/03 Life Sciences: (LS1-LS9): 22/04 ERC-2008-Suport: 06/03

European Research Council │ 28 Greece, 4-6/02/2008  ERC Work Programme (to be revised in Autumn 2007)  ERC Guide for Applicants (Research Grants plus CSAs)  ERC Grant agreement Other:  ERC Guide for Grant Holders  ERC Guide for Peer Reviewers  ERC Rules on submission, evaluation, selection and award procedures Documentation

European Research Council │ 29 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 Applicants Services ERC National Contact Points inform, raise awareness and provide advice on ERC funding opportunities, application, follow-up ERC helpdesk EPSS helpdesk technical support on electronic proposal submission ERC website:  News Alerthttp://erc.europa.eu

European Research Council │ 30 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 Some preliminary data from the ERC-2007-StG call

European Research Council │ 31 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 ERC-2007-StG Evaluation (Stage 1) Eligibility Check 9167 incoming proposals  8799 eligible  5 withdrawn  368 ineligible Individual assessment 8794 eligible proposals evaluated at first stage  8235 rejected  559 selected (LS=206, PE=251, SH=102)

European Research Council │ 32 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 Time after PhD 87% of PIs received PhD between 4 and 9 years ago Age 36 years in average Gender 24% female applicants (PE: 18%, LS: 21%, SH: 44%) ERC-2007-StG Evaluation (stage 1): some statistics

European Research Council │ 33 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 Domain Number of proposals % of proposals % of budget pre-allocated* Life Sciences Physical Sciences & Engineering25145 Social Sciences & Humanities Total559 ERC-2007-StG Evaluation (stage 1): Distribution over Scientific Domains *Indicative budget (Scientific Council, ERC work programme 2007)

European Research Council │ 34 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 ERC-2007-StG Evaluation (stage 1): Geographical distribution * Based on the total of 559 retained proposal ClusterNumber of proposalsPI residence %Host Institution location % European Union New Member States Associated countries Overseas *

European Research Council │ 35 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 Call closure25/04/2007 Remote evaluations (stage 1)May-June 2007 Panel meetings (stage 1)June-July 2007 Invitation for stage 2July 2007 Letters of rejectionAugust 2007 Submission deadline (stage 2)17/09/2007 Panel meetings & InterviewsOct-Nov 2007 Feedback to applicantsDec 2007-Jan 2008 First ERC Grant agreementsSpring 2008 ERC-2007-StG Timeline

European Research Council │ 36 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 ERC-2007-StG Evaluation: overview M€ available for this call  ~ 250 projects Stage 2 evaluation: ~ 50% will be retained 559 retained proposals representing about 535 M€ Stage 1 evaluation: ~ 6 % retained 8794 proposals evaluated representing about 10 B€ value of requested funding

European Research Council │ 37 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 Number of proposals by evaluation step ineligible 5 withdrawn 8235 rejected 5 not submitted to second stage 2 passed away 1 withdrawn 3 ineligible 131 above threshold, reserve list 117 rejected Submitted stage 1 Evaluated stage 1 Selected stage 1 Selected stage 2 Submitted stage 2 Evaluated stage 2 553

European Research Council │ 38 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 Country of host institution 21 countries Number of proposals by domain and country of host institution (head quarters)

European Research Council │ 39 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 Age Number of PIs by age Average age: 35.5 years

European Research Council │ 40 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 Time after first PhD Number of PIs by number of years after first PhD Average number of years after PhD DomainFemaleMaleTotal Life Sciences Physical Sciences & Engineering 6.2 Social Sciences & Humanities Total6.66.3

European Research Council │ 41 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 Nationality Number of proposals by gender and nationality 32 countries

European Research Council │ 42 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 Country of residence Number of proposals by gender and country of residence 27 countries

European Research Council │ 43 Greece, 4-6/02/ CY Source: Sample 300; The size of the quadrats and arrows indicates the relevance; green=1 person blue=2 persons Intra-European Mobility: Remaining and moving grantholders 0 IL

European Research Council │ 44 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 Australia Repatriation – Moving back to Europe

European Research Council │ 45 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 Interdisciplinarity 1

European Research Council │ 46 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 Interdisciplinarity 2 (cross-panel)

European Research Council │ 47 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 Interdisciplinarity 3 (cross-domain)

European Research Council │ 48 Greece, 4-6/02/2008 Thank you !