1. Gianpietro van de Goor, PhD Deputy Head of Unit “Strategic matters and relations with the ERC Scientific Council” ERC-DIS / European Commission Kalkara/Malta, 11 September 2008 FP7 IDEAS Programme The ERC funding schemes

2. European Research Council │ 2 ERC, “Ideas” and FP7 ERC, “Ideas” and FP7 Main issues  An “integrated structure” with a specific vocation  Independent scientific governance (Scientific Council)  Dedicated Implementation Structure (Executive Agency)  Part of the “family” of FP7 and complementary to other FP7 supports to research  Bottom-up vs targeted research  Individual teams vs consortia  FP7 “Ideas” programme provides funding  Budget (2007-2013) : € 7.51 bn (around 15% of FP7 budget)  Average budget: € ~1 bn per year

3. European Research Council │ 3 ERC Grant schemes ERC Grant schemes Strategic principles  All fields of science and scholarship are eligible  Investigator-driven, bottom-up  Excellence is the only valid criterion  Individual team + research project  Investment in research talent  Attractive, flexible grants, up to five years  Under control of the lead researcher (Principal Investigator)  Independent individual teams in Europe  Nationality and Age of researchers is not relevant  Host organisation to be located in EU or AS

4. European Research Council │ 4 A new understanding of fundamental, forward-looking research avoiding distinctions  between “basic” and “applied” research  between “science” and “technology”  relying on “traditional” disciplines The term “Frontier research” reflects  going beyond these categories  critical importance of fundamental research in S&T  risk-taking nature of research at and beyond the frontiers of knowledge (adventurous/pioneering, novel/original, ambitious/innovative, high-risk/high-impact)  fluidity of disciplinary boundaries ERC Grant schemes Frontier research - A different understanding of basic research

5. European Research Council │ 5 ERC Grant schemes ERC Grant schemes 3R and 2 schemes Aim: Retain – Repatriate – Recruit  Favour “brain gain” and “reverse brain drain”  improve career opportunities and independence - especially for young researchers  increase competition, recognition and international visibility - for excellent individual scientists and scholars in Europe  Raise aspiration and achievement of basic research in Europe 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

6. European Research Council │ 6 ERC Grant schemes ERC Grant schemes Who can apply? – General requirements 1.Principal Investigator Nationality, age or current place of work not relevant 2.Host organisation To be located in MS or AS 2.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

7. European Research Council │ 7 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  EPSS  Staged Evaluation Procedure  to manage large number of expected applications (almost 9167 proposals received in response to 1st Call for ERC Starting Grant proposals)  Panel-based international peer review process  Scientific Council selects panels and peer reviewers  Panels assess and select proposals

8. European Research Council │ 8 ERC Grant schemes Calls and Budget 2006 – 2011 (prospective schedule)

9. European Research Council │ 9  ERC covers all fields of science, engineering and scholarship  For operational reasons the ScC agreed on 3 main research domains + 1 horizontal domain:  Physical Sciences & Engineering – 10 Panels  Life Sciences (incl. medical) – 9 Panels  Humanities & Social Sciences – 6 Panels  Interdisciplinary Research (cross-panel / cross- domain) – Panel Chairs  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 3 + 1 areas

10. European Research Council │ 10 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  Threshold ≥ 2 per criterion Criteria under Heading 3 will be considered as "pass/fail" and commented but not scored

11. European Research Council │ 11 ERC Grant Schemes Peer Review Evaluation Panels  25(20) Panels covering all fields of science, technology and scholarship  3 sets of Panels: 1 StG Panels, 2 AdG Panels  Each Panel consists of the Panel Chair and 10-15 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

12. European Research Council │ 12 ERC Grant Agreement ERC Grant Agreement Concept  Agreement between ERC and Principal Investigator’s (PI’s) hosting organisation (beneficiary) 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  Single grant holder approach PI and members from same organisation But: multi-partner/multi-national teams are possible