1. Pavel Exner Member of the European Research Council Scientific Council Research Connection Prague, 7 May 2009 FP7 IDEAS Programme The European Research Council … the champions league for research funding in Europe

2. European Research Council 2 Europe can only compete through the knowledge triangle Leadership in Science, the true frontier of our time Investment in excellent people & research is an imperative, not an option for a society which does not want to lose in global competition StG grant Education InnovationResearch

3. European Research Council 3 To become more competitive, Europe must: StG grant Generate, attract & retain top talent Integrate & internationalise our efforts Encourage & trust the young Create attractive career paths Stimulate a continent-wide competition, aChampions League, that sets standards

4. European Research Council 4 by investing in the best researchers & ideas through investigator-driven projects through competition at European level on the basis of scientific excellence as the sole criterion ERC Aim & Strategy: ERC Aim & Strategy: Put Excellence at the Heart of European Science Policy

5. European Research Council 5 ERC Grant schemes ERC Grant schemes 3Rs and 2 schemes Aim: Retain – Repatriate – Recruit Favour brain gain & reverse brain drain improve career opportunities & independence (esp.for the young) increase competition, recognition & international visibility for individual top researchers in Europe Raise aspiration & achievement of basic research in Europe - benchmark for researchers & research systems Activities: 2 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 StG grant

6. European Research Council 6 ERC Grant schemes ERC Grant schemes Who can apply? – General requirements 1.Principal Investigator Nationality / age / current place of work - not relevant 2.Host organisation located in EU member state/ associated country 3.Frontier Research project All fields of science, engineering & scholarship (investigator-driven, bottom-up) Interdisciplinary projects encouraged 4.Individual research team In contrast to other FP7 programmes, ERC puts emphasis on PI who can act alone or as a part of a team, national or international

7. European Research Council 7 All fields of science, engineering & scholarship For operational reasons the ERC ScC agreed on: 3 main research domains + to pre-allocate budget to these domains, incl. a 4th budget area for interdisciplinary research (interdisciplinary proposals which are cross-domain or cross-panel) Physical Sciences & Engineering Life Sciences (incl. medical) Social Sciences & Humanities Interdisciplinary Research The call budgets are 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

8. European Research Council 8 ERC Starting Grant ERC Starting Grant Profile of the PI Any nationality / age Any current place of work – but: working / moving to work in Europe ( EU MS/ AS) 3-8 years after PhD - some career breaks accepted (up to a max 2 years) Potential for research independence & evidence of maturity at least one important publication without participation of PhD supervisor Track-record of early research achievements appropriate to their research field & career stage Starters vs Consolidators First StG call 9167 proposals received - 559 interviews conducted - 299 grants 21 host countries, 32 nationalities, 170 host institutions Average Age: 35 yrs (spans from 28 – 44 yrs) Average Age: 35 yrs (spans from 28 – 44 yrs) Average post-PhD experience: 6-7 yrs Average post-PhD experience: 6-7 yrs Average grant size: 1.1 Mio. Average grant size: 1.1 Mio. Gender: 26% women (varying from 12-71% across the different panels) Gender: 26% women (varying from 12-71% across the different panels)

9. European Research Council 9 ERC Advanced Grant ERC Advanced Grant Profile of the PI Same as for StG (Any nationality / age / current place of work + working / moving to work in Europe) and Strong leadership profile (impact, recognition) Excellent track record (in recent years, achievements no older than 10 years) First AdG call First AdG call 2167 proposals received - 280 grants Average Age: 51 yrs (spans from 36 - 76yrs) Average post-PhD experience: 23 yrs Average requested grant: PE-1.9 M, LS-2.1 M, SH-1.7M Gender: 14% women (varying from 3 - 29% across panels)

10. European Research Council 10 Complementarity of StG & AdG Complementarity of StG & AdG Academic Age of Grantees (Years after PhD) No PhD: 15 men, AdG-08

11. European Research Council 11 Repatriation and Recruitment Repatriation and Recruitment Grantees moving to Europe from overseas Starting Grant 2007 Advanced Grant 2008 ArgentinaJapanAustralia

12. European Research Council 12 Visibility of Frontier Research in Europe Grantees and host institutions in the media StG grant

13. European Research Council 13 ERC / National Funding Organisations Interactions Complementarity and synergies NFO responsible for building up excellence in the national research community (National League) ERC responsible for building up excellence across Europe without regard to nationality (European Champions League) ERC as benchmark/indicator for excellence in frontier research NFOs annual budget: ca 20 bn in total (DFG: 1733,8 Mio, NSF: 6430 Mio, SNF: 295 Mio, NWO: 385Mio) ERC annual budget: ca 1.1bn in average (for 2007-2013) Mutual support and cooperation National support for StG runners-up (CH, IT, SE, FR, CY, AT, Flanders, HU, ES, NO, …), or extras to winners (Poland) NFO collaborate on expert level, other ways are sought StG grant

14. European Research Council 14 Thank you!