ERC Starting Grants awarded for a total amount of €619M, Franco-British projects honoured [fr]

On 10th January 2022, the European Research Council (ERC) ) announced the results of its first call for proposals under Horizon Europe, the European Union’s research and innovation programme. 397 young researchers were awarded a "Starting" grant with an average amount of €1.5M, and a total of €619M in funding.

The funded projects cover a very wide range of research areas, divided into three categories: Physical Sciences and Engineering, Life Sciences et Social Sciences and Humanities. 43% of the projects are led by female researchers, an increase of 6 points compared to the previous 2020 funding round (37%).

Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth welcomes the fact that “the European Research Council remains a flagship for excellent and curiosity-driven science" and is " looking forward to seeing what new breakthroughs and opportunities the new ERC laureates will bring, and how they will inspire young people to follow their curiosity and make discoveries for the benefit of us all."

Within the overall multiannual Horizon Europe envelope of €95.5 billion , the ERC budget for the period 2021-2027 represents €16 billion. These funds will be awarded in three types of grants of up to €2.5M: "Starting" (2-7 years after the PhD), "Consolidator" (7-12 years after the PhD) and "Advanced" (senior researchers), via annual calls for proposals.

The ERC and French-British cooperation

Of the 397 grants announced on January 10th, 53 were awarded to projects led by French institutions (including 26 by the CNRS), and 46 to British institutions.

Some of the awarded projects are also collaborations between France and the UK: one example is the HERALD project (Pnictogen-based semiconductors for Harvesting EneRgy from Ambiant Light to power autonomous Devices) led by Dr Robert Hoye of Imperial College, in collaboration with CNRS, Cambridge, TUM (Germany), and Jyväskylä (Finland).

However, the question of how selected projects located in the UK will be funded remain uncertain, due to ongoing post-Brexit discussion about the UK’s association to Horizon Europe.

Useful links

To find out more about the UK’s future in Horizon Europe and how it will impact European funding of research projects, Universities UK and UK Science and Innovation Network Network will organise an open webinar entitled "UK association to Horizon Europe: an update" on Tuesday 18th January 2022 (10-11am GMT)
. Information and inscription here

Discover the complete list of 397 awarded grants on the European Commission website.

CNRS press release

Imperial College press release