The ERC annually launches calls for proposals in three funding schemes: Starting Grants, Consolidator Grants and Advanced Grants. It provides funding opportunities for excellent researchers of any nationality who wish to carry out their research at an institution in Europe.
Along with the work programme, the ERC opened the calls for the „Starting Grants (StG)“ scheme. The "Starting Grants" are designed for excellent young scientists of all nationalities with 2-7 years of experience following their PhD. Deadline for this call is 17 November 2015.
The „Consolidator Grants (CoG)“ call will be open from 15 October 2015 until 2 February 2016. ERC Consolidator Grants support promising researchers who are at the beginning of an independent research career and who are between 7-12 years after achieving their PhD.
The application under the „Advanced Grants (AdG)“ scheme will open next year from 24 May 2016 until 1 September 2016. The call for "Advanced Grants" addresses excellent, established researchers with a research experience of more than 10 years.
The grants are awarded for a period of up to five years with a funding amount of up to 2 million euros for "Starting Grants", 2.75 million euros for „Consolidator Grants“ and up to 3.5 million euros for "Advanced Grants". All schemes are open to researchers of any nationality and any current place of work. However, ERC projects must be carried out at an institution in Europe.
Calls for the funding scheme “Proof of Concept” are set to open on 22 October 2015. This scheme exclusively targets ERC grant holders (StG, CoG or AdG) who seek to establish the innovation potential of ideas arising from their ERC-funded projects. Researchers can apply for the deadlines 16 February 2016, 26 May 2016 and 4 October 2016.
Providing advice to applicants
The German National Contact Point ERC, a collaboration between the EU-Bureau of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (EU-Büro des BMBF) and the "European Liaison Office of the German Research Organisations" (Kooperationsstelle EU der Wissenschaftsorganisationen - KoWi), offers its free-of-charge services to any researcher with a (future) host institution in Germany. Besides rendering individual advice to applicants, the NCP ERC also offers workshops and information sessions on ERC in Germany.
Organisations and potential grantees may find information and the NCP ERC event calendar on www.erc-germany.de (in English) or www.nks-erc.de (in German). The NCP team will be happy to answer any questions concerning the application.
