European Commission
Brussels, 22 January 2013
302 top researchers awarded €680 million in EU funding
The European Research Council (ERC)
is awarding €680 million to 302 senior research leaders in 24 different
countries across Europe, in the latest competition for its prestigious
'Advanced Grants'. With up to €2.5 million per project, the funding
allows these scientists to pursue their most ground-breaking ideas at
the frontiers of knowledge together with their own teams. The projects
selected cover a wide range of topics. A scientist and his team in
France will develop new models to explain certain physical phenomena
like superconductivity A team based in Latvia will bring together
computer science, physics and mathematics to assess the advantages and
limits of quantum devices. Another grant goes to a researcher in Italy
who will look at how economic actors form and change their beliefs about
their environment and about each other, by adding emotional and
psychological features to the existing models.
Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn said: "The
ERC continues to identify the very best researchers. ERC funding is
leading to an increasing number of scientific breakthroughs and
discoveries, as well as more publications in recognised scientific
journals. Promoting frontier research at the highest level is vital for
Europe's competitiveness, and this is why we have proposed to increase
the ERC budget as part of our Horizon 2020 programme."
In this Advanced Grant competition,
some 2,300 applications were submitted to the ERC, which is a slight
rise from that of the last year (4.5%). The call budget of €680 million
also saw a minor increase. The number of researchers selected for
funding rose slightly, from 294 to 302, while the rate of successful
applications remains steady at 13%. Advanced grants are awarded to
well-established top researchers of any nationality or age, who are
scientifically independent and with a recent research track-record and a
profile which identifies them as leaders in their respective field(s).
Background
ERC grants target top researchers
of any nationality who are based in, or willing to move to Europe. In
this Advanced Grant call, the selected candidates hold 32 different
nationalities, with British, German, French, Dutch and Italian
researchers being the most numerous. They will conduct their research
projects in over 160 institutions across 24 different European
countries. As the largest countries in the EU, the UK, France and
Germany host the greatest number of successful candidates. However,
relative to population size the most successful researchers are based in
the Netherlands, Denmark, UK and Cyprus of the EU countries, and
Switzerland and Israel of the countries associated with the EU research
programme. This reflects the high quality of the research in these
countries, which generally follows from long-term investment in
research.
Of the senior scientists receiving
grants in this call, 11 applied from outside the European Research Area
(EU Member States plus countries associated to the Framework Programme
for Research). This is an increase from the last Advanced Grant call.
The majority are Europeans returning to their home countries; most were
based in the United States, one in Canada and one in Lebanon. There are
three Americans amongst the selected scientists moving from the US to
carry out their ERC-funded research at a Host Institution in Europe. In
addition, 21 of the selected researchers hold a non-European
nationality, but were already based in Europe.
Just over 15% of selected
researchers are women, which is a rise from last year's 12%. The average
age of the researchers to be funded is 51 years.
In this call, 45% of selected
proposals were in the 'Physical Science and Engineering' domain, 37% in
'Life Sciences', and 18% in 'Social Sciences and Humanities'. The
grantees were selected through peer review evaluation by 25 panels
composed of renowned scientists from around the world.
Set up in 2007 by the EU, the
European Research Council is the first pan-European funding organisation
for frontier research. The ERC, which is the newest, pioneering
component of the EU's Seventh Research Framework Programme ('Ideas'
Specific Programme), has a total budget of €7.5 billion from 2007 to
2013. The European Commission has proposed a significant boost of the
ERC budget to over € 13 billion in the new framework programme "Horizon
2020" (2014-2020).
For more information
ERC website:
Horizon 2020:
Contacts :
Michael Jennings (+32 2 296 33 88)
Monika Wcislo (+32 2 298 65 95)
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