(BRUSSELS) – The European Research Council (ERC) announced Thursday the names of 255 outstanding research leaders in Europe set to be awarded ERC Advanced Grants of EUR 625 million.
The funding is amongst the EU’s most prestigious and competitive, providing leading senior researchers with the opportunity to pursue ambitious, curiosity-driven projects that could lead to major scientific breakthroughs. The new grants, worth in total nearly EUR 652 million, are part of the EU’s Horizon Europe programme.
The new grants will support cutting-edge research in a wide range of fields, from life sciences and physical sciences to social sciences and humanities. Examples of questions that will be addressed by the new grantees include how to get rid of harmful chemicals in our bodies; can the protective layer around our heart help fix heart problems; and why do infants learn languages so fast?
The successful candidates proposed to host their projects at universities and research centres in 19 EU Member States and associated countries, notably in Germany (50 grants), France (37) and the Netherlands (23). Among the winners there are Germans (50 researchers), French (31), Britons (28), Italians (22) and citizens of 28 other nations.
The ERC Advanced Grants target established, leading researchers with a proven track-record of significant achievements. In recent years, there has been a steady rise in mid-career researchers (12-17 years post-PhD), who have been successful in the Advanced Grants competitions, with 18% securing grants in this latest round.
The statistics and list of successful candidates are provisional. The EU-UK agreement on the UK’s association to Horizon Europe applies only for calls for proposals implementing the 2024 budget and onwards. For the Advanced Grants and other calls from the 2023 ERC Work Programme, the UK-based applicants who were eligible to apply under the transitional arrangement may receive EU funding only if they transfer their proposed project to an eligible host institution.
List of all selected researchers
Lists of selected researchers by domain: