European Research Council
FP7 IDEAS Programme
The European Research Council
“ERC goes global” campaign
Prof Donald Dingwell
ERC Secretary General
Visit to Argentina
January 2013
ERC EA Unit A1 Support to the Scientific Council
European Research Council
The European Research Council
What is ERC
European Research Council
What is ERC?
The ERC supports excellence in frontier research through
a bottom-up, individual-based, pan-European competition
Legislation
Scientific governance: independent Scientific Council
with 22 members; full authority over funding strategy
Support by the ERC Executive Agency (autonomous)
Excellence as the only criterion
Strategy
Budget: € 7.5billion (2007-2013) - 1.1 billion €/year
Support for the individual scientist – no networks!
Global peer-review
No predetermined subjects (bottom-up)
Support of frontier research in all fields of science
and humanities
│2
European Research Council
FP7 budget € 50.5 billion
ERC budget € 7.5 billion; Increase by € 250 M/year
People
(9 %)
Ideas
(15 %)
Co-operation
(65 %)
1800
23.4%
21.6%
1500
1200
17.8%
900
15.1%
600
10.8%
7.3%
300
4%
0
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
Million Euro
JRC nonnuclear (3 %)
Capacities
(8 %)
European Research Council
ERC Structure
The European Commission
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Provides financing through the EU framework programmes
Guarantees autonomy of the ERC
Assures the integrity and accountability of the ERC
Adopts annual work programmes as established by
the Scientific Council
The ERC Scientific Council
•
22 prominent researchers proposed by an independent
identification committee
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Appointed by the Commission (4 years, renewable once)
Establishes overall scientific strategy; annual work programmes
(incl. calls for proposals, evaluation criteria); peer review methodology;
selection and accreditation of experts
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Controls quality of operations and management
Ensures communication with the scientific community
The ERC Executive Agency
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Executes annual work programme as established by the Scientific Council
Implements calls for proposals and provides information and support to applicants
Organises peer review evaluation
Establishes and manages grant agreements
Administers scientific and financial aspects and follow-up of grant agreements
Carries out communications activities and ensures information dissemination
to ERC stakeholders
European Research Council
ERC Scientific Council Members
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Prof. Claudio BORDIGNON (Medicine)
Prof. Nicholas CANNY, (History)
Prof. Don Dingwell
Prof. Sierd A.P.L. CLOETINGH (Earth Sciences)
ERC Secretary General
Prof. Mathias DEWATRIPONT (Economics)
Prof. Tomasz DIETL (Physics)
Prof. Daniel DOLEV (Computer Sciences)
Prof. Carlos M. DUARTE (Biology)
Prof. Daniel ESTEVE (Physics)
Prof. Pavel EXNER (Applied Mathematics & Mathematical Physics), ERC Vice President
Prof. Hans-Joachim FREUND (Physics & Physical Chemistry)
Prof. Carl-Henrik HELDIN (Molecular Cell Biology), ERC Vice President
Prof. Timothy HUNT (Biology)
Prof. Norbert KROO (Physics)
Prof. Maria Teresa LAGO (Astrophysics)
Prof. Henrietta L. MOORE (Social Anthropology)
Prof. Helga NOWOTNY (Science and Technology Studies), ERC President
Prof. Christiane NÜSSLEIN-VOLHARD (Genetics)
Prof. Alain PEYRAUBE (Linguistics)
Dr. Jens ROSTRUP-NIELSEN (Chemistry)
Prof. Mart SAARMA (Biology)
Prof. Anna TRAMONTANO (Biochemistry)
Prof. Isabelle VERNOS (Molecular and Cell Biology)
After 5 years of existence…
A success story
European Research Council
 Highly recognised by the research community
 ~3 000 top researchers funded (65% are at an early-career
stage); 56 nationalities represented
 Working in >500 different institutions in 27 countries
 Highly competitive (average success rate 12%)
 50% of grantees in 50 institutions; “Excellence attracts
excellence”
 Benchmarking effect, e.g. pan-European competition
among researchers; EU value added
 Efficient and fast grant management
│7
Future perspectives
HORIZON 2020
European Research Council
 HORIZON 2020 structure:
 Excellence Science
 Industrial leadership
 Societal challenges
 EIT
 JRC
 Excellent Science: reinforcing and extending the excellence of the
EU’s science base and consolidating ERA to make EU’s R&I system
more competitive on a global scale




European Research Council (budget proposal under H2020: € 15 billion)
Future and Emerging Technologies
Marie Curie
Research Infrastructures
│8
European Research Council
The European Research Council
ERC Grant schemes
European Research Council
ERC Grant schemes
Starting Grants
Consolidator Grants
starters
(2-7 years after PhD)
up to € 2.0 Mio
for 5 years
consolidators
(7-12 years after PhD)
up to € 2.75 Mio
for 5 years
Synergy Grants
2 – 4 Principal Investigators
up to € 15.0 Mio for 6 years
Advanced Grants
track-record of
significant research
achievements in
the last 10 years
up to € 3.5 Mio
for 5 years
Proof-of-Concept
bridging gap between research - earliest
stage of marketable innovation
up to €150,000 for ERC grant holders
European Research Council
Creative freedom of the individual grantee
ERC offers independence, recognition & visibility
• to work on a research topic of own choice, with a team of own choice
• to gain true financial autonomy for 5 years
• to negotiate with the host institution the best conditions of work
• to attract top team members (EU and non-EU) and collaborators
• to move with the grant to any place in Europe if necessary (portability
of grants)
• to attract additional funding and gain recognition; ERC is a quality
label
│ 11
European Research Council
Attractive features
for researchers from outside Europe
Flexibility:

Additional “start-up” funding for scientists moving to Europe
(EUR 500 000 for Starting and EUR 1 Million for Advanced grantees)

Grantee can keep affiliation with home institute outside Europe
(“significant part” of work time in Europe, at least 50%)


Team members can be based outside Europe
Grantee can move within Europe with the grant
Negotiation:

Several European countries/host institutions assist applicants
and reward grantees with top-up funds or long-term
professorships
European Research Council
ERC funding process
Peer Review Evaluation
Starting, Consolidator and Advanced Grants
Panel Members are appointed by the ERC Scientific Council
 25 Panels covering all fields of science, technology and
scholarship
 3 sets of Panels: StG Panels, CoG Panels, AdG Panels
 Each Panel consists of the Panel Chair
and 10-15 Panel Members
 Panel Chair oversees evaluation process for the proposals
assigned to his/her panel in collaboration with the ERC staff
 Evaluation criteria:
Principal Investigator
Research project
Intellectual capacity and creativity
Commitment
Ground-breaking nature and potential impact
Methodology
│ 13
European Research Council
25 panels for all areas of science
Physical
Sciences
&
Engineering
10 panels
Life
Sciences
9 panels
Mathematics
Fundamental constituents of matter
Condensed matter physics
Physical and analytical chemical sciences
Synthetic chemistry and materials
Computer science and informatics
Systems and communication engineering
Products and processes engineering
Universe sciences
Earth system science
Social Sciences & Humanities
6 panels
Individuals, institutions and markets
Institutions, values, beliefs and
behaviour
Environment, space and population
The Human Mind
Cultures and cultural production
The study of the human past
Molecular and structural biology and biochemistry
Genetics, genomics, bioinformatics and systems biology
Cellular and developmental biology
Physiology, pathophysiology and endocrinology
Neurosciences and neural disorders
Immunity and infection
Diagnostic tools, therapies and public health
Evolutionary, population and environmental biology
Applied life sciences and biotechnology
European Research Council
Submission, evaluation and selection
Starting, Consolidator and Advanced Grants
Submission of
full proposals
Individual assessment of full
proposals by panel members &
referees
Eligibility check
AdG :
2nd Panel
meeting
Step 1 (remote) evaluation on
the basis of section of
proposal* by panel members
StG, CoG:
2nd Panel
meeting incl.
interviews of
applicants
Panel chairs´ meeting
1st Panel meeting
Proposals
passing to step 2
*) Profile of PI, project extended synopsis
Consolidation of 3 main domains
rank lists
Proposals
selected for funding
European Research Council
International participation to proposals evaluation
* Number of instances that experts of a certain country of origin are contributing to the ERC peer review
│ 16
European Research Council
ERC Synergy grant
Speeding up interdisciplinary discovery process
 2012 work programme on a pilot basis
 2 – 4 Principal Investigators; complementary skills,
knowledge & resources; to jointly address frontier research
problems
 Up to €15m for up to six years
 Based on ERC principles (no consortia, no networks):
• bottom-up and risk-taking
• driven by scientific demand
• PIs expected to spend significant “core time” together
• only one Host Institution, but groups not required to be
physically located in the same place
 710 submissions to the first Synergy Call
European Research Council
SyG2012: results overview
• 99 proposals passing to Step 1b after synopsis assessment
• 32 proposals passing to Step 2 after full proposal evaluation
• 4.5% success rate after step 1
•
16 proposals selected for interview in Step 2
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•
•
•
11 proposals selected for funding (5 PE, 4 LS, 2 SH)
20 Host Institutions (7 countries)
38 PIs (10 nationalities)
1.6% success rate for the first Synergy call
│ 18
European Research Council
Frontier research and innovation:
ERC Proof of Concept
 Initiated to help ERC grant-holder to bridge the gap
between their research and the earliest stage of a
marketable innovation
 Supporting grant-holders during the pre-demonstration
2011
2012
 Up to 150.000 Euro per grant
Total applications
151
75
 One step evaluation
Evaluated*
139
60
Funded
51
33
*) withdrawn and ineligible proposals not taken into
account
 First call in Autumn 2011 with 2 deadlines
 Second call in 2012 (deadlines: 3 May and 3 October 2012)
 69 proposals submitted to PoC 2012-2
European Research Council
Invention and innovation process followed
Invention
│ 20
European Research Council
ERC Competitions 2007-2012
Total number of
applications
received
of which
Evaluated*
Funded
success rates**
Starting Grant 2007
9.167
8.787
299
3,4
Starting Grant 2009
2.503
2.392
245
10,2
Starting Grant 2010
2.873
2.767
436
15,8
Starting Grant 2011
4.080
4.005
486
12,1
Starting Grant 2012***
4.741
4.653
536
11,5
23.364
22.604
2.002
10,6
Advanced Grant 2008
2.167
2.034
282
13,9
Advanced Grant 2009
1.584
1.526
245
16,1
Advanced Grant 2010
2.009
1.967
271
13,8
Advanced Grant 2011
2.284
2.245
301
13,4
Advanced Grant
8.044
7.772
1.099
14,3
Proof of Concept 2011 - 1&2
151
139
51
36,7
Proof of Concept 2012 - 1***
75
60
33
55,0
226
199
84
45,8
Starting Grant
Proof of Concept
* withdrawn and ineligible proposals not taken into account
** percentage of funded proposals in relation to evaluated proposals
*** selected
Data as of 26/09/2012│ 21
European Research Council
The European Research Council
International participation
Evaluated proposals from researchers
with non-ERA* nationality
European Research Council
ERC Starting Grant calls 2009 – 2013
* ERA = European Research Area
*) all submitted for StG2013
Evaluated proposals from researchers
with non-ERA* nationality
European Research Council
ERC Advanced Grant calls 2008 – 2013
* ERA = European Research Area
*) all submitted for AdG2013
European Research Council
Participation of South America (evaluated proposals)
ERC Starting grant calls 2007 - 2013
ERC Advanced grant calls 2008 – 2013
6
10
2
47
8
1
1
11
7
54
European Research Council
Applications from South-American researchers
ERC Starting grant calls 2007 - 2013
ERC Advanced grant calls 2008 – 2013
Evaluated applications from nationals of South-American countries
Country* StG calls AdG Calls All ERC calls Life Sci Phys&Eng Soc&Hum
Argentina
40
14
54
15
31
8
Bolivia
1
1
1
Brazil
43
4
47
14
21
12
Chile
10
1
11
5
5
1
Colombia
8
2
10
4
4
2
Ecuador
2
2
1
1
Peru
7
1
8
4
3
1
Paraguay
1
1
1
Uruguay
7
7
3
4
Venezuela
6
6
2
3
1
Total:
125
22
147
48
74
25
Country of Host Institution
UK
ES
FR
DE
CH
PT
IT
NL
Other
Total:
*) nationality as last declared by the principal investigator
Evaluated applications from researchers resident in South-American countries at the time of application
Country
StG calls AdG Calls All ERC calls
Argentina
2
1
3
Brazil
4
1
5
Chile
4
4
Colombia
1
1
Peru
1
1
Total:
12
2
14
3 Argentinian nationals
resident in Argentina at
the time of application
34
29
23
17
7
7
6
5
19
147
European Research Council
ERC grantees with a non-ERA nationality
ERC Starting Grant calls 2007-2012
ERC Advanced Grant calls 2008 – 2011
60
Number of Grantees
50
Starting
grants
40
Advanced
grants
TOTAL number of grantees with non-ERA nationality :
153 StG and 58 AdG
30
20
10
0
USA
Australia
Russia
Canada
India
Japan
Argentina
China
Ukraine
Others
Starting
grants
53
14
14
12
12
11
7
7
7
16
Advanced
grants
41
3
3
5
0
0
0
0
0
6
Nationality
*) nationality as last declared by the principal investigator
Data as of 26/09/2012
European Research Council
Grantees with South-American nationality
ERC Starting Calls 2007 – 2012
ERC Advanced Calls 2008 - 2011
European Research Council
ERC Grants – examples
Dr German SUMBRE
ERC Starting Grant
National Institute of Health and Medical Research
(Inserm) - FRANCE
Sensory perception: neural representation
and modulation
© Inserm
The project is trying to uncover the neural processes underlying sensory perception,
contributing to the understanding of neurological disorders. It aims to test the hypothesis that
perception results as a consequence of the interaction between the dynamic internal state of
the brain and the activity evoked by sensory experience. The project is using zebra-fish larva
as the experimental model.
Prof Sebastian UCHITEL
ERC Starting Grant
Imperial College London - UK
Partial Behaviour Modelling: A Foundation for
Incremental and Iterative Model-Based
Software Engineering
Software systems are amenable to analysis
through the construction of behaviour
models. The aim of this project is to shift the
focus from traditional behaviour models to
partial behaviour models that are capable of
distinguishing known behaviour from
unknown behaviour that is yet to be elicited.
European Research Council
Few grantees from outside ERA
Mainly researchers moving/returning from the US
Country of residence
Argentina
Australia
Brazil
Canada
India
Japan
International grantees
1
1
1
1
2
1
Korea
USA
Total
16
23
ERA nationals
2
1
1
1
54
59
Total
1
3
1
2
2
2
1
70
82
Note: Researchers residing outside the European Research Area at the time of application
European Research Council
Team members: internationalisation
Breakdown by nationality (97)
(sample of 636 Starting and Advanced projects)
EU: 69%
Assoc. Countries: 11%
non-ERA: 17%
Unknown: 3%
Non-ERA researches come mostly from China, US, India, and Russia
European Research Council
Non-ERA nationalities among team members
Non-ERA researchers represent 17% of all team members (without PIs)
in the sample of 636 ERC projects
661 Non-ERA researches among the 3,845 team members
Attracting excellent researchers worldwide
European Research Council
”ERC goes global” campaign
targeting top and emerging research locations
Canada
Russia
Feb.2012
US West Coast
Sept.2012
China
US East Coast
2013
US Texas & Mexico
Japan , S.-Korea, Taiwan,
Hong Kong
July 2012
2013
2013
India
2013
2013
Brazil, Chile
May 2012
South Africa
Chile, Argentina
2013
March 2012
Singapore, Australia,
New Zealand
2013
European Research Council
Global researchers
Example
South African professor
Christopher S. Henshilwood,
appointed Professor of African
Archaeology at the University of
Bergen, Norway in 2007,
received an ERC Advanced Grant
in 2009
ERC Project: “TRACSYMBOLS”
http://tracsymbols.eu/home/
He also holds a complementary
Research Professorship and
Research Chair at the
University of the Witwatersrand,
South Africa
European Research Council
NCPs in non-ERA countries
Non-ERA NCPs established as a result of the global campaign
Other non-ERA NCP's
*provisional NCP; official NCP tba
** In the process of being officially
nominated
│ 35
European Research Council
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