RESEARCH GRANTS &
CONTRACTS OFFICE
Horizon 2020 – European Research Council &
Marie Sklodowska-Curie
Juan Vidal
SUMMARY
Overview of Horizon 2020
 European Research Council
 Marie Sklodowska-Curie
 Where to find more information on Horizon 2020

OVERVIEW OF HORIZON 2020
WHAT IS HORIZON 2020

The European Union’s funding instrument for
research and innovation from 2014-2020



Budget of €70.2 billion
From research to innovation – from basic research to
bringing ideas to the market
Focus on societal challenges EU society is facing (e.g.
health, clean energy, food security, integrated
transport)
HORIZON 2020 STRUCTURE
Excellent
Science
European Research
Council (ERC)
Future and Emerging
Technologies (FET)
Industrial
Leadership
Societal
Challenges
Health and Wellbeing
Leadership in
Enabling and
Industrial
Technologies (LEIT) ICT, KETs, Space
Marie SkłodowskaCurie Actions (MSCA)
Research
Infrastructures
Food security
Transport
Energy
Climate action
Access to Risk Finance
Societies
Innovation in SMEs
Security
Widening Participation; Science with and for Society
EXCELLENT SCIENCE
Total budget €21.6 billion
 Overall objective: “to strengthen the excellence of
European research”
 Mostly operates on a “bottom-up” basis
 Four funding programmes

European Research Council
 Future Emerging Technology


Funds collaborative frontier research
Marie Sklodowska-Curie
 Research Infrastructures


Funding mechanism for Europe-wide infrastructures to
support research
INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP

Main programme under this pillar funds
collaborative top-down research
Leadership in Enabling and Industrial Technologies
(LEIT)
 Risk Financing
 Innovation to SME’s


Focused on applied research and innovation
activities
SOCIETAL CHALLENGES
Challenge
Objectives
Health
Improve lifelong health and wellbeing
Food security
Secure sufficient supplies of safe and high
quality food and other bio-based products
Energy
Transition to a reliable, sustainable and
competitive energy system
Transport
Resource-efficient, environmentally friendly,
safe, seamless, and performing transport
system for the benefit of all citizens, the
economy and society.
Climate and
resources
Resource efficient and climate change resilient
economy and a sustainable supply of raw
materials
Societies
Foster inclusive, innovative and secure
European societies
EUROPEAN RESEARCH COUNCIL
ERC FUNDING SCHEMES 1
Starting Grants
 Consolidator Grants
 Advanced Grants
 Synergy Grants
 Proof of Concept Grants

ERC FUNDING SCHEMES 2
Summary of Main Grant Schemes
Starting
Grant
Consolidator
Grant
Advanced
Grant
Deadline 2014
25 March
20 May
21 October
Budget 2014
(No. grants
awarded)
€485 million
(370)
€713 million
(400)
€450 million
(200)
Deadline 2015
3 February
12 March
2 June
Budget 2015
(No. grants
awarded)
€411 million
(315)
€603 million
(340)
€640 million
(285)
ERC FUNDING SCHEMES 3
Three research domains
 Indicative split between the domains

Physical Science & Engineering 44%
 Life Sciences 39%
 Social Sciences & Humanities 17%

Open to any nationality
 Funding for best “frontier research” – research
excellence the only criteria
 Lead by a single PI, supported by a research
team

ERC ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA 1
Starting Grant
Specific eligibility criteria:
 Principal Investigator shall have been awarded
his/her first PhD
≥ 2 and ≤ 7 years
prior to the publication date of the call for
proposals of the ERC Starting Grant (for 2014
the publication date is 11th December 2013)
ERC ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA 2
Consolidator Grant
Specific eligibility criteria:
 Principal Investigator shall have been awarded
his/her first PhD
> 7 and ≤ 12 years
prior to the publication date of the call for
proposals of the ERC Consolidator Grant (for
2014 the publication date is 11th December 2013)
ERC BUDGETS 1
Eligible costs:
 Principal Investigator’s salary costs
 Cost of senior “researchers” at the College or at
other institutions
 Post-doctoral researchers and other research
staff (such as technicians)
 PhD student stipends
 Direct costs such as equipment, consumables,
travel and subsistence, payments to participants,
field work costs, and open access publication
charges
ERC BUDGETS 2

Will fund 100% of direct costs + 25% indirect
costs, except for sub-contracts (typically audit
fees) which are only funded at 100% of direct
costs i.e.
PI
50,000
PDRA
250,000
Equipment
700,000
Sub-contract (Audit Fees)
5,000
Sub-total
1,005,000
Indirect
250,000
TOTAL ERC Contribution
1,255,000
HOW TO PREPARE AN ERC BID 1
Proposals are submitted via the Research and
Innovation Participants Portal
 http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/de
sktop/en/
 Same portal is used to identify opportunities, and
manage awarded grants
 The bid consists of two main sections – Part A and
the Part B.
 The Part A will consist of a title page with
summary, contact information for the PI and the
College, and a summary budget

HOW TO PREPARE AN ERC BID 2
Part B split into multiple sections
 Cover page



Includes 2000 word summary & if cross-disciplinary,
1000 word justification of the cross-disciplinary
nature
Part B1 consists of:
Extended synopsis: 5 pages – show how proposed
research is ground breaking
 CV: 2 pages
 Funding ID: - list of on-going grants & grant
applications
 Achievement track record: 2 pages

HOW TO PREPARE AN ERC BID 3
Part B2
 Detailed scientific proposal: 15 pages

State of the art objectives
 Methodology
 Resources required (including breakdown &
justification of costs)



Template for starting grant available at:
http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/
h2020/call_ptef/pt/h2020-call-pt-erc-stg_en.pdf
Template for consolidator grants is not available yet
EVALUATION
Two-stage evaluation
 Stage 1 evaluate the extended synopsis and CV
 Stage 2 evaluate the full proposal
 Evaluate both research & PI

Ground breaking nature research
 Scientific approach
 Intellectual capacity and creativity
 Commitment to spending at least 50% on the project
and at least 50% in EU Member state or Associated
Country

MARIE SKLODOWSKA-CURIE
SCHEMES UNDER MARIE SKLODOWSKACURIE
Research and Staff Exchange (RISE)
 Individual Fellowships (IF)
 Innovative Training Networks (ITN)
 Co-funding of regional, national and
international programmes (COFUND)

Deadlines
• RISE 24th April
• ITN 9th April
• IF will be published 12th March for 11th
September deadline
SUMMARY OF RISE
Funds two-way exchanges of staff between
academic and non-academic institutions
 Promotes knowledge exchange, networking and
workshops
 Total budget of €70 million
 Flat rate funding

Top funding for personnel €2,000/person month
 Institution gets €1,000/person month for research,
training and network costs, and €700/person month
for management & indirect costs


30 page proposal – no details available yet on
format of proposal
INNOVATIVE TRAINING NETWORKS

Three types of ITN:
European Training Networks (ETN)
 European Industrial Networks (EIN)
 European Joint Doctorates (EJD)

Total budget for this call €405.18 million, with
€25.5 million allocated to EIN and €30 million
allocated to EJD
 All ITN require the mobility of the Early Career
Researchers
 Projects run for 48 months, and Early Career
Researchers are recruited for between 3 and 36
months

ETN

ETN:
Minimum of 3 beneficiaries in at least 3 different EU
Member States or Associated Countries
 Typically 6 – 10 participants, must involve nonacademic participants
 May apply for maximum of 540 researcher months
per network
 Researchers will typically be enrolled on a PhD

EIN

EIN:
Minimum of 2 participants, 1 academic and 1 nonacademic, located in different EU Member States or
Associated Countries
 Maximum of 540 researcher months for Networks
with more than two participants, otherwise
maximum 180 researcher months
 Researchers must spend 50% of their time at the nonacademic participant, plus up to 30% at other
beneficiaries
 Must be enrolled for a PhD

EJD

EJD:
Minimum of 3 academic participants from 3 different
EU Member States or Associated Countries. Above
this minimum may include participants from any
sector
 May apply for maximum of 540 researcher months
per network
 As a minimum researchers must be enrolled for a
Joint Doctorate
 The network must provide Joint/Double or Multiple
Doctoral Degrees

BUDGET UNDER ITN

Flat rate budget
Monthly living
allowance
Monthly Mobility
Allowance
Monthly Family
Allowance
€3,110*
€600
€500
* Adjusted by country coefficient, so will get €3,741.33/month in UK
Research, Training and
Network Costs
Management and
Indirect costs
€1,800
€1,200
FORMAT OF ITN 1

Part A





General information about the proposal
Data on participating organisations
Budget (in terms of requested researcher months)
Ethics table
Information on partner organisations
FORMAT OF ITN 2

Part B




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
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

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List of Participants
1. Summary
2. Excellence
3. Impact
4. Implementation
Gantt chart
5. Capabilities of the participating organisations
6. Ethical aspects
Letters of commitment
http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/d
oc/call/h2020/h2020-msca-itn-2014/1590152itn_2014_-_guide_for_applicants_1.2_en.pdf
EVALUATION OF ITN
WHERE TO FIND MORE INFORMATION 1
UKRO web-site:
http://www.ukro.ac.uk/Pages/UKRO.aspx
 UKRO subscriber services (regular e-mails on
which EU funding call have been published and
UKRO training sessions for ERC/Marie
Sklodowska-Curie events)
 RGCO web-site:
http://www.bbk.ac.uk/rgco/otherservices/events.s
html
 Funding Opportunities section of the Research &
Innovation Participants Portal:
http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/d
esktop/en/opportunities/index.html

WHERE TO FIND MORE INFORMATION 2
London Higher Workshop & 1:1 Surgeries at
Senate House
 £499 per institution (with a max of 3 people
attending)
