The European Research Council:
Funding Opportunities in Europe for Creative Minds
from Anywhere in the World
Established by the European Commission
Veronica Beneitez Pinero
ERCEA, PoC Call coordinator
© Art & Build Architect / Montois Partners / credits: S. Brison
After 8 Years of Existence…
Established by the European Commission
 50,000 proposals have been evaluated
 Over 4 300 top researchers funded during FP7 (2007-2013)
 5000th ERC grant agreement signed this month
 65% are at an early-career stage
 65 nationalities represented
 Highly competitive (overall success rate 10%)
 Working in almost 600 different institutions in 32 countries
 Benchmarking effect: impact on national programmes and agencies
│2
ERC Grant Schemes
Established by the European Commission
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
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
│3
ERC Funding Schemes
Who can apply?
Established by the European Commission
• Any nationality, any age or any current
place of work
• In conjunction with a Host Institution
 based in EU or associated countries
 At least 50% of the time spent in EU
or AC
│4
StG/CoG: Eligibility extensions
Established by the European Commission

Maternity leave: 1.5 years per child before or after PhD

Paternity leave: for documented paternity leave taken
before or after the PhD

National service: documented time after PhD

long-term illness: documented time after PhD

Clinical training: MD date plus 2 years (+ proof of
doctoral equivalency)
StG/CoG Applicants: MD versus PhD
Established by the European Commission
• The date of the first degree that makes the
applicant eligible that takes precedence.
 To try and ensure that those with comparable
research experience are evaluated in the same
group.
│6
StG/CoG Applicants with MDs
Established by the European Commission
For applicants holding both an MD and a PhD :
• MD takes precedence over PhD only when the applicant
has held an appointment that requires a doctoral equivalency
(e.g. post-doctoral fellowship, professorship appointment)
before the PhD award date.
• Proof of completion of clinical training: does not make an
MD applicant eligible.
• Clinical training: counts as reason for extension of the
eligibility window.
│7
Submission to Panels
Panel structure: 3 domains and 25 panels
Established by the European Commission
 Proposals are submitted to a Panel of PI's choice
 Can flag one “Secondary Review Panel”
 PI should explain the interdisciplinary nature of the proposal
 Transfer of proposals between panels may occur if
 clear mistake on part of applicant
 necessary expertise is available in a different panel
 But: In case of proposals spanning more than one panel or domain,
evaluation by members of other panels possible
│8
Evaluation of proposals: review
procedure
Established by the European Commission
STEP 1
STEP 2
Remote assessment by Panel members
of section 1 – PI and synopsis
Remote assessment by Panel members
and reviewers of full proposals
Panel meeting
Panel meeting + interview (StG and CoG)
Score:
Score:
B or C
Proposals retained
for step 2:
Score A
Ranked list of
proposals:
Score A
B
│9
Evaluation of proposals: review
procedure
Established by the European Commission
STEP 1
STEP 2
Remote assessment by Panel members
of section 1 – PI and synopsis
Remote assessment by Panel members
and reviewers of full proposals
Panel meeting
Panel meeting + interview (StG and CoG)
Score:
Score:
B or C
Proposals retained
for step 2:
Score A
Ranked list of
proposals:
Score A
B
│ 10
2016 Calls : New Features
Changes in the Proposal Templates
• Part
Established by the European Commission
B1 and Part B2 : References no longer count
towards the page limits.
• Part B2 : Budget table - applicants are asked to indicate
the % of working time that they will spend in an EU
Member State or Associated Country during the period of
the grant.
│ 11
2016 Calls : New Features
Restrictions of reapplications
Established by the European Commission
Increasing number of applications results in low success
rates and high panel workload
•
•
Applicants with a B at Step 1 will have to wait
out one year
Applicants with a C will have to wait out two
years
Questions to ask yourself as an applicant
Established by the European Commission
 Am I internationally competitive?
 Does my proposal promise to go substantially beyond the state of the
art? (Are your competitors doing the same/similar research?)
 Is it high risk/high gain? Think BIG!
 Do I have a plan B (when necessary)?
 Why am I the best/only person to carry it out?
 Do I have preliminary results? Is it feasible?
 Is it timely? (Why wasn't it done already?)
│ 13
Points to emphasize
Established by the European Commission

Ambitious / risky / innovative project

Innovative aspects clearly presented

Two level of readings: generalists and experts

Methodology (how?, when?...)

Intermediate steps/ alternatives in case of failure
14
Submission of Proposals
Differences in Part B1 and Part B2
Established by the European Commission
In Step 1: Panel members see only Part B1 of your proposal and are
expected to act as generalists:
 Pay particular attention to the ground-breaking nature of the research
project – no incremental research. State-of-the-art is not enough. Think
big!
 Know your competitors – what is the state of play and why is your idea
and scientific approach outstanding?
 Only the extended Synopsis is read at Step 1: concise and clear
presentation is crucial (evaluators are not necessarily all experts in the
field)
 Outline of the methodological approach (feasibility)
 Show your scientific leadership in your CV (model CV provided in the
part B1 template)
│ 15
Submission of Proposals
Differences in Part B1 and Part B2
Established by the European Commission
 In Step 2: Both Part B1 and B2 are assessed by internal
panel members and sent to specialists around the world
(specialised external referees)

Do not just repeat the synopsis

Provide details on methodology, work plan, selection of case
studies etc. (15 pages)

Check coherency of figures, justify requested resources

Explain involvement/profile of team members

Provide alternative strategies to mitigate risk
│ 16
ERC applications – Budget Tips
Established by the European Commission
 Additional funding: 500 k€ for StG and 750 k€ for CoG
 Budget and cost items: need to be justified and
reasonable in light of the proposal requirements (keep in
mind 25% overhead)
 Check consistency between online budget forms and
part B2 budget table
│ 17
Typical reasons for rejection
Established by the European Commission
Principal investigator
 Insufficient/non-competitive track-record
 Insufficient/non-competitive leadership profile
Proposed project
 Scope: Too narrow  too broad/unfocused
 Incremental research/continuation of previous work
 Work plan/team composition not detailed enough/unclear
 Insufficient risk management
│ 18
Preparing an application
Established by the European Commission
 Register early via the Participants Portal, get familiar with the
submission system and templates and start filling in the forms
 A submitted proposal can be revised until the call deadline by
submitting a new version and overwriting the previous one
 Follow the formatting rules and page limit.
 Download and proof-read the proposal before submitting
 Show to colleagues and friends to check for clarity
│ 19
Projects funded by the ERC
http://erc.europa.eu/erc-funded-projects
Established by the European Commission
Search by:
• Call
• Year
• HI country
20
PoC : Principles
Objective and activities
Established by the European Commission
Objective: The ERC Proof of Concept Grants aim to maximise
the value of the excellent research that the ERC funds, by
funding further work to verify the innovation potential of ideas
arising from ERC funded projects.
What kind of activities that can be financed:
•establishing viability, technical issues and overall direction
•market research
•clarifying IPR strategy
•investigating business opportunities
•Initial expenses for start-up
│ 21
PoC : Principles
Financial contribution and duration
Established by the European Commission
The financial contribution will be up to a maximum of EUR
150 000 for a period of 18 months.
"The ERC expects that normally, proof of concept projects should be
completed within 12 months. However, to allow for those projects that
require more preparation time, projects will be signed for 18 months.
Given this initial flexibility, extensions of the duration of proof of concept
projects may be granted only exceptionally."
The ERC contribution will take the form of the reimbursement of up to
100% of the total eligible and of flat-rate financing of indirect costs of a
maximum of 25% of the total eligible direct costs
│ 22
PoC : Evaluation Process
Established by the European Commission
RECEPTION OF PROPOSALS BY THE ERC
ELIGIBITY
CHECK
REMOTE EVALUATION
EVALUATION RESULTS
COMMUNICATION TO
APPLICANTS
REDRESS
PANEL MEETING
│ 23
PoC : Evaluation Process
Remote Evaluation
Established by the European Commission
•
•
•
•
•
•
Experts are not researchers!!!!
5 reviews/proposal
No discussions between reviewers
Remote
PASS/FAIL mark on each criterion
Succinct explanatory comment for each mark
│ 24
PoC : Evaluation Process
Remote Evaluation
Established by the European Commission
• Not a scientific evaluation of the idea !
• Activities should NOT be
 “aimed at extending the original research or […]
overcoming technical obstacles”.
• Activities should be
 “at the very early stage of turning research outputs into
a commercial or socially valuable proposition”.
│ 25
PoC : Evaluation Process
Remote evaluation
Established by the European Commission
• Only the material that is presented within this
limit will be evaluated !!
│ 26
How to write a good PoC
proposal
• Read carefully the reference documents:
• Work programme
• Information for applicants
• (everything can be found on the
participant portal)
• Talk to existing PoC grantees in your institution:
• Did they get external help?
• Why did they failed?
• Look at the list of PoC Grantees published on ERC
website. Talk to them!
PoC : How to write Part B
Criterium 1 Excellence-Tips
Established by the European Commission
Try to answer the following questions:
•
•
•
•
State the expected output of you project. Why is your
proposal innovative?
If you are going to improve a product,method,
process…. how will you do it?
Shortly mention how is it done today and how will your
project will do it better.
Do you know the state of the art in the industry
sector?! Find out!
│ 28
PoC : How to write Part B
Criterium 2 Impact -Tips
Established by the European Commission
• Answer the first three questions (Compulsory):
• Impact: who will benefit form your idea? Why? Name your
final users
• Generation of financial of social profit: We don't expect you
to know how much profit you will made, but at least a
process should be indicated….prove that you have been
thinking about it!
• Market research: PoC will provide funding for further
market research, but an idea on how this will be carried on,
is important. Know your competitors!
│ 29
PoC : How to write Part B
Criterium 3 PoC plan -Tips
Established by the European Commission
•
•
•
•
Present the plan having in mind the technical and the
commercial needs. ( Do not mess it up)
Write a management plan! Do not forget to mention the
risk and contingency!
Don't waste too much space in people's CVs. Make it
short.
Justify the budget items. Subcontracting in PoC is
allowed. Give names of subcontractors ( they will be
deleted later but are important for the evaluation).
│ 30
PoC : How to write Part B
General Tips
Established by the European Commission
• Invest some time on your idea. If you have a good idea
with good innovation potential, the plan can be modified!
• Take a look at the market, try to identify beforehand the
competitors and who will benefit from it.
• Experts also expect external help, you are researchers no
business people!
• Submit your proposal, you will get feedback from experts
• Restriction One proposal a year.
│ 31
Success Rates/Country of Host
Institution in FP7 (2007-2013)
Established by the European Commission
│ 32
*) First legal signatories of the first grant agreement taken into account
H2020 StG 2014
Funded Projects by Country of HI
Established by the European Commission
StG 2014 success rate: 11.7 %
│ 33
H2020 CoG 2014
Funded Projects by Country of HI
Established by the European Commission
CoG 2014 success rate: 15%
│ 34
H2020 StG 2014 and CoG 2014
First submissions vs Resubmissions
Starting Grant 2014
Consolidator Grant 2014
Eligible
submissions
Success
rate
First
submissions
2407
9.6%
Resubmissions
802
3209
Total
Established by the European Commission
Eligible
submissions
Success
rate
First
submissions
1034
9.9%
17.8%
Resubmissions
1454
18.6%
11.7%
Total
2488
15.0%
│ 35
H2020 StG 2013 – 2014
Funded proposals by years past PhD
STG 2013 (300)
Established by the European Commission
STG 2014 (375)
40%
% in category
30%
20%
10%
0%
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
years past PhD on call publication date
10
11
│ 36
H2020 StG 2013 – 2014
Success rates by years passed PhD
STG 2013
Established by the European Commission
STG 2014
20%
success rate
15%
10%
5%
0%
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
years past Phd on call publication date
10
11
│ 37
│ 37
CoG 2014
Funded proposals by age and gender
COG 2014 # funded proposals and success
rates by years past PhD and gender
Established by the European Commission
M (268)
F (104)
F success rate (15.2 %)
M success rate (14.9 %)
# funded proposals
140
100%
90%
120
80%
100
70%
80
60%
50%
60
40%
40
30%
20%
20
10%
0
0%
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
# years past PhD
14
15
16
│ 38
Forthcoming ERC Calls
Established by the European Commission
Budget
Call Publication
Submission
Deadline(s)
ERC-2016-StG
M€
4 August 2015
17 November 2015
Consolidator
Grants
M€
Mid October 2015
2 February 2016
M€
May 2016
1 September 2016
7 August 2015
DL1: 5 Feb. 2015
DL2: 28 May 2015
DL3: 1 Oct. 2015
ERC calls
Starting Grants
ERC-2016-CoG
Advanced Grants
ERC-2016-AdG
Proof of Concept
ERC-2016-PoC
20 M€*
*) full-year budget
│ 39
More information:
Established by the European Commission
Apply via the Participants Portal at (for StG 2016)
http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h20
20/calls/erc-2016-stg.html
Read the Information for Applicants and the Work Programme
erc.europa.eu
To find the National Contact Points in Denmark (NCP)
erc.europa.eu/national-contact-points
Follow us on
EuropeanResearchCouncil
ERC_Research
│ 40
Established by the European Commission
THANK YOU
ANY QUESTIONS?
│ 41
Part B1
template
Established by the European Commission
│ 42
Part B2
template
Established by the European Commission
│ 43
FP7 ERC Proof of Concept
Frontier Research and Innovation
Established by the European Commission
 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
 Up to 150.000 Euro per grant
2011
2012
2013
TOTAL in FP7
Submitted
151
143
292
586
Evaluated*
139
120
279
538
Funded
51
60
67
178
* withdrawn and ineligible proposals not taken into account