European Research Council
The European Research Council
Prof. Alain Peyraube
European Research Council
Scientific Council
ERC visit to Brazil
11-18 May, 2010
European Research Council
FP7 (EC)
 7th Framework Programme (FP7) 50.52 Billion Euros, 4
Specific Programs
 “Family” of FP7 Specific Programmes

Co-operation 33 B Euros (8 priorities)

Ideas 7.5 B Euros = ERC

People 5 B Euros (Marie Curie fellowships)

Capacities 4 B Euros (Infrastructures, etc.)
 Ideas: complementary to other FP7 support
policy vs. science-driven, bottom-up vs. targeted research
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European Research Council
The Agency
 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 financial aspects
and follow-up of grant agreements
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European Research Council
The Scientific Council
Members & Role
22 most respected researchers reflecting the full scope of
European research and scholarship
 proposed by an independent
identification committee
 appointed by the Commission
(for 4 years, renewable once)
Role:
 Establishes overall scientific strategy
establishes annual work programmes (incl. calls for proposals, evaluation criteria);
defines peer review methodology; ensures selection and accreditation of experts
 Controls quality of operations and management
 Ensures communication with the scientific community
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Strategic Aims
European Research Council
Overview
• ERC : first pan-European funding agency for
frontier research
• Funding directed to individual teams and
projects selected solely on the criteria of
excellence
• Operates according to the principles of
scientific excellence, autonomy, efficiency
and transparency
 Autonomous scientific governance
 Simple, user-friendly delivery
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ERC Grants: Open to individual teams
anywhere in the world
European Research Council
• ERC is the only component of the FP7-family to
widely open its programs and schemes to
individual teams anywhere in the world,
• under only one condition, i.e. that funded projects
will have to be located in EU or its associated
countries
• Thus, PIs and team members can be of any
nationality, working in almost any country
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European Research Council
Two types of Grants
• ERC Starting Grants, supporting excellent early
stage independent investigators (2-9 years since
completion of PhD) – 2007 and 2009
• ERC Advanced Grants, supporting investigators at
all subsequent stages – 2008 and 2010
• Hosting institution
 Located in a EU Member State or Associated Country
 Intra-European grant portability allowed
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European Research Council
ERC Grant schemes
Budget Allocation
 For operational reasons the ScC agreed on 3 main
research domains:
─ Domain 1: Mathematics, Physical Sciences,
Information and Communication, Engineering
Sciences, Universe and Earth Sciences (PE)
─ Domain 2: Life Sciences (LS)
─ Domain 3: Social Sciences and Humanities (SH)
 Pre-allocation of call budget for ERC Grants per domain
currently as follows: 45% PE - 40% LS - 15% SH
 Now : 39% PE – 34% LS – 14% SH + 13% Interdisc.
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ERC Grant schemes
European Research Council
Panel Structure
 Panels have one Panel Chair and 10-12 Panel Members, all
selected by the Scientific Council members
 20 Panels for the 1st Call : 8 PE, 7 LS, 5 SH
 25 Panels now: 10 PE, 9 LS, 6 SH
 Panel Chair oversees evaluation process for the proposals
assigned to his/her Panel in collaboration with ERC staff
 Panel Chair gives high level stamp of credibility and visibility
to the whole evaluation process
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European Research Council
Panels composition
• Panel Members and Chairs
 Make decisions and document the decisions
• Panel chairs
 Ensure quality of the evaluation process
 Chair panel meetings (steps 1 & 2)
 Participate in panel chair meetings
• ERC Panel Teams (2 Scientific Officers)
 Ensure that rules are respected
 Ensure comparable process is followed in all panels
 Transition: composed of ERC staff and RTD
colleagues
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European Research Council
Evaluation criteria
1. Principal Investigator
2. Research Project
3. Research Environment
Step 1 of evaluation  criteria 1 and 2
Step 2 of evaluation  all criteria


Referees and panels evaluate and score criteria 1 and 2 numerically,
which will result in the ranking of the proposals
Criteria 3 will be considered as "pass/fail" and commented upon but
not scored
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European Research Council
Co-investigators
•
•
•
•
•
•
Exceptional
For interdisciplinary proposals only
PI can include 1 or more co-investigators (co-I)
Co-I submitted to same resubmission rule as PI
Higher budget (up to 3,5 M€)
Scientific added value of including co-investigators to be
assessed by panel
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New Panel structure and description
PE (18 March 2008)
European Research Council
• PE1 Mathematical foundations: all areas of mathematics, pure and
applied, plus mathematical foundations of computer science,
mathematical physics and statistics
• PE2 Fundamental constituents of matter: particle, nuclear, plasma,
atomic, molecular, gas, and optical physics
• PE3 Condensed matter physics: structure, electronic properties,
fluids, nanosciences
• PE4 Physical and analytical chemical sciences: analytical
chemistry, chemical theory, physical chemistry/chemical physics
• PE5 Materials and synthesis: materials synthesis, structureproperties relations, functional and advanced materials, molecular
architecture, organic chemistry
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New Panel structure and description
PE (18 March 2008) - 2
European Research Council
• PE6 Computer science and informatics: informatics and information
systems, computer science, scientific computing, intelligent systems
• PE7 Systems and communication engineering: electronic,
communication, optical and systems engineering
• PE8 Products and processes engineering: product design, process
design and control, construction methods, civil engineering, energy
systems, material engineering
• PE9 Universe sciences: astro-physics/chemistry/biology; solar
system; stellar, galactic and extragalactic astronomy, planetary
systems, cosmology, space science, instrumentation
• PE10 Earth system science: physical geography, geology,
geophysics, meteorology, oceanography, climatology, ecology, global
environmental change, biogeochemical cycles, natural resources
management
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New Panel structure and description
LS (18 March 2008)
European Research Council
• LS1 Molecular and Structural Biology and Biochemistry: molecular
biology, biochemistry, biophysics, structural biology, biochemistry of
signal transduction
• LS2 Genetics, Genomics, Bioinformatics and Systems Biology:
genetics, population genetics, molecular genetics, genomics,
transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, bioinformatics,
computational biology, biostatistics, biological modelling and
simulation, systems biology, genetic epidemiology
• LS3 Cellular and Developmental Biology: cell biology, cell
physiology, signal transduction, organogenesis, evolution and
development, developmental genetics, pattern formation in plants and
animals
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New Panel structure and description
LS (18 March 2008) - 2
European Research Council
• LS4 Physiology, Pathophysiology and Endocrinology: organ
physiology, pathophysiology, endocrinology, metabolism, ageing,
regeneration, tumorigenesis, cardiovascular disease, metabolic
syndrome
• LS5 Neurosciences and neural disorders: neurobiology,
neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, neurochemistry, neuropharmacology,
neuroimaging, systems neuroscience, neurological disorders,
psychiatry
• LS6 Immunity and infection: immunobiology, aetiology of immune
disorders, microbiology, virology, parasitology, global and other
infectious diseases, population dynamics of infectious diseases,
veterinary medicine
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New Panel structure and description
LS (18 March 2008) - 3
European Research Council
• LS7 Diagnostic tools, therapies and public health: aetiology,
diagnosis and treatment of disease, public health, epidemiology,
pharmacology, clinical medicine, regenerative medicine, medical ethics
• LS8 Evolutionary, population and environmental biology:
evolution, ecology, animal behaviour, population biology, biodiversity,
biogeography, marine biology, ecotoxicology, prokaryotic biology
• LS9 Applied life sciences and biotechnology: agricultural, animal,
fishery, forestry and food sciences; biotechnology, chemical biology,
genetic engineering, synthetic biology, industrial biosciences;
environmental biotechnology and remediation
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New Panel structure and description
SH(18 March 2008)
European Research Council
• SH1 Individuals, institutions and markets: economics, finance and
management
• SH2 Institutions, values and beliefs and behaviour: sociology,
social anthropology, political science, law, communication, social
studies of science and technology
• SH3 Environment and society: environmental studies, demography,
social geography, urban and regional studies
• SH4 The Human Mind and its complexity: cognition, psychology,
linguistics, philosophy and education
• SH5 Cultures and cultural production: literature, visual and
performing arts, music, cultural and comparative studies
• SH6 The study of the human past: archaeology, history and memory
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European Research Council
ERC-2007-StG 1
Submission (stage 1): Massive response!
Domain
Number
of
proposals
%
of
proposals
%
of budget
pre-allocated*
Life Sciences
3,396
37,0
40
Physical Sciences & Engineering
4,408
48,1
45
Social Sciences & Humanities
1,363
14,9
15
Total
9,167
*Indicative budget established by ScC (Work programme 2007)
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European Research Council
Country of host institution
for the 9000 proposals
Number of proposals by domain and country of host institution (head quarters)
1600
SH
1400
PE
LS
1200
1000
34 countries
800
600
400
200
0
IT UK DE FR ES NL SE EL BE FI CH IL PL HU PT DK TR AT IE RO NO CZ BG SI CY SK RS HR LT EE LU IS LV MT
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European Research Council
ERC-2007-StG 1
Granted projects
Domain
Number
of
proposals
%
of
proposals
%
of budget
pre-allocated*
Life Sciences
108
36
40
Physical Sciences & Engineering
137
45
45
Social Sciences & Humanities
58
18
15
Total
303
*Indicative budget (Scientific Council, ERC work programme 2007)
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European Research Council
Distribution of the 303 granted
• 303 proposals granted (3.30%): 137
PE (45%), 108 LS (36%), 58 SH (18%)
• Distribution of the 303 by host
institution: 19% UK, 13% FR, 11% DE,
8.5% NL, 8.2% IT, 8% SP, 8% IL
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European Research Council
ERC Advanced Grant 1 - 2008
(ERC Advanced Investigator Researcher Grant)
 Targeting researchers who have already established
their independence as team leaders and are
exceptional leaders in terms of significance of their
research achievements (in the last 10 years)
up to 5 years,
up to € 3,5 million per
grant
~2000 Starting Grants
over 7 years of FP7
(2007-2013)
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European Research Council
ERC Advanced Grant 1
Evaluation Criteria: Excellence is the sole award criterion
1. Principal Investigator
-
Quality of research output/track-record ( 10-year track-record)
Intellectual capacity and creativity ( CV + leadership profile)
2. Research Project
-
Ground-breaking nature of the research
Potential impact
Methodology
3. Research Environment (assessed in Step 2 only)
-
Contribution of the research environment to the project
Contribution of the project to research environment
Participation of other legal entities (if clear/ substantial added value)
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European Research Council
Distribution / Domain - Applications
Domain
Number
of
proposals
%
of
proposals
%
of budget
pre-allocated*
Life Sciences
766
35
34
Physical Sciences & Engineering
997
46
39
Social Sciences & Humanities
404
18
14
Total
2167
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European Research Council
Distribution / Domain - Granted
Domain
Number
of
Proposals
%
of
proposals
%
of budget
pre-allocated*
Life Sciences
84
33.6
34
Physical Sciences & Engineering
117
46.8
39
Social Sciences & Humanities
49
19.6
14
Total
250
+ 29 INTERDISC. (11 PE, 11 LS, 7 SH) = 13% of the
budget = 279 (12.9%)
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European Research Council
Advanced Grant 1 - 2008
Distribution / Host Institution of the granted projects
• 63 UK, 37 FR, 28 CH, 28 DE, 20 IT, 1 NL, 15 IL,
13 SE, 13 ES, …
• PE Domain, out of the 117: 20 UK, 15 FR, 12 CH,
12 IT, 11 DE, 10 NL, 9 IL, 9 SE …
• LS Domain, out of the 84: 18 UK, 11 DE, 11 FR, 9
CH, 5 ES, 5 NL, 4 IT, 4 IL …
• SH Domain, out of the 49: 12 UK, 9 FR, 5 DE, 5
NL, 5 ES, 4 IT, 3 CH …
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European Research Council
ERC Starting Grant 2 - 2009
Submitted and mainlist proposals by domain
Submitted proposals
Mainlist
Life Sciences
927 (37%)
69 (31.5%)
Physical Sciences &
Engineering
1112 (44.4%)
93 (42.5%)
Social Sciences &
Humanities
464 (18.6%)
41 (18.7%)
Interdisciplinary
Domain
16 (7.3%)
∑ = 2503
∑ = 219
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ERC Starting Grant 2009
The 238 granted proposals (9.50%)
European Research Council
• Reserve List : 19 proposals (9 PE, 5 LS, 5
SH) all granted  238 proposals granted :
107 PE, 81 LS, 51 SH
• Distribution by host institution:
43 UK, 31 FR, 28 DE, 18 ES, 17 CH, 17 NL,
15 BE, 15 IT, 15 NL, 14 BE, 14 IL, …
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European Research Council
Advanced Grant 2 - 2009
Number of submitted and short-listed proposals
Submitted proposals
Short List
Life Sciences
512
198
Physical Sciences &
Engineering
736
247
Social Sciences &
Humanities
335
109
Interdisciplinary
research
?
∑ = 1583
∑ = 554
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European Research Council
Main Lists : 236 (14.9%)
•
•
•
•
•
PE : 99 proposals
SH : 42 proposals
LS : 81 proposals
ID : 14 proposals (6  PE, 8  LS, 0  SH)
Host Institution : 58 UK, 34 FR, 31 DE, 29 CH, 16
NL, 15 IT, 15 NL, 12 SE, 11 IL, 10 ES
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European Research Council
Distribution by domain
• The 105 PE : 23 UK, 15 CH, 15 DE, 14 FR, 8 SE,
6 IL, 6 IT, 5 ES, 4 NL, …
• The 89 LS : 21 UK, 15 FR, 13 CH, 12 DE, 6 NL, 5
IT, 4 ES, 3 IL, 3 SE, …
• The 42 SH : 14 UK, 5 FR, 5 NL, 4 DE, 4 IT, 2 IL, 2
NO, 1 AT, 1 CH, 1 ES, 1 IE, 1 HU, 1 SE
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European Research Council
Merci
Thank you
谢谢
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