Call for proposals

Horizon 2020, Excellent Science, "ERC Consolidator Grant" - ERC-2018-COG

 

Objective and description

The European Research Council (ERC) announced the ERC Consolidator Grants for 2018. ERC Consolidator Grants are designed to support excellent Principal Investigators at the career stage at which they may still be consolidating their own independent research team or programme. Applicant Principal Investigators must demonstrate the ground-breaking nature, ambition and feasibility of their scientific proposal.

 

A competitive Consolidator Grant Principal Investigator must have already shown research independence and evidence of maturity.

 

Applications may be made in any field of research.

 

Eligible applicants

Eligible Principal Investigator

 

Principal Investigators may be of any age and nationality and may reside in any country in the world at the time of the application. All Principal Investigators funded through an ERC grants shall spend a minimum of 50% of their total working time in an EU Member State or Associated Country and a minimum of 40% of their total working time on the ERC project.

 

Principal Investigators may submit only one proposal under Work Programme 2018. If multiple submissions are made at different cut-off dates under the Work Programme 2018 only the first eligible proposal will be considered. A Principal Investigator whose proposal was rejected on the grounds of a breach of research integrity in the calls for proposals under Work Programmes 2016 or 2017 may not submit a proposal to the calls for proposals made under Work Programme 2018.

 

The Principal Investigator shall have been awarded their first PhD over 7 and up to 12 years prior to 1 January 2018. The effective elapsed time since the award of the first PhD can be reduced in certain properly documented circumstances.

 

A competitive Consolidator Grant Principal Investigator must have already shown research independence and evidence of maturity, for example by having produced several important publications as main author or without the participation of their PhD supervisor. Applicant Principal Investigators should also be able to demonstrate a promising track record of early achievements appropriate to their research field and career stage, including significant publications (as main author) in major international peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journals, or in the leading international peer-reviewed journals of their respective field. They may also demonstrate a record of invited presentations in well-established international conferences, granted patents, awards, prizes etc.

 

Eligible Host Institution

 

The host institution (Applicant Legal Entity) must engage the Principal Investigator(s) for at least the duration of the project, as defined in the grant agreement. It must either be established in an EU Member State or H2020 Associated Country as a legal entity created under national law, or it may be an International European Interest Organisation (such as CERN, EMBL, etc.), the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) or any other entity created under EU law. Any type of legal entity, public or private, including universities, research organisations and undertakings can host Principal Investigators and their teams.

 

Budget and duration

Consolidator Grants may be awarded up to a maximum of EUR 2.000.000 for a period of 5 years.

 

However, up to an additional EUR 750.000 can be requested in the proposal to cover:

·         eligible "start-up" costs for Principal Investigators moving to the EU or an Associated Country from elsewhere as a consequence of receiving the ERC grant and/or

·         the purchase of major equipment and/or

·         access to large facilities.

 

It is also expected that Principal Investigators will be able to start their project within six months of receiving an invitation letter from the ERC.

 

The indicative budget for this call for 2018 is EUR 550 million.

 

Deadline for proposals’ submission

Proposals are submitted by a single Principal Investigator, who has responsibility for the proposed activities, on behalf of the host institution which is the applicant legal entity.

 

The deadline for submission of proposals is 15 February 2018 at 17:00 Brussels time.

 

Proposal submission is made electronically. Early registration and submission is strongly recommended and should be done as early as possible in advance of the call deadline.

 

Further information

Please find attached the ERC 2018 Work Programme and the Guide for Applicants.

 

More information can be found here:

https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/topics/erc-2018-cog.html and FAQs

 

 

Kind regards,

Flora

 

 

 

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE GREEK TRANSLATION IS PROVIDED AT REQUEST OF ANY INTERESTED MEMBER (based on the decision of 22.12.2016 of the EOC Administrative Council).