EU Funding – Horizon Europe ERC Grants
The mission of the European Research Council (ERC) is to encourage the highest quality research in Europe through competitive funding and to support investigator-driven frontier research across all fields. The ERC offers four core grant schemes: Starting Grants, Consolidator Grants, Advanced Grants and Synergy Grants. The ERC is committed to scientific excellence as the sole criterion for the award of its grants.
Dates & Events
Funding Lines
The ERC’s lines of funding comprise of four types of main grants:
- Starting Grants (up to 1,5 Mio. EUR for 5 years): ERC Starting Grants support promising early-career researchers with 2 to 7 years of experience after their PhD.
- Consolidator Grants (up to 2 Mio. EUR for 5 years): ERC Consolidator Grants are aimed at excellent researchers with 7 to 12 years of experience after their PhD.
- Advanced Grants (up to 2,5 Mio. EUR for 5 years): ERC Advanced Grants are awarded to outstanding, established researchers.
- Synergy Grants (up to 10 Mio. EUR for 6 years): ERC Synergy Grants are used to fund ambitious research projects that are too complex for individual researchers and their groups to tackle individually.
Researchers from Heidelberg University have been awarded more than 100 ERC main grants (incl. Bridge Professorships) since 2008.
Overview: ERC Grants at Heidelberg University
With its additional Proof of Concept Grant scheme, the ERC helps grantees to explore the innovation potential of their ideas or research results. A Proof of Concept Grant amounts to 150 000 Euro for a period of 18 months.
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Information & Counselling
Research Support
The Heidelberg Research Service in the research division of Heidelberg University assists researchers throughout the entire project process: all phases of application preparation and submission, any contract negotiations needed, project management and project completion.
The Heidelberg Research Service also offers an EU Coordinator Support that provides project-related support for application and implementation of EU joint research projects coordinated at Heidelberg University. This service is, among other funding lines, aimed at ERC Synergy Grants that are coordinated in Heidelberg.
Note: Researchers at Heidelberg University can request initial funding from the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and Arts (MWK) to prepare an application for ERC Grant funding. We can help you with that as well.
In addition, KoWi (European Liaison Office of the German Research Organisations) and the German NCP ERC (National Contact Point European Research Council) also offer information and advice on the ERC and its grants within Horizon Europe.
Information on Heidelberg University relevant for application
To apply for an ERC Grant, certain general information on Heidelberg University is required. You can access this via the following link.