Frequently asked questions

For the ERC Starting Grant 2023 (ERC-2023-STG) call, the applicant must choose and indicate the most relevant ERC Panel (‘primary evaluation panel’) for the evaluation of the proposed research and indicate one or more ERC keywords representing the research fields involved. Applicants may also indicate a secondary evaluation relevant panel. They should indicate when they believe that their proposal is of a cross-panel or cross-domain nature. Further explanations can be found in the Information for Applicants to the Starting and Consolidator Grant calls 2023. The primary panel structure is also indicated in Annex 1 to the ERC Work Programme 2023.

All Work Programmes evaluate the quality of open science practices under the “excellence” and “quality and efficiency of the implementation” award criteria, except the European Research Council (ERC) which does not explicitly include open science in the evaluation.

Note that the open science obligations set by the Model Grant Agreement (Article 17) do however also apply to the ERC grants, with the exception of the following which do not apply under the ERC Work Programmes 2021-2023:

• the obligation to give access to data or other results if needed to validate the conclusions of a publication. Such obligation applies to all other Programmes provided that the beneficiaries' legitimate interests or constraints are safeguarded.
• the additional provision on access in cases of public emergency. Such a provision states that in cases of public emergency, if requested by the granting authority, immediate open access to all research outputs must be provided under open licenses or, if exceptions apply, access under fair and reasonable conditions to legal entities that need the research outputs to address the public emergency.

There is a strict prohibition of double funding from the EU budget and any given action may receive only ONE grant from the EU budget. Cost items may under NO circumstances be declared to two different EU actions. However, there is an exception for this under EU Synergies actions.

Additionally, we discourage the use of EU Synergies actions under ESF-2022-SOC-INNOV as they are not IT supported for this action.

There is no requirement to use 'green open access' rather than 'gold open access'. If an ERC funded researcher opts for 'gold open access' although 'green open access' would be possible within the maximum acceptable delay of six months, costs related to APCs are still eligible, provided that they have been incurred during the lifetime of the project and that they are in line with the general rules for eligibility of direct costs as described in the Grant Agreement (see Article II.14.1.d of the General Conditions of the ERC Grant Agreement, Single and Multi-Beneficiary). If 'gold open access' is chosen, the publication must still be deposited in a repository for scientific publications and open access must be provided immediately to that deposited version (no embargo period).

Yes, every Principal Investigator (PI) involved in a Synergy Grant (SyG) proposal must be engaged and hosted by a Host Institution. In general, the Host Institutions should be established in one of the EU Member States or Associated Countries for at least the full duration of the project. In the ERC-2023-SyG call, with the exception of the corresponding Host Institution, it is possible to have one PI applying with a Host Institution outside the EU or Associated Countries. The Principal Investigators (PIs) must also spend 50% of their time in Europe, except the PI who will be hosted in an institution outside the EU or Associated Countries. Other institutions outside European Union or Associated Countries may be involved as additional beneficiaries to the grant and may even receive funding, provided that their participation is deemed essential for carrying out the action and that they are not covered by Council sanctions as set in Annex 3 to the ERC Work Programme 2023. In addition, their presence must be well justified in the proposal. More information about the ERC-2023-SyG call is available in the ERC Work Programme 2023.

The ERC Synergy Grant (SyG) funding scheme imposes few eligibility constraints on applicants. There are no constraints regarding academic degrees, thus a PhD degree is not formally required. However, please be aware that this is an extremely competitive call. Although the Synergy group is evaluated as a whole, each applicant Principal Investigator ideally should be competitive at a level corresponding to their career stage in an individual ERC grant. More information about the ERC-2023-SyG call and eligibility requirements is available in the ERC Work Programme 2023 and Information for Applicants to the Synergy Grant 2023 Call.

When applying to the ERC Advanced Grant (AdG) 2019 call, it is recommended that the researcher provides evidence of recent achievements of intellectual productivity and creativity. If a researcher returned to their original or new project(s) following a sabbatical leave, the reviewers are asked to take such circumstances into consideration.

For maternity, the track record considered can be extended by 18 months for each child born before or during the last ten years.

For paternity, the track record considered can be extended by the actual amount of paternity leave taken for each child born before or during the last ten years.

For long-term illness, clinical qualification or national service the track record considered can be extended by the amount of leave taken for each incident which occurred during the last ten years.

For more information, please refer to the ERC Work Programme 2019 or the Information for Applicants to the Advanced Grants 2019 call.

The Principal Investigators (PIs) with different profiles can apply to the ERC-2019-SYG call as long as they have competitive track records appropriate to their career stage. PIs must then present, as part of the proposal, either an early achievement track-record or a 10-year track-record, whichever is most appropriate for their career stage (cf. Starting, Consolidator, Advanced Grant profiles in the ERC Work Programme 2019).

For an ERC Synergy (SyG) grant, a minimum two and maximum four Principal Investigators (PIs) can apply.

More information about the ERC-2019-SYG Grant Call is available in the ERC Work Programme 2019.

Yes, any Principal Investigator (PI) involved in a Synergy Grant (SyG) proposal must be engaged and hosted by a Host Institution. In general, the Host Institutions should be established in one of the EU Member States or H2020 Associated Countries (AC) for at least the full duration of the project. In the 2019 SyG call, with the exception of the corresponding Host Institution, it is possible to have one PI applying with a Host Institution outside of the EU or H2020 Associated Countries.

The Principal Investigators (PIs) must also spend 50% of their time in Europe, except the PI who will be hosted be an institution outside of the EU or AC.

Institutions outside Europe may be involved, as additional beneficiaries to the grant, and may even receive funding provided that their participation is deemed essential for carrying out the action, but only as additional partners under the heading of one of the European based PIs. In addition, their presence must be well justified in the proposal.

More information about the ERC-2019-SYG Grant Call is available in the ERC Work Programme 2019.