The ERC Starting Grants are designed to support excellent Principal Investigators at the career stage at which they are starting their own independent research team or programme. Principal Investigators must demonstrate the ground-breaking nature, ambition, and feasibility of their research proposal.
Researchers of any nationality with 2-7 years of experience since completion of PhD, a scientific track record showing great promise and an excellent research proposal can apply.
Eligible Principal Investigators: The ERC actions are open to researchers of any nationality who intend to conduct their research activity in any EU Member State or Associated Country (see Annex 3 of the ERC Work Programme 2024). Principal Investigators may be of any age and nationality and may reside in any country in the world at the time of the application.
There are specific eligibility criteria for a Principal Investigator applying to the Starting Grants based on the date of the successful defence of their first PhD degree (or equivalent doctoral degree) as described in the ERC Work Programme 2024 (see also Annex 2 'ERC policy on PhD and equivalent doctoral degrees' and specific provisions for applicants holding a degree in medicine).
All Principal Investigators funded through an ERC Starting Grant must spend a minimum of 50% of their working time in an EU Member State or Associated Country and a minimum of 50% of their working time on the ERC project.
Eligible Host Institution: The Host Institution (Applicant Legal Entity) must engage and host the Principal Investigator 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 Associated Country (see Annex 3 of the ERC Work Programme 2024) as a legal entity created under national law, or it may be an international European research organisation (such as CERN, EMBL, etc.), or any other entity created under EU law. International organisations with headquarters in a Member State or Associated Country will be deemed to be established in that Member State or Associated Country. Any type of legal entity, public or private, including universities, research organisations and undertakings can host Principal Investigators and their teams.
The Administrative form Part A (including the Ethics Issues Table and the Budget Section) is available in the submission tool below. The budget table and the justification of the Resources are part of this online form Part A (Section 3 - Budget). For more details, please refer to section 2.3 of the ERC Information for Applicants.
Part B1, Part B2 and the Host Institution Binding Statement of Support templates are provided in the submission system as word-templates (they should be completed, uploaded and submitted via the submission tool as PDF files).
A complete proposal consists of the following elements (with the following page limits):
- Extended Synopsis: 5 pages
- Curriculum Vitae and Track Record: 4 pages max.
- Scientific Proposal: 14 pages
- Resources and Time Commitment
- Host Institution Binding Statement of Support
- Ethics Review Table
PhD record and supporting documentation for eligibility checking.
Complete proposals must be submitted via the submission tool available through the Funding & Tenders Portal (to access the submission tool, you need to register first).