Information about ERC

Information about ERC    What is ERC? Call for Advanced Investigator Grants Outcome first call for Starting Independent Researcher Grants National Contact Points (NCPs) for ERC Gunnar Sandberg tel.+46 8 454 64 45 Gunnar.Sandberg@vinnova.se Anna Sjöström Douagi tel.+46 8 546 44 153 asd@vr.se Why ERC?        Initiative came from researchers in Europe Enforce basic research in Europe (retain, repatriate, recruit) Increase quality by competing on an international level Raise the level of ambition Complement national support for basic research On the basis on excellence as the sole criterion First pan-European funding agency for frontier research FP7 Ideas Programme Part of the Seventh EU Research Framework Programme (FP7)  Creates the ERC (new “institution”) – Feb 2007:   Scientific Council (ScC) Dedicated Implementation Structure (DIS)  Provides funding – € 7.51 bn (2007-2013):   around 15% of FP7 budget average budget: € ~1 bn per year  Sets overall objectives for research and operating principles Development of the budget 1900 1800 1700 1600 1500 1400 1300 1200 1100 1000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 € ERC Actors The Scientific Council Independent scientific governance Consists of 22 eminent researchers (incl. 3 Nobel laureates) The Agency (Dedicated Implementation Structure, ERC-DIS) Practical implementation and management of operations The European Union Providing the financial means, guarantor of ERC’s autonomy Organisation European Commission Commissioner Director General Identification Committee ERC Scientific Council 22 members President 2 vice presidents ERC Board (5) President 2 Vice Presidents Secretary General Director EA Senior EC Officials Executive Agency (EA) EA Director The ERC Board  Prof. Fotis Kafatos ERC President and Chair of the ScC  Prof. Helga Nowotny, Dr Daniel Esteve ERC Vice-Presidents and Vice-Chairs of ERC ScC  Prof. Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker ERC Secretary-General  Jack Metthey Director of ERC DIS (Directorate S) ERC Grant schemes Strategic principles  All fields of science and scholarship are eligible  investigator-driven, bottom-up, frontier research  Excellence is the only valid criterion  Principal Investigator + research project  Investment in research talent   Attractive, flexible grants, up to five years under control of the Principal Investigator  Independent individual teams in Europe   nationality of researchers is not relevant host organisation to be located in EU or Associated Country ERC Grant schemes “Individual Research Team” Concept  Individual Research Teams  headed by a single team leader who is the “Principal Investigator” (PI) PI can be of any age, nationality or country of residence if necessary, the PI can include additional team members meeting the needs of the project    Advanced Grants only: for interdisciplinary projects, the PI can choose a co-investigator(s) from related discipline(s)  PI’s host institution  Located in an EU Member State or Associated Country ERC Grant schemes “Frontier Research” concept A new understanding of basic research avoiding distinctions:    between “basic” and “applied” research between “science” and “technology” between “traditional” disciplines The term “Frontier Research” reflects:     going beyond these categories absence of disciplinary boundaries intrinsically risky character of ground-breaking research (highrisk/high-gain research) at and beyond the frontiers of knowledge new and emerging fields: opening new opportunities and directions in research including those of a multi- and interdisciplinary nature ERC Grant Schemes Launch Strategy of ERC Scientific Council Retain – Repatriate – Recruit  Favour “brain gain” and “reverse brain drain”  increase competition, recognition and international visibility for excellent individual scientists and scholars in Europe ERC Advanced Grant: attract & reward established independent research leaders   Keep (young) researchers in Europe  improve career opportunities and independence - especially for young researchers  ERC Starting Grant: attract & retain the next generation of independent research leaders ERC Grant schemes Operational Principles  Application in response to calls for proposals  Principal Investigators applies in conjunction and on behalf of a research-performing host institution Staged Evaluation Procedure  to manage large number of expected applications (almost 9167 proposals received in response to 1st Call for ERC Starting Grant proposals) Panel-based peer review process     Scientific Council selects panels and peer reviewers Panels assess and select proposals ERC Grant Schemes Evaluation: Scientific Excellence is the sole criterion Evaluation of Excellence at three levels: • • • Quality of Principal Investigator Quality of Research Project Research Environment 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 on a "pass/fail" basis and commented but not scored ERC Grant Schemes Peer Review Evaluation Panels  25 Panels covering all fields of science, technology and scholarship  Each Panel consists of the Panel Chair and 10-15 Panel Members Panel Chair oversees evaluation process for the proposals assigned to his/her panel in collaboration with the ERC staff The Panel Chair gives high level credibility stamp and visibility to the whole evaluation process   ERC Advanced Grant (ERC Advanced Investigator Researcher Grant)  Designed to support excellent investigator-initiated frontier research projects by established independent research leaders 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 € 2,5 (3,5) Mio. per grant ~2500 Advanced Grants over 7 years of FP7 (2007-2013)  ERC Advanced Grant First call: ERC-2007-AdG1 (30 Nov 2007)  Indicative Budget: € 517 Mio (39 % PE, 34 % LS, 14 % HS & 13% interdisciplinary domain)   Single submission (1 stage, 2 step evaluation) Electronic submission via EPSS  Early (pre-)registration strongly recommended & pre-registration is required Physical Sciences and Engineering (PE) on 28th February Social Sciences and Humanities (SH) on 18th March Life Sciences (LS) on 22nd April  3 deadlines, 3 domains, 25 panels (10 PE, 9 LS, 6 SH)      20,000 proposals expected (?) If same success rate as in FP6 (4,3%), 11 AdG to Sweden (4 PE, 4 LS, 2 HS, 1 “interdisciplinary”?) Proposal structure  Part A: Contains “normal” A1-A3 forms (PI, HI & Budget)  Plus additional “A1T”: “Track Record”  Summary of Scientific Leadership profile  Summary of 10 year Track Record  Part B: contains 3 sections & 1 annex     Section 1  Scientific Leadership profile (2 pages)  CV (including “funding ID”)  10-years track record  Extended synopsis Section 2 = Scientific proposal Section 3 = Research Environment description Statement of support from the Host Institution (template in EPSS) Two-step evaluation  Step 1:  Section 1 of Part B evaluated against Criterion 1 (PI) and 2 (Research Project)  Proposal needs to pass threshold for both criteria to pass to second step  In case of major oversubscription, panels may base their decisions on Form A1T (Track Record) + Extended Synopsis  Evaluated by Panel Members + possibly “shadow” panel members where necessary Step 2:  All three sections evaluated against all three evaluation criteria  Evaluated by Panel Members + Remote Evaluators  Indicators of “leadership profile”  Content and impact of the major scientific accomplishments of the applicant to his or her own research field and/or neighbouring research fields and, if applicable, their wider societal impact;  The international recognition and diffusion that these major contributions have received from others Ability to productively change research fields and/or to establish new interdisciplinary approaches  IMPORTANT! Resubmission rules  Only one AdG application for 2008 and 2009 calls (combined) Can only re-apply for 2010 AdG call if you are above threshold in 2008 or 2009 AdG Call   If you apply for AdG in 2008 or 2009, cannot apply for a StG during same period ERC Advanced Grant Managing high demand for grants  Maximise call budget  By combining budgets over 2 successive years (only one application per researcher in either 2008 or 2009)  Encourage the best to apply   Excellent track record (in recent years) Strong leadership profile  Discourage trivial or low-quality applications   Applications should be substantive (one-stage submission with two stage evaluation) Re-application rules: Disincentives to submission of not well prepared or not highest quality application ERC Starting Grant (ERC Starting Independent Researcher Grant )  Support researchers at the beginning of their career, establishing or consolidating their own independent research team  Provide a structure for transition from working under a supervisor to an independent research leader up to 5 years, up to € 2 million per grant ~1400 Starting Grants over 7 years of FP7 (2007-2013) ERC-2007-StG Evaluation: overview Stage 1 evaluation: ~6% retained 8794 proposals evaluated representing about 10 B€ value of requested funding Stage 2 evaluation: ~ 50% will be retained 559 retained proposals representing about 535 M€ 289.5 M€ available for this call  ~ 250 projects Nationality of the PIs of the evaluated 8794 proposals Number of proposals by gender and nationality 9 8 Male Female 7 6 1800 5 1600 4 88 countries Male Female 1400 3 1200 2 1000 800 600 400 200 0 1 0 PE ME CU IR PH TN MU NG CO CG MT EG MK MW TW SM TG HK KR BD UZ NZ DZ TH PK TF KE PS CL LU SG VE TZ ZW LB MA UY LK MY AM VN AD BY LV BA ZA n°8: 360 Swedish PIs (Male/Female 67/33%) IT RO NO BG MX TR IL IN CZ PT AT LT JP FI SI IE HU RU CH CN HR FR AU AR BR EL DE UK PL NL DK US CY RS CA ES SE BE SK EE UA IS Proposals related to population related to the 8794 proposals Sweden Statistics for the 559 proposals to stage 2  85 % EU nationals 4 % researchers based outside of EU (> 1 % third country nationality) Scientific domains:      45 %Physics, Mathematics & Engineering (45 %) 37 % Life Science (40 %) 18 % Social Sciences & Humanities (15 %)    Host institutions in 21 countries (34 countries applied) Average age 36 years 24 % ♀ Nationality of the PIs of the selected 559 proposals Number of proposals by gender and nationality 90 80 Germany: 85 Male Female 70 Italy: 70 60 France: 56 50 Netherlands: 50 40 n°9: 19 38 countries UK: 42 Belgium: 32 Israel: 28 30 20 Hungary: 17 Greece: 15 10 0 DE IT FR NL UK ES BE IL SE HU EL CH FI US AT PT DK IE CY AU CN JP CA PL AR CZ IN NO RO RU TR AD BY IS RS SI SK UA Time after first PhD for the PIs of the selected 559 proposals Number of PIs by host country and time after first PhD 120 6-9(12) years 100 2-5 years 80 60 40 20 0 UK DE NL FR IT ES CH IL BE SE EL FI HU DK PT AT BG CY CZ NO IE Age of the PIs of the selected 559 proposals Number of PIs by age 80 70 M a le F e ma le 60 50 Average age: 35.6 years (majority between 32-39 years) 40 30 20 10 0 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 Applications from Sweden    454 proposals from Sweden (5 % of total) 19 proposal selected to stage 2 (3 % of selected) Of the 19 proposals were    10 % (2) Social Sciences (18 %) 42 % (8) Physics, Mathematics and Engineering (45 %) 47 % (9) Life Science (37 %)  21 % ♀ (24 %) Swedish Host Institutions Distribution Swedish Host Institutions stage 2 Total 19 st UU - 1st UmU - 1st GU - 3st SU - 2st Chalmers - 1st LU - 2st LIU - 1st KI - 5st KTH - 3st ~300 succesful StG candidates       32 nationalities ~ 170 host institutions 21 different countries 26 % ♀ Average age: 35 years In Sweden ~ 10 grants (ca 3%) Documentation     Specific text of “Call for Proposal” ERC Work Programme ERC Guide for Applicants ERC Grant agreement Other:    ERC Guide for Grant Holders (coming soon) ERC Guide for Peer Reviewers ERC Rules on submission, evaluation, selection and award procedures Up-to-date Information ERC website at http://erc.europa.eu Other Services   ERC News Alert http://erc.europa.eu/?fuseaction=reg.edit#01 ERC National Contact Points inform, raise awareness and provide advice on ERC funding opportunities, application, follow-up http://erc.europa.eu/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.ncpList   ERC helpdesk https://www.epss-fp7.org/epss/helpdesk.jsp EPSS helpdesk technical support on electronic proposal submission https://www.epss-fp7.org/epss/helpdesk.jsp Thank you!