European CommissionResearch DG

Philippe Stalins

FP7 IDEAS The European

Research Council

7th Framework Programme

• Cooperation

• Ideas

• People

• Capacities

FP7 Ideas ProgrammeFP7 Ideas Programme

Creates European Research Council

Provides funding─ Budget (2007-2013) : € 7.51 bn

(around 15% of FP7 budget)

─ Average budget: € ~1 bn per year

Sets overall objectives for researchand operating principles

The European Union(represented by the European Commission)

•Provides financing through the EU framework programmes

•Guarantees autonomy of the ERC

•Assures the integrity and accountability of the ERC

•Adopts annual work programmes as established by the Scientific Council

Role

to ensure the integrated operation of ERC to monitor the implementation of the

ScC’s strategy and position as executed by the dedicated implementation structure

to participate in the ERC board

• Establishes overall scientific strategyEstablishes work programme (incl. calls for proposals, evaluation criteria); Defines peer review methodology; ensures selection and accreditation of experts

• Controls quality of scientific operations and management

• Ensures communication with the scientific community

European Research Council

Dedicated Implementation StructureDedicated Implementation Structure

CommissionCommission Executive AgencyExecutive Agency

Prof. Fotis KafatosProf. Fotis KafatosChairChair

Prof. EstèveProf. EstèveProf. Elga Prof. Elga NowotnyNowotny

• Executes annual work programme(as established by the Scientific Council)

• Implements calls for proposals and provide information and support to applicants

• Organises peer review evaluation• Establishes and manages grant

agreements• Administers scientific and financial

aspects and follow-up of grant agreements

7th Framework Programme

• Cooperation

• Ideas

• People

• Capacities

Funding schemes

• Support for ‘frontier’ research

• Coordination and Support Actions

Support for ‘frontier’ research

• Two streams of activity:

1. ERC Starting Independent Researcher Grant scheme (ERC Starting Grant) 1st call for proposals published, deadline 25 April 2007

2. ERC Advanced Investigator Researcher Grant scheme (ERC Advanced Grant) 1st call for proposals published later in 2007

• Requirements

• Evaluated on the sole criterion of excellence.

1. ERC Starting Grant

The objective :

• Is to support researchers at the start of their independent research career and help them establishing or consolidating their own independent research team (or research programme);

• To provide a structure to researchers for transition from working under a supervisor to becoming an independent research leader;

• Up to 5 years; €100,000 to €400,000 per year.

2. ERC Advanced Grant

The objective :• Is to support excellent investigator-initiated

research projects carried out by established independent research leaders;

• To complement the ERC Starting Grant scheme by attracting researchers who have already established their independence as team leaders;

• Up to 5 years; €100,000 to €500,000 per year.

Evaluation criterion

Excellence is the sole criterion of evaluation:

• It will be applied to the evaluation of both the researcher and the research project.

• The evaluation will also assess the extent to which the research environment enables the excellence of the project to be achieved.

ERC Requirements

• Principal Investigator: Nationality of researchersis not relevant.

• Host organisation:To be located in MSor AS.

• Frontier ResearchProjects:All fields of scienceand scholarship are eligible(investigator-driven, bottom-up).

ERCGrant Agreement

ERCGrant Agreement

Amendment SupplementaryAgreement

SupplementaryAgreement

SupplementaryAgreement

SupplementaryAgreement

Accessionforms

ERC Grant Agreement

Amendment

ERC Grant Agreement Structure

Core grant

Article 2: Principal Investigator (PI)

• Reference to supplementary agreement between the PI and the

beneficiary hosting and engaging him / her;

• Supplementary agreement lists the main points establishing the

relations between the PI and the beneficiary.

Article 4: Reporting

• Parallel streams for the scientific reporting and the financial management reporting.

Annex I

Description of work (including financial information): based on the proposal text taking up the results of the evaluation.

Annex II

Article II.2 Specific performance obligations of thebeneficiary

Article II.3 Specific performance obligations of theprincipal investigator

Article II.4 Reports

Article II.15 Identification of direct and indirectcosts

Article II.16 Upper funding limits

Article II.34 Approval of amendments & termination

• For activities supported by frontier research actions, the Community contribution may reach a maximum of 100% of the total eligible costs.

• The indirect costs may be reimbursed bya flat-rate of 20% of the total direct eligible costs, excluding the direct eligible costs for subcontracting and the costs of resources made available by third parties which are not used on the premises of the beneficiary.

Annex III

ERC Accession form for other beneficiaries.

Annex IV

Financial statement form

Annex V

Terms of reference for the certification of costs and on the methodology.

11stst Call in Brief Call in Brief ERC Starting Grants only

• Two stage submission process (to avoid oversubscription) 1st stage – Outline Proposal: max 8 Pages (deadline stage 1 submission:

April 25, 2007) 2nd stage – Full Proposal: max 16 Pages (on invitation only if stage 1 proposal

evaluated positively)

Proposal Components:

a)CV + self-evaluation + funding ID (3/4 pages)

b)Description of research project (4/10 pages)

c) Description of scientific environment + resources (1/2 pages)

• Electronic Submission only, via EPSS (no paper submission)

• Pre-registration (via EPSS) Providing ERC with indication on number & area of proposals

• What? Any field of science, engineering and scholarship

• Who? Principal Investigator (Individual Team) + Hosting Organisation

• How? Consult « ERC Guide for Applicants » on http://erc.europa.eu

• Evaluated on the sole criterion of scientific excellence

For operational reasons the ScC agreed on 3 main research domains:

─ Physical Sciences & Engineering

─ Biological & Life Sciences

─ Social Sciences and Humanities The first call budget for ERC Starting Grants

(€300 Mio) has been pre-allocated to these areas as follows:

45% - 40% - 15%

ERC covers all fieldsof science, engineering and scholarship

ERC Starting Grant ERC Starting Grant RequirementsRequirements

PI 2-9 years since completion of PhD: Special circumstances

will be taken into account, such as maternity/paternity leave, military/civil service (+3 years max.)

PI and team members Any nationality One ERC Grant per investigator only may be active at any

one time

Hosting institution Located in a EU member state or associated country

Evaluation CriteriaEvaluation CriteriaScientific Excellence is the sole CriterionScientific Excellence is the sole Criterion

Referees and panels evaluate and score criteria

under Heading 1 and Heading 2 numerically

which will result in the ranking of the proposals: 0-5 points, in increments of 0.5 Threshold 8 / 10

Criteria under Heading 3 will be considered as "pass/fail" and commented but not scored

1. Potential of Principal Investigator

2. Quality of research project

3. Research Environment and Resources

ERC Starting GrantERC Starting Grant Potential of Principal Investigator

a. Quality of research output Has the Principal Investigator published in high quality peer reviewed

journals or the equivalent? To what extent are these publications ground-breaking and

demonstrative of independent creative thinking and capacity to go significantly beyond the state of the art?

b. Intellectual capacity and creativity To what extent does the Principal Investigator's record of research,

collaborations, project conception, supervision of students and publications demonstrate that he/she is able to confront major research challenges in the field, and to initiate new productive lines of thinking?

ERC Starting GrantERC Starting Grant Quality of research project

a. Ground-breaking nature of the research Does the proposed research address important challenges in the field(s)

addressed? Does it have suitably ambitious objectives, which go substantially

beyond the current state of the art (e.g. including trans-disciplinary developments and novel or unconventional approaches)?

b. Potential impact Does the research open new and important, scientific, technological or

scholarly horizons?

c. Methodology Stage 1: Is the outlined scientific approach (including the activities to be

undertaken by the individual team members) feasible? Stage 2: Is the proposed research methodology (including when

pertinent the use of instrumentation, other type of infrastructures etc.) comprehensive and appropriate for to the project? Will it enable the goals of the project convincingly to be achieved within the timescales and resources proposed and the level of risk associated with a challenging research project?

ERC Starting GrantERC Starting Grant Research Environment and Resources

a. Transition to independence Will the proposed project enable the Principal Investigator to

make or consolidate the transition to independence?

b. Host institution [normally applicant legal entity] Does the institution hosting the project have most of the

infrastructure necessary for the research to be carried out? Is it in a position to provide an appropriate intellectual

environment and infrastructural support and to assist in achieving the ambitions for the project and the Principal Investigator?

c. Participation of other legal entities If it is proposed that other legal entities participate in the project,

in addition to the applicant legal entity, is their participation fully

justified by the scientific added value they bring to the project?