European Research Council FP7 IDEAS Programme The European Research Council “ERC goes global” campaign ERC EA Unit A1 Support to the Scientific Council.

European Research Council

FP7 IDEAS Programme

The European Research Council“ERC goes global” campaign

ERC EA Unit A1 Support to the Scientific Council

Prof Donald DingwellERC Secretary General

Visit to MexicoFebruary 2013


What is ERC

The European Research Council


Support for the individual scientist – no networks!Global peer-reviewNo predetermined subjects (bottom-up)Support of frontier research in all fields of science

and humanities

The ERC supports excellence in frontier research through a bottom-up, individual-based, pan-European competition

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What is ERC?

Le

gis

lati

on

Str

ate

gy

Scientific governance: independent Scientific Council with 22 members; full authority over funding strategy

Support by the ERC Executive Agency (autonomous)Excellence as the only criterion

Budget: € 7.5billion (2007-2013) - 1.1 billion €/year

http://www.francisplumbing.com/images/excellence.jpg


10.8%

4%

7.3%

15.1%

17.8%

21.6%

23.4%

0

300

600

900

1200

1500

1800

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Mil

lio

n E

uro

FP7 budget € 50.5 billion ERC budget € 7.5 billion; Increase by € 250 M/year

Co-operation (65 %)

Ideas (15 %)

People (9 %)

Capacities (8 %)JRC non-

nuclear (3 %)


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

The ERC Executive Agency• Executes annual work programme as established by the Scientific Council• Implements calls for proposals and provides 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• Carries out communications activities and ensures information dissemination

to ERC stakeholders

The ERC Scientific Council• 22 prominent researchers proposed by an independent

identification committee• Appointed by the Commission (4 years, renewable once)• Establishes overall scientific strategy; annual work programmes

(incl. calls for proposals, evaluation criteria); peer review methodology; selection and accreditation of experts

• Controls quality of operations and management• Ensures communication with the scientific community

ERC Structure


ERC Scientific Council Members

• Prof. Klaus BOCK (Chemistry)• Prof. Nicholas CANNY (History)• Prof. Sierd A.P.L. CLOETINGH (Earth Sciences)• Prof. Tomasz DIETL (Physics)• Prof. Daniel DOLEV (Computer Sciences) • Prof. Athene DONALD (Biological Physics) • Prof. Carlos M. DUARTE (Biology)• Dr. Barbara ENSOLI (Medicine)• Prof. Daniel ESTEVE (Physics)• Prof. Pavel EXNER (Applied Mathematics & Mathematical Physics), ERC Vice President• Prof. Reinhard GENZEL(Astrophysics)• Prof. Carl-Henrik HELDIN (Molecular Cell Biology), ERC Vice President• Prof. Timothy HUNT (Biology)• Prof. Matthias KLEINER (Engineering)• Prof. Eva KONDOROSI (Biology)• Prof. Henrietta L. MOORE (Social Anthropology) • Prof. Helga NOWOTNY (Science and Technology Studies), ERC President• Prof. Alain PEYRAUBE (Linguistics) • Prof. Mart SAARMA (Biology)• Prof. Anna TRAMONTANO (Biochemistry)• Prof. Isabelle VERNOS (Molecular and Cell Biology) • Prof. Reinhilde VEUGELERS (Economics)

Prof. Don DingwellERC Secretary General


After 6 years of existence…A success story

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Highly recognised by the research community over 3 000 top researchers funded (65% are at an early-

career stage); 58 nationalities represented Working in >500 different institutions in 29 countries Highly competitive (average success rate 12%) 50% of grantees in 50 institutions; “Excellence attracts

excellence” Benchmarking effect, e.g. pan-European competition

among researchers; EU value added Efficient and fast grant management


Future perspectivesHORIZON 2020

HORIZON 2020 structure: - Excellence Science- Industrial leadership- Societal challenges- EIT- JRC

Excellent Science: reinforcing and extending the excellence of the EU’s science base and consolidating ERA to make EU’s R&I system more competitive on a global scale European Research Council (budget proposal under H2020: € 15 billion) Future and Emerging Technologies Marie Curie Research Infrastructures

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ERC Grant schemes



Starting Grants

starters (2-7 years after PhD)

up to € 2.0 Mio for 5 years

Advanced Grants track-record of

significant research achievements in the last 10 years


Synergy Grants2 – 4 Principal Investigatorsup to € 15.0 Mio for 6 years

Proof-of-Concept bridging gap between research - earliest

stage of marketable innovation up to €150,000 for ERC grant holders

ERC Grant schemes

Consolidator Grants

consolidators (7-12 years after PhD)



ERC offers independence, recognition & visibility

• to work on a research topic of own choice, with a team of own choice

• to gain true financial autonomy for 5 years

• to negotiate with the host institution the best conditions of work

• to attract top team members (EU and non-EU) and collaborators

• to move with the grant to any place in Europe if necessary (portability of grants)

• to attract additional funding and gain recognition; ERC is a quality label

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Creative freedom of the individual grantee


Flexibility: Additional “start-up” funding for scientists moving to Europe

(EUR 500 000 for Starting and EUR 1 Million for Advanced grantees)

Grantee can keep affiliation with home institute outside Europe (“significant part” of work time in Europe, at least 50%)

Team members can be based outside Europe Grantee can move within Europe with the grant

Negotiation: Several European countries/host institutions assist applicants

and reward grantees with top-up funds or long-term professorships

Attractive featuresfor researchers from outside Europe


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ERC funding process Peer Review EvaluationStarting, Consolidator and Advanced Grants

Panel Members are appointed by the ERC Scientific Council 25 Panels covering all fields of science, technology and

scholarship 3 sets of Panels: StG Panels, CoG Panels, AdG Panels 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 Evaluation criteria:

Principal Investigator

Intellectual capacity and creativityCommitment

Research project

Ground-breaking nature and potential impactMethodology


Social Sciences & Humanities

6 panels

Individuals, institutions and marketsInstitutions, values, beliefs and behaviourEnvironment, space and populationThe Human MindCultures and cultural productionThe study of the human past

25 panels for all areas of science

Physical MathematicsSciences Fundamental constituents of matter& Condensed matter physicsEngineering Physical and analytical chemical sciences

Synthetic chemistry and materials10 panels Computer science and informatics

Systems and communication engineering Products and processes engineering Universe sciences Earth system science

Life Molecular and structural biology and biochemistrySciences Genetics, genomics, bioinformatics and systems biology

Cellular and developmental biology9 panels Physiology, pathophysiology and endocrinology

Neurosciences and neural disordersImmunity and infectionDiagnostic tools, therapies and public healthEvolutionary, population and environmental biologyApplied life sciences and biotechnology


Eligibility check

Step 1 (remote) evaluation on the basis of section of

proposal* by panel members

Proposals passing to step 2

Individual assessment of full proposals by panel members &

referees

AdG :2nd Panel meeting

Panel chairs´ meeting Consolidation of 3 main domains

rank lists

Submission of full proposals

Proposals selected for funding

Submission, evaluation and selectionStarting, Consolidator and Advanced Grants

*) Profile of PI, project extended synopsis

1st Panel meeting

StG, CoG: 2nd Panel

meeting incl. interviews of

applicants


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International participation to proposals evaluation

* Number of instances that experts of a certain country of origin are contributing to the ERC peer review


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ERC Competitions 2007-2012

Data as of 19/11/2012

Evaluated* Fundedsuccess rates**

Starting Grant 2007 9.167 8.787 299 3,4

Starting Grant 2009 2.503 2.392 245 10,2

Starting Grant 2010 2.873 2.767 436 15,8

Starting Grant 2011 4.080 4.005 486 12,1

Starting Grant 2012 4.741 4.652 555 11,9

Starting Grant 23.364 22.603 2.021 10,7

Advanced Grant 2008 2.167 2.034 282 13,9

Advanced Grant 2009 1.584 1.526 245 16,1

Advanced Grant 2010 2.009 1.967 271 13,8

Advanced Grant 2011 2.284 2.245 301 13,4

Advanced Grant 2012*** 2.304 2.269 302 13,3

Advanced Grant 10.348 10.041 1.401 14,1

Proof of Concept 2011 - 1&2 151 139 51 36,7

Proof of Concept 2012 - 1&2 143 120 60 50,0

Proof of Concept 294 259 111 43,3 * withdrawn and ineligible proposals not taken into account

** percentage of funded proposals in relation to evaluated proposals

*** selected

Total number of applications

received

of which


International participation


European Research Council Evaluated proposals from researchers with non-ERA* nationalityERC Starting Grant calls 2009 – 2013* ERA = European Research Area

*) all submitted for StG2013

European Research Council European Research Council Evaluated proposals from researchers with non-ERA* nationalityERC Advanced Grant calls 2008 – 2013* ERA = European Research Area

*) all submitted for AdG2013


Submitted proposals by Mexican researchersERC Starting grant calls 2007 - 2013 ERC Advanced grant calls 2008 – 2013

99% of the Mexican applicants were already resident in various European countries at the time of application (the majority of them in France)

At the time of application • only one Mexican researcher was resident in Mexico • and one in the US (successful application)

FR 11ES 6UK 5DE 3SE 3IE 1IT 1LU 1NL 1DK 1

OTHERS 3Total 36

Country of Host Institution

Submitted applications from Mexican researchersStG calls AdG calls All ERC calls Life Sci Phys&Eng Soc&Hum

34 2 36 13 20 3

European Research Council ERC grantees with a non-ERA* nationalityERC Starting Grant calls 2007-2012 ERC Advanced Grant calls 2008 – 2012* ERA = European Research Area

Data as of 19/11/2012*) nationality as last declared by the principal investigator

TOTAL number of grantees with non-ERA nationality :152 StG and 79 AdG


Grantees with Mexican nationalityERC Starting Calls 2007 – 2012ERC Advanced Calls 2008 - 2012

none of the Mexican grantees were resident in Mexico at the time of application

ERC granteesCountry* Project Title HI Country ** ERC Call Domain Grantees

LONGEVITYBYCAUSE - Cause of Death Contribution to Longevity: Modeling Time Trends.

DK StG 2009 Soc Sci & Hum

VDW-CMAT - Van der Waals Interactions in Complex Materials DE StG 2011 Phys Sci & Eng.

NUCLEARPOTENCY - Nuclear foundations of cellular potency FR StG 2011 Life Science

*) nationality as last declared by the principal investigator**) current host institution (data as of 19/11/2012)

3Mexico


Country of residence International grantees ERA nationals TotalArgentina 1 1Australia 1 2 3Brazil 1 1Canada 1 2 3India 2 2Japan 1 1 2Korea 1 1Lebanon 1 1Russia 1 1USA 19 62 81Total 26 70 96

Few grantees from outside ERAMainly researchers moving/returning from the US

Note: Researchers residing outside the European Research Area at the time of application


EU: 69% Assoc. Countries: 11% non-ERA: 17% Unknown: 3%

Non-ERA researches come mostly from China, US, India, and Russia

Team members: internationalisationBreakdown by nationality (97)(sample of 636 Starting and Advanced projects)


Non-ERA nationalities among team membersNon-ERA researchers represent 17% of all team members (without PIs) in the sample of 636 ERC projects

661 Non-ERA researches among the 3,845 team members

European Research Council Attracting excellent researchers worldwide

”ERC goes global” campaign

targeting top and emerging research locations

South AfricaMarch 2012

India

2013

Brazil, ChileMay 2012

China

2013

Japan , S.-Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong

July 2012

RussiaSept.2012

Singapore, Australia, New Zealand

2013

CanadaFeb.2012

US Texas & Mexico 2013

US West Coast2013 US East Coast

2013

Chile, ArgentinaJan.2013


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NCPs in non-ERA countries

** In the process of being officially nominated

Non-ERA NCPs established as a result of the global campaign

Other non-ERA NCP's

*provisional NCP; official NCP tba


More information on http://erc.europa.eu

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European Research Council FP7 IDEAS Programme The European Research Council “ERC goes global” campaign ERC EA Unit A1 Support to the Scientific Council.

Documents

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