The fundamental activity of the ERC, via its main frontier research grants1, is to provide attractive, long-term funding to support excellent investigators and their research teams to pursue ground-breaking, high-risk/high-gain research.
Research funded by the ERC is expected to lead to advances at the frontiers of knowledge and to set a clear and inspirational target for frontier research across Europe.
Excellence is the sole criterion on the basis of which ERC frontier research grants are awarded
The ERC also awards complementary funding for the Principal Investigators funded by its main grants, in order to fulfil its mission of supporting new ways of working in the scientific world, and to raise the profile of frontier research in Europe, as well as the visibility of ERC programmes to researchers across Europe and internationally.
The ERC’s main grants, as well as other Principal Investigator-led actions, are evaluated based on the sole criterion of excellence, comprising a set of detailed evaluation elements decided by the ERC Scientific Council based on the specific objectives of the grant.
The evaluation of applications to the ERC’s main grants is conducted by peer review panels composed of renowned scientists and scholars selected by the ERC Scientific
Council. The panels may be assisted by independent external experts working remotely.
The ERC's peer review evaluation process has been carefully designed to identify scientific excellence irrespective of the gender, age, nationality, or institution of the Principal Investigator and other potential biases, and to take career breaks, as well as unconventional research career paths, into account2. The evaluation process ensures that Principal Investigators have the professional competences and qualifications required to complete their proposed action3. The evaluations are monitored to guarantee transparency, fairness, and impartiality in the treatment of proposals. ERC calls are expected to be highly competitive.
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