The European Research Council has opened applications for a new funding scheme worth €210 million that will offer grants of up to €7 million for research projects in Europe.
The programme, called ERC Plus Grants, will fund projects for up to seven years and is open to “exceptional researchers” of any nationality, the European Commission announced on Tuesday.
Around 30 grants are expected to be awarded in the first competition.
The European Research Council was set up by the European Union in 2007 to fund what it calls “frontier research” — early-stage research at the leading edge of a field — across all disciplines, with awards made on the basis of scientific excellence.
It said 15 researchers it has funded have gone on to win Nobel Prizes, and that ERC-supported work has produced more than 250,000 highly cited publications and over 2,400 patents.
Part of wider ‘Choose Europe’ package
The ERC Plus Grants sit within a broader €874 million package for 2025 to 2027 under the European Commission’s ‘Choose Europe’ initiative, the European Research Council said.
Europe has “world-class researchers, strong institutions, and a commitment to academic freedom”, declared Ekaterina Zaharieva, the European Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation.
