The European Research Council has awarded €500 million in Synergy Grants to fund 48 research projects led by teams based in the EU and countries associated with the bloc’s Horizon Europe programme.
The funding will support 172 researchers working in teams of two to four, combining different areas of expertise on problems they could not tackle alone, the European Commission announced on Thursday.
Projects backed this year include work on making infrastructure more sustainable and durable, assessing whether quantum computers can be made powerful enough to tackle highly complex problems, examining how migration affects the languages children learn in early childhood, and testing whether light-based therapies can help restore sight.
Synergy Grants are designed for small groups of researchers with complementary skills, and are funded through Horizon Europe — the EU’s research and innovation programme.
European Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation Ekaterina Zaharieva said the grants “connect Europe’s scientists with leading talent, new ideas and cutting-edge facilities across the globe”, in comments released by the European Research Council.
UK institutions involved in 23 projects
The latest call attracted 957 proposals, with 48 selected — roughly one in 20.
The chosen projects will be hosted by universities and research centres in 26 countries in Europe and elsewhere.
The largest numbers of projects will involve institutions in the United Kingdom (23), Germany (22), France (14) and the United States (12).
Around 35% of the funded projects involve researchers based outside the EU and Horizon Europe associated countries, with most of those researchers in the United States.
