The European Research Council has awarded €838 million in Advanced Grants to 319 senior researchers across Europe for five-year projects.
The funding, provided under the EU’s Horizon Europe research programme, will support work across fields including medicine, neuroscience, mathematics and quantum physics, the European Commission announced on Tuesday.
Among the topics researchers will study are vulnerability to drug addiction, women’s fertility and health, and stuttering.
Other projects will develop new mathematical and algorithmic tools for analysing large-scale networks such as transport systems and the internet.
The grants will be hosted at universities and research centres in 24 EU member states and associated countries, with awardees representing more than 30 nationalities.
The largest groups of winners include 52 Germans, 45 Britons and 29 Italians.
This year’s competition drew 3,329 proposals — up 31% — with 9.6% selected for funding.
The projects are expected to create more than 3,000 jobs within the research teams.
Relocation funding and applicants from outside Europe
Thirteen winners were based outside Europe, representing 4% of the successful applicants, the European Research Council said.
Of those, nine were from the United States, two from Australia and two from Canada.
The council said seven of the 13 researchers used additional funding available under the EU’s “Choose Europe for Science” initiative, which offers relocating scientists up to €2 million extra to set up new laboratories or research teams in Europe.
Applications from researchers based outside Europe rose to 164 in 2025 from 44 in 2024.
Ekaterina Zaharieva, the European Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation, said initiatives such as “Choose Europe” were helping to attract researchers from outside the continent.
The next round of Advanced Grants is open, with applications due by 27 August 2026.
