European Research Council

The European Research Council (ERC), along with the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions and Research Infrastructures, is part of Horizon Europe’s Pillar I – ‘Excellent Science’. This pillar aims to promote scientific excellence and attract highly-skilled researchers and innovators to Europe. 

The ERC encourages the highest quality research in Europe through competitive funding. It also aims to support investigator-driven frontier research across all fields, on the basis of scientific excellence. 

What the ERC funds

ERC grants are awarded through open competition to projects headed by starting and established researchers, irrespective of their origins, who are working or moving to work in Europe. The sole criterion for selection is scientific excellence.  

The goal is to recognise the best ideas and confer status and visibility on the best brains in Europe, while also attracting talent from abroad. 

ERC Work Programme 2024

The European Commission has published the current Work Programme detailing the European Research Council calls for 2024. This document includes all call topics and information needed to apply.

Find out more about ERC grants

Starting Grants

Support for talented early-career researchers who have already produced excellent supervised work, are ready to work independently and show potential to be research leaders.

Consolidator Grants

Support for researchers who want to establish or have recently created a research team and want to continue to develop a successful career.

Advanced Grants

Support for established, leading principal investigators who want long-term funding to pursue a ground-breaking, high-risk project.

Synergy Grants

Support for researchers who want to address a research problem so ambitious that their team cannot deal with it alone.

Proof of Concept Grants

Support for previous and current ERC grantees who want to explore the commercial or societal potential of their work.

ERC National Contact Point (NCP)

We provide free advice and information relating to European Research Council funding.

Additional opportunities

There are other initiatives linked to ERC funding. If you are not planning to apply for a grant, or it’s too early in your career, you may still be interested in:

• jobs in ERC teams
• visiting research fellowships
• international arrangement funding
• mentoring