ERC Consolidator Grants: 372 top researchers funded with €713 million to pursue their best ideas
On 12 March, the European Research Council (ERC) announced the 372 winners of its second Consolidator Grant competition. These excellent mid-career scientists are awarded a total of €713 million, as part of the European Union Research and Innovation programme Horizon 2020. Grants are worth up to €2.75 million each, with an average of €1.91 million per grant. The funding will enable them to consolidate their research teams and to develop their most innovative ideas.
Faculty member Katharina von Kriegstein is one of the recipients of the ERC Consolidator Grant. Her project title is: “The tiny and the fast: the role of subcortical sensory structures in human communication” (SENSOCOM).
The researchers selected in this call will, for example, analyse the causes of harmful behaviour in teenagers; resolve puzzles about the nature of autism and dyslexia; and go beyond Einstein's theory to bring about a revolution in our understanding of gravity and the dark universe. (Read more.)
On this occasion Carlos Moedas, European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, said: "With every project of this calibre, we're making Europe the laboratory of the world. Our most extraordinary and creative researchers benefit from EU funding and, in turn, Europe benefits every day from its investment in knowledge and people".
The President of the ERC, Professor Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, commented: “These Consolidator Grants awarded to 372 research leaders, still in an early stage of their career, will also back some 1,500 postdocs and PhD students as team members. This is one more way in which the ERC is fostering the next generation of bright research talent, and thereby the human basis for Europe’s competitiveness that conditions its economic growth.” He added: "It’s encouraging to see that the share of female grantees has increased significantly".
The share of female grantees in this call was 28%, an increase from the 2013 Consolidator Grant competition (24%). Furthermore, female applicants were slightly more successful than male applicants (the success rate for women was 15.2% and for men 14.9%). Overall, 15% of applicants in this competition were successful.
