The ERC kicks off Horizon Europe with the publication of its work programme and call dates. It also announced a new mentoring scheme to widen participation.
22 February marks an important day for Horizon Europe. It is the date of the Commission’s approval and publication of the first work programme, the one for the European Research Council (ERC). Of course, the work programme remains conditional upon the adoption of the Horizon Europe legislative package, but its activities can already start. The 2021 ERC work programme will offer €1.9 billion in funding and allow some 1’000 researchers to pursue their curiosity driven frontier research. A big part of the funds will go to early to mid-career researchers, and on top, ERC funded research groups will be able to hire post-docs and doctoral students.
The announcement of the work programme by the ERC also includes the dates for the launch and closure of the first calls. So appropriately, the first call starting in Horizon Europe will be the ‘ERC Starting Grant’ call launching on 25 February already. It will be open until 8 April, a two weeks’ extension from previously communicated dates, to give researchers more time to prepare. The call will be followed shortly after by ‘Consolidator Grants’, launched on 11 March, and ‘Advanced Grants’, launched on 20 May. The work programme does not foresee any ‘Synergy Grants’ or ‘Proof of Concept Grants’ for 2021, the former will appear in the work programme for 2022.
The new work programme also introduces some novelties. Interviews are now also part of ‘Advanced Grant’ evaluations bringing them in line with the procedures for ‘Starting’ and ‘Consolidator Grants’. The ERC panel structure will include two entirely new evaluation panels for ‘Human Mobility Environment and Space’ and ‘Materials Engineering’. In line with the new rules for Horizon Europe, ERC grantees will have to follow an Open Science policy and submit a data management plan during the first six months of their project. Finally yet importantly, ERC President Professor Jean-Pierre Bourguignon was pleased to announce that applicants, hosted in Horizon 2020 associated countries or third countries negotiating an association to Horizon Europe, will also be eligible to apply, as no country is associated yet at the time of the call launch. The funding of successful applicants will depend on the signature of an association agreement between their host country and the EU before the signature of their grant agreement.
Only a few days earlier, on 15 February, the ERC had also announced the launch of a new mentoring scheme targeting countries with low ERC participation and success rates. The scheme will identify ERC grantees and former evaluation panel members, who can serve as external mentors and strengthen local support programmes for applicants. According to ERC Vice-President Andrzej Jajszczyk, the programme will help to unlock the full potential for frontier research in Europe by widening participation in ERC calls. The programme will work closely with the National Contact Points (NCPs) in the respective countries.