ERC Call for Applications: ERC Synergy Grant

The European Research Council (ERC) invites you to apply for the ERC Synergy Grant.

Who can apply?:

A group of two to maximum four Principal Investigators (PIs) working together and bringing different skills and resources to tackle ambitious research problems. One will be designated as the corresponding PI (cPI).
No specific eligibility criteria regarding the academic training are foreseen for ERC Synergy Grants.
PIs must present a competitive track record as appropriate to their career stage.
Proposals are evaluated on the sole criterion of scientific excellence which takes on the additional meaning of outstanding intrinsic synergetic effect.What proposals are eligible?

What proposals are eligible?:

Applications can be made in any field of research.
The ERC’s grants operate on a ‘bottom-up’ basis without predetermined priorities. In the case of the ERC Synergy Grants, applications must demonstrate that the proposed research cannot be carried out by a single PI working alone.
Research must be conducted by all PIs in a public or private research organisation (known as a Host Institution, HI).
One Principal Investigator per Synergy Grant group at any one time can be hosted or engaged by an institution outside of the EU or Associated Countries
PIs can apply within the same HI or through different HIs.
ERC Synergy grants support projects carried out by a group of two to four individual researchers who can employ researchers of any nationality as team members. It is also possible to have one or more team members located in a third country.

Funding details:

Synergy Grants can be up to a maximum of € 10 million for a period of 6 years (pro rata for projects of shorter duration).
However, an additional € 4 million can be requested in the proposal in total to cover eligible “start-up” costs for researchers moving from a third country to the EU or an associated country and/or the purchase of major equipment and/or access to large facilities and/or other major experimental and field work costs.
An ERC grant can cover up to 100% of the total eligible direct costs of the research plus a contribution of 25% of the total eligible costs towards indirect costs.