The ERC’s Starting Grants are for talented early-career scientists (2-7 years of experience since completion of PhD) of any nationality, who have already produced excellent supervised work, show potential to be research leaders, and are ready to work independently.

The grants award up to € 1.5 million for 5 years to an individual researcher (who can employ a team), with additional funds available for relocation, major equipment, access to large facilities, and other costs. There are no predetermined priorities and applications can be made in any field of research.

The key factor for success, however? Submitting an excellent research proposal.

Proposals are evaluated on the basis of excellence as the sole criterion, which is applied to the evaluation of both the research project and the Principal Investigator together. The evaluation is done by selected international peer reviewers.

We invite you to visit the ERC’s website for more information and to explore below the results from the 2024 call. If you are planning to apply, we also invite you to explore the mentoring resources from the Young Academy of Europe for applicants to the ERC’s Starting Grants.

And remember the deadline for the 2025 call is 15 October 2024!

The 2024 ERC’s Starting Grants results

The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded 494 Starting Grants to young scientists and scholars across Europe, to a total of almost €780 million, supporting cutting-edge research in the Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Engineering, and Social Sciences and Humanities. The funding is part of the EU Horizon Europe programme.

This competition attracted 3,474 proposals and had a 14.2% success rate overall across all disciplines. Female researchers were awarded 44% of the grants, compared with 43% in 2023 and 39% in 2022.

In the Life Sciences there were 992 submitted proposals, with 146 proposals selected (PDF).

Host institutions were based at 24 EU Member States and associated countries, including Germany (98 grants), the Netherlands (51), the UK (50) and France (49). The researchers come from Europe and beyond, with 51 nationalities represented, notably Germans (94 researchers), Italians (61), French (44), and Spaniards (36).

View more statistics (PDF) and the full list of winners (PDF) from the ERC's Starting Grants 2024 awards.

How to keep up to date on ERC funding opportunities?

The ERC has a new WhatsApp Channel that you can follow, which shares real-time updates, quick tips, and application reminders. You can also follow the ERC on X, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube, and subscribe to the ERC Update newsletter (at the end of the ERC’s homepage).

Top image by the European Research Council.