ERC Consolidator Grants
Are you a scientist who wants to consolidate your independence by establishing a research team and continuing to develop a success career in Europe? The ERC Consolidator Grant could be for you. You can also apply if you have recently created an independent, excellent research team and want to strengthen it.
The ERC Consolidator Grants are designed to support excellent Principal Investigators at the career stage at which they may still be consolidating their own independent research team or programme. Principal Investigators must demonstrate the ground-breaking nature, ambition and feasibility of their scientific proposal.
Size of ERC Consolidator Grants
Consolidator Grants may be awarded up to a maximum of EUR 2 000 000 for a period of 5 years. The maximum size of the grants is reduced pro rata temporis for projects of a shorter duration. (This does not apply to ongoing projects).
Additional funding up to EUR 1 000 000 can be requested in the proposal to cover the following eligible costs when these are necessary to carry out the proposed work: (a) "start-up" costs for Principal Investigators moving to the EU or an Associated Country from elsewhere as a consequence of receiving the ERC grant and/or (b) the purchase of major equipment and/or (c) access to large facilities and/or (d) other major experimental and field work costs, excluding personnel costs.
Additional funding is not subject to pro rata temporis reduction for projects of shorter duration.
All funding requested is assessed during evaluation.
Who can apply?
Researchers of any nationality with 7-12 years of experience since completion of PhD, a scientific track record showing great promise and an excellent research proposal can apply.
Extension of eligibility
Eligibility can be extended for reasons such as maternity, paternity, illness, national service, training, natural disasters, or asylum.
Check out the Parental leave webpage and the latest ERC Work Programme to find the specific rules regarding eligibility criteria.
PhD defence date
The European Research Council (ERC) has changed the reference date for calculating the eligibility window for the Starting and Consolidator Grant calls in their Work Programme 2023.
Instead of the date of the actual award, the certified date of the successful PhD defence will be used as a reference point. This change was made to ensure fair competition in terms of career stage, as the term "award" varies across countries and universities.
For applicants where no defence/viva was organised in the awarding institution, the applicant should provide a written confirmation from that awarding institution stating that no defence/viva was organised and indicating the date when the PhD was approved.
What proposals are eligible?
Criteria
Applications can be made in any field of research.
The ERC's grants operate on a 'bottom-up' basis without predetermined priorities.
Location
Research must be conducted in a public or private research organisation (known as a Host Institution/HI). It could be the HI where the applicant already works, or any other HI located in one of the EU Member States or associated countries
Host Institution
Applications for an ERC grant require a single Principal Investigator (PI) to submit the application on behalf of their host institution.
The host institution must offer suitable conditions for the PI to independently lead the research and manage funding. The PI can be hosted by any legal entity in an EU Member State or associated country.
The PI does not need to be employed by the host institution at the time of proposal submission, but a mutual agreement and commitment are necessary if the proposal is successful.
Team
ERC grants support projects carried out by an individual researcher who can employ researchers of any nationality as team members. It is also possible to have one or more team members located in a non-European country.
