ERC panellist: ‘Applicants still make easy-to-avoid mistakes’

Solid grantsmanship can make all the difference, says former ERC Starting Grants panellist

As a researcher, collecting rejection emails from funders is part of the job. Despite honing your application to perfection, it can feel as though attempts to win funding are more often met with disappointment than satisfaction.

To make it worse, the reasons behind a panel’s decision to accept or reject your application often feel opaque. Konrad Burchardi, an associate professor of economics at the Institute for International Economic Studies in Stockholm, was a panel member for the European Research Council’s Starting Grants in 2021. He describes how funding decisions are made for one of the most prestigious grants for early career researchers in Europe.