Go back

January 2021 ERC calls delayed

Image: Garry Knight [CC BY 2.0], via Flickr

Starting Grants and Proof of Concept Grants affected, with possible delay for Consolidator Grants

Calls for European Research Council funding rounds scheduled to open in January 2021 are to be delayed due to the late adoption of the EU’s 2021-27 budget and the legislation for its Horizon Europe R&D programme, the ERC has announced.

The ERC told Research Professional News that planned calls for Starting Grants, which provide early career researchers with up to €2.5 million over five years, and Proof of Concept Grants, which provide researchers the ERC has already funded with a further €150,000 to explore commercialisation over 18 months, will definitely be affected. 

It said a call for Consolidator Grants, which provide up to €3.5 million over five years for mid-career researchers, might also be affected.

The ERC said in its announcement that the calls “will be rescheduled to the earliest possible date next year”, confirming to Research Professional News that “next year” meant later in 2021. It said it would aim to preserve the planned dates for the calls “as much as possible”.

But the ERC also said that “for the time being” the Proof of Concept call is not included in the draft 2021 ERC work programme, and that the ERC’s governing Scientific Council might make modifications to the Proof of Concept scheme.

Asked by Research Professional News whether the Proof of Concept call might therefore be rescheduled to 2022, an ERC spokesperson said: “This depends on when the Scientific Council will take a decision on the matter.”

The ERC said it hoped to provide more information around mid-January. 

On 17 December, the European Commission formally extended the ERC until the Horizon Europe legislation is adopted. It also appointed five new members to the ERC’s Scientific Council: 

  • Physiologist Liselotte Højgaard, a head of department at the University of Copenhagen.
  • Plant biologist Dirk Inzé, science director and head of the VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology in Belgium.
  • Electronics scientist Rodrigo Martins, president of the Portuguese Academy of Engineering. 
  • Materials physicist Nicola Spaldin, a professor at ETH Zurich.
  • Particle physicist Alice Valkárová, president of the Czech Science Foundation.