Wednesday, March 20
5:45 p.m.
Convention Center
Room 321

Speaker: Georgios Tzamalis, PhD (ERC Scientific Officer)

The European Research Council (ERC) is the first European body to fund bottom up investigator-driven research at the frontiers of knowledge. Launched in 2007, it has been funding excellent science in Europe ever since.  Governed by a council of 22 eminent scientists, the ERC is highly regarded by the international research community, and is quickly establishing itself as a world-class research funding agency. Since 2007, the ERC has funded pioneering research, which is now starting to bear fruit.

Through highly competitive calls for attractive grants, the ERC encourages both junior and established researchers to pursue their work in Europe in any field of research and regardless of their nationality. The ERC promotes collaborations between scientists working on funded projects in Europe and international groups anywhere in the world including the USA. To date, over 30 000 scientific proposals have been received, and over 3000 researchers have been funded, including several Nobel Prize winners. By challenging Europe's brightest minds, the ERC expects that its grants will help to bring about new and unpredictable scientific and technological discoveries.

This session will explain the ERC's funding schemes as well as provide answers to practical questions such as:

• How can the ERC support research careers?
• What are its main features?
• What are the selection criteria and how long is the selection process?
• How does the application process work?
• How many researchers are funded each year?
• What are the chances of success?