50% increase in ERC applications
Grant applications to the European Research Council (ERC) have risen by nearly 50% according to the latest figures from the organisation.
A total of 7,002 applications were made to the body from early-career researchers, including 3,673 proposals for the first Consolidator Grant competition of the ERC. Applications reaching 3,329 were also made for the organisation’s Starting Grant scheme. This is compared to the 4,741 proposals submitted in the previous year’s Starting Grant call, which at the time was open to researchers with 2-12 years after their PhD, representing a 48% increase in demand from this group of researchers.
Since 2012, the Starting Grant scheme has been split in two with the ERC Starting Grant targeting researchers with at least two and up to seven years of experience after their PhD and the new ERC Consolidator Grant for researchers with between seven and up to 12 years of experience.
In the Consolidator Grant call, 1,668 proposals were submitted under the ‘Physical Sciences and Engineering’ topic, 1,203 in ‘Life Sciences’ and 802 applications in the areas of ‘Social Sciences and Humanities’.
The results of the Consolidator Grant call are expected to be published at the end of the year.
