ERC publishes new guidelines
The European Research Council (ERC) has now published its guidelines for national or regional authorities and other organisations wishing to set up fellowship programmes to fund short term visits of potential ERC applicants to current ERC grantees’ teams.
Countries eligible for hosting ERC grants may consider introducing such schemes to stimulate and help their researchers fare better in ERC grant competitions. The ERC welcomes such initiatives by facilitating and streamlining the process.
Professor Éva Kondorosi, research professor at the Biological Research Centre of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and chair of the ERC Scientific Council’s Working Group on Widening European Participation, said: “We encourage such measures. The fellowship programmes can create win-win situations. They will offer prospective applicants for ERC grants an opportunity to see first-hand how ERC-funded research works in practice, while for the ERC grantees who will host the visitors they will be a chance to strengthen and diversify their teams. Overall, this can advance our goal to widen the European participation in ERC calls and use the full potential for frontier research across Europe.”
The guidelines recommend that fellowship programmes are notified to the ERC, are open to researchers of all disciplines, and are based on transparent evaluation, with scientific excellence as the main criterion and final selection based on applicants’ potential to be awarded an ERC grant. The programmes should require the visitors to apply for an ERC grant within a specified time after the visit. Costs, such as travel and salary pertaining to these visits, should be covered by the scheme organisers, say the guidelines.
The ERC says it will recognise the fellowship schemes that follow the guidelines and will promote them among grantees, facilitating exchange of information between the grantees and scheme organisers.
