A Starting Grant Principal Investigator should have already shown evidence of the potential for research independence, for example, by having produced at least one important publication as its main author or a publication without the participation of their PhD supervisor.

Objectives

• The ERC strives to achieve the following objectives:
  • To promote scientific excellence in research by funding ground-breaking, high-risk, and ambitious frontier research;
  • To attract the best talent and skill to Europe, to support early-career researchers, and to promote exchange of ideas and knowledge;
  • To increase Europe’s competitiveness in the international research arena.

Core Principles

• To achieve the abovementioned objectives, the ERC has established a competitive peer review and funding model that subscribes to the following core principles:
  • Scientific excellence at the heart of the evaluation process;
  • Openness to researchers of any age, nationality, gender, career stage, and research field, residing in any country in the world at the time of application;
  • Autonomy and independence of researchers and their teams to pursue frontier research;
  • Transparency, fairness, and impartiality in carrying out its mission;
  • Upholding ethical principles and ensuring research integrity and security;
  • Acknowledging the diversity of applicants and their research career paths;
  • Commitment to open science, including open access to the published output of research, as well as access to research data and related products.

Funding Information

• Starting Grants may be awarded up to a maximum of EUR 1500000 for a period of 5 years.
• Additional funding up to EUR 1000000 can be requested to cover further eligible costs (e.g. start-up costs, major equipment, access to large facilities, major experimental and field work costs) when these are necessary to carry out the proposed work.
• Grants are awarded for a duration of up to five years or sixty months (six years or seventy-two months for Synergy Grants).

Eligibility Criteria

• Eligible Proposal
  • The content of the proposal must relate to the objectives and to the grant type set out in the call, as defined in this Work Programme. If a proposal is considered not to relate to the objectives of the grant or call for proposals, it will be declared ineligible.
• Eligible Principal Investigator(s)
  • ERC grant schemes are open to researchers of any age and nationality, residing anywhere in the world at the time of application, and wishing to carry out their research in one of the EU or Associated Country-based Host Institutions.
  • Principal Investigators applying to the Starting or Consolidator Grant calls must meet the following specific eligibility criteria i.e. the respective eligibility periods based on the time elapsed between the date of the successful defence of their first PhD degree or an equivalent doctoral degree.
• Eligible Host Institution
  • Any type of legal entity, public or private, including a university, a research organisation, or an undertaking can host a Principal Investigator and their team.
  • To participate in ERC frontier research actions the Host Institution must be established either in an EU Member State or an Associated Country35 as a legal entity created under national law, or it may be an international European research organisation (such as the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), etc.), or any other entity created under EU law.
• Eligible Scientific Field
  • Applications in any field of science are eligible for ERC funding and the ERC welcomes research proposals of an interdisciplinary nature.

Restrictions on Applications

• The following restrictions apply to calls under the ERC Work Programme 2026:
  • A researcher may participate as a Principal Investigator in only one ERC main frontier research grant at any given time;
  • An applicant, whose proposal has been selected for funding and who is preparing a Grant Agreement under a call of the ERC Work Programme 2024 or 2025, may not apply for a Starting, Consolidator, Advanced, or Synergy Grant under a call of the ERC Work Programme 2026;
  • A researcher participating as a Principal Investigator in one of the ERC main frontier research grants may not submit another proposal for an ERC main frontier research grant, unless the existing project ends42 in less than two years following the call deadline;
  • A Principal Investigator who is a serving Panel Member for an ERC call under the Work Programme 2026 or who has served as a Panel Member for an ERC call under Work Programme 2024 may not apply to a call for the same type of main frontier research grant under the ERC Work Programme 2026;
  • An applicant may submit proposals to different ERC main frontier research grant calls published under the same Work Programme, but only the first eligible proposal will be evaluated.

Application Requirements

• Proposals that do not include some or all of the sections listed below may be declared inadmissible:
  • Part I of the Scientific Proposal: up to five pages;
  • Part II of the Scientific Proposal: up to seven pages (up to ten pages for Synergy Grant proposals);
  • Curriculum Vitae (CV) and Track Record: up to four pages for each Principal Investigator;
  • Resources and Time Commitment: up to two pages (except Synergy Grant Proposals, where this section may exceed two pages);
  • Host Institution Support Letter;
  • Ethics Issues Table;
  • PhD Record and Supporting Documents for Eligibility Checking (for Starting and Consolidator Grants only);
  • Equipment Depreciation Table (for Advanced Grants only).

For more information, visit European Commission.