European Research Council

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The European Research Council 7PQ Da Ideia ao
Projecto
Filipa Ferraz de OliveiraERC/European
CommissionRTD, Directorate S
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Overview

• Background Evolution
• Organisation Management
• Funding Schemes Activities
• Grant Agreement

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Research in theEuropean Integration Process
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The birth of theEuropean Research Council

• The ERC is
• A logical development of the European Research
  Area
• (Philippe Busquin)
• Securely anchored in European legislation
• and..
• A revolutionary development

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FP7, Specific programmes
Cooperation Collaborative research
Ideas Frontier Research
People Human Potential
Capacities Research Capacity

JRC (non-nuclear)
JRC (nuclear)
Euratom
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FP7 Ideas Programme

• Creates ERC
• Provides funding for the research
• Budget (2007-2013) 7.51 bn (around 15 of FP7
  budget)
• Average budget 1 bn per year
• Sets overall objectives and operating principles

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Overview

• Organisation Management

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ERC Actors

• The Scientific CouncilIndependent scientific
  governance
• The AgencyPractical implementation and
  management of operations
• The European UnionProviding the financial means

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The Scientific CouncilMembers Role

• 22 most respected researchers covering the full
  range of research fields
• proposed by an independent identification
  committee
• appointed by the Commission (for 4 years,
  renewable once)

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The Scientific Council Organisation

• 22 Members of the Scientific Council elected the
  Chair and Vice-Chairs
• One Chair Prof. Fotis Kafatos
• Two Vice-Chairs Prof. Helga Nowotnyand Dr
  Daniel Estève

• Regular Plenary Meetings (every 1-2 months)
• Secretariat of the ScC(Directorate S)

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The Agency

• Executes annual work programme as established by
  the Scientific Council
• Implements calls for proposalsand provides
  information and support to applicants
• Organises peer review evaluation
• Establishes and manages grant agreements
• Administers scientific and financial aspectsand
  follow-up of grant agreements

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Dedicated ImplementationStructure (DIS)

• Progressive establishment of ERC Executive Agency
  Principles of lean and efficient management apply
• 1st step Directory S
• A dedicated service within the Commission it
  recruits capacities and adopts operational
  methods
• 2nd step Transition to Executive Agency
• Establishment within he first trimester of 2007
  fully operational by mid 2008
• 3rd step Review of ERC structure by 2010

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The European Union(represented by the European
Commission)

• Provides financingthrough the EU framework
  programmes
• Guarantees autonomyof the ERC
• Assures the integrity and accountabilityof the
  ERC
• Adopts annual work programmesas established by
  the Scientific Council

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The ERC Board

• Prof. Fotis Kafatos ERC President Chair of the
  ScC
• Prof. Helga NowotnyDr Daniel Esteve ERC
  Vice-Presidents Vice-Chairs of ERC ScC
• Prof. Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker ERC
  Secretary-General
• Jack Metthey Director of ERC DIS
  (EC RTD Directorate S)

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Overview

• Funding Schemes Activities

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ERC GrantsStrategic principles

• Eligible fields of science
• investigator-driven, bottom-up
• Excellence as a criterion
• individual team research project
• Investment in research talent
• Attractive, flexible grants, up to five years
• under control of the lead researcher (PI)
• Independent individual teams in Europe
• nationality of researchers is not relevant
• host organisation to be located in EU or AS

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ERC GrantsWho can apply ?

• Individual Research Teams
• headed by a single Principal Investigator (team
  leader)
• of any nationality
• if necessary, including additional team members
• The Principal Investigator has
• the freedom to choose the research topic and the
  power to assemble his/her research team meeting
  the needs of the project.
• Teams can be of national or trans-national
  character.

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ERC Grant Schemes

• Two grant schemes
• ERC Starting Independent Researcher Grant scheme
  (ERC Starting Grant)
• 1st call for proposals published, deadline 25
  April 2007
• ERC Advanced Investigator Grant scheme (ERC
  Advanced Grant)
• 1st call for proposals published later in 2007

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ERC Grants - Operational Principles

• Application in response to calls for proposals
• Two-step application Procedure due to large
  number of expected applications
• ERC peer review evaluation process based panels
  panels select proposals to be funded and
  applicable budgets

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ERC Starting GrantSubmission of Proposals

• Pre-registration (via EPSS)
• Providing ERC with indication on number area of
  proposals
• Two-step application procedure (risk of
  oversubscription)
• 1st stage - Outline Proposal max 8 Pages
• 2nd stage Full Proposal max 16 Pages
• Proposal Components
• CV self-evaluation funding ID (3 / 4 pages)
• Description of research project (4 / 10 pages)
• Description of scientific environment resources
  (1 / 2 pages)

• Electronic Submission only (via EPSS)

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ERC budget 2007-2013

• Total Budget 7.51 bn
• 1/3 Starting Grants, 2/3 Advanced Grants
• Less than 5 for operational ERC management
• 1st Call
• StG only, Jan 2007, 300 Mio.
• Budget allocated to three areas (for operational
  reasons)
• 2nd Call
• AdG only, August 2007, 550 Mio.
• 3rd call onwards
• StG AdG 1.0 bn per year

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ERC Submission, Evaluation and Selection Process
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Evaluation Stage 1
Reception of proposals 1
Eligibility check 1
Allocation of proposals to panels
Invitation for Stage 2
ScC Coherency Due process
Recommended
Panel meetings
Not recommended
Evaluation Reports
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Evaluation Stage 2
Assignment of referees to proposals
Reception of proposals 2
Eligibility check 2
Remote review by referees
Panel meetings preparation
Interviews of applicants
ScC Coherency Due process
Panel meetings
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Consolidation
Review Ethical Issues
Recommended
Lists per panel
Reserve
Not recommended
Panel chairs meeting Interdisciplinary proposals
Consolidated evaluation report (including
statistics)
Selection by ERC Scientific Council (allocation
of discretionary budget)
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Evaluation CriteriaScientific Excellence is the
sole Criterion

• Potential of Principal Investigator
• Quality of research project
• Research Environment and Resources
• Referees and panels evaluate and score criteria
  under 1. and 2. numerically
• 0-5 points, in increments of 0.5
• Threshold 8 / 10
• Criteria under 3. will be considered as
  "pass/fail" and commented but not scored

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ERC Starting GrantEvaluation criteria (I)

• Principal Investigator Potential
• Quality of research
• Publications of PI in high quality peer reviewed
  journals or the equivalent
• Papers of PI demonstrative of independent
  creative thinking and capacity to go beyond the
  state-of-the-art
• Intellectual capacity and creativity
• Records of research, collaborations, project
  conception, supervision of students and
  publications demonstrative of new productive
  lines of thinking

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ERC Starting GrantEvaluation criteria (II)

• Quality of the research proposal
• Ground-breaking nature
• Is the proposal challenging?
• Does it go substantially beyond the current state
  of the art (e.g. including trans-disciplinary
  developments and unconventional approaches)?
• Potential scientific impact
• Does it open new and important, scientific,
  technological or scholarly horizons?
• Methodology
• Stage 1 Is the outlined scientific approach
  feasible?
• Stage 2 Is the proposed research methodology
  comprehensive and appropriate? Are the envisaged
  goals to be achieved within the timescales? Are
  proposed resources and the level of risk adequate
  to the challenging research project?

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ERC Starting GrantEvaluation criteria (III)

• Research Environment
• Transition to independence
• Is the consolidation or the transition to
  independence guaranteed?
• Host institution
• Is required infrastructure available?
• Is appropriate intellectual environment and
  infrastructural support provided?
• Participation of other legal entities
• Check of justification for participation of
  other legal entities

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Overview

• Grant Agreement

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ERC Grant AgreementConcept

• ERC/EU Agreement with Principal Investigators
  host institution (beneficiary)
• Rights/obligations on scientific, financial,
  ethical conduct and monitoring, eligible costs,
  IPR, modifications, grant portability
• PI Agreement with host institution
• Rights/obligations administration, project
  execution, IPR
• Single grant holder approach
• But multi-partner/multi-national teams are
  possible
• Grant agreement not negotiable
• Grant agreement and budget based on the proposal
  and the peer review decision
• PI can accept/reject the offered grant

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ERC Grant Agreement
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ERC Grant AgreementMain Elements

• Core Grant Agreement (between ERC and hosting
  organisation)
• Description of work (Annex I to the Grant
  Agreement)
• General Conditions (Annex II to the Grant
  Agreement)
• Supplementary Agreement (between PI and hosting
  organisation)
• Accession Form (if more than one hosting
  organisation - Annex III)
• Special clause (if more than one hosting
  organisation for team members)

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Information

• ERC Scientific Council http//erc.europa.eu
• EU research http//europa.eu.int/comm/research
• Seventh Framework Programme http//europa.eu.int/
  comm/research/future/index_en.cfm
• Information on research programmes and projects
• http//www.cordis.lu
• International Scientific cooperation policy
• http//europa.eu.int/comm/research/iscp
• Information requests
• http//ec.europa.eu/europedirect/index_en.htm

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Applicants Services

• ERC National Contact Pointsinform, raise
  awareness and provide advice on ERC funding
  opportunities, application, follow-up
• ERC helpdesksupport to ERC NCPs
• EPSS helpdesktechnical support on electronic
  proposal submission
• ERC website http//erc.europa.eu?News Alert,
  Publicity Material

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Thank you for your attention!
Directorate-General for Research Implementation
of the "Ideas" programme Maria-filipa.ferraz-de-o
liveira_at_ec.europa.eu