On 18 July 2019, the European Research Council launched a call for ERC Synergy Grants.
The call aims to support groups of 2–4 principal investigators and their teams to work together on a top research project with breakthrough discoveries that otherwise could not be achieved if each researcher worked separately.

Grant scheme:3rd ERC 2020 work programme
Launched by: European Research Council
Grant type: ERC Synergy Grants (ERC SyG)

ERC SyG objectives

1. To support groups of 2–4 principal investigators (PI) and their teams to work together on a top research project with breakthrough discoveries that otherwise could not be achieved if each researcher worked separately.
2. To achieve major discoveries at the boundaries of knowledge resulting, for example, from the synergy and combination of science disciplines, new and productive directions of inquiries, or new methods and techniques, including original scientific approaches and researches on the boundary between existing scientific disciplines.
3. To support breakthrough research with the potential to become a benchmark worldwide.
4. Researchers must demonstrate in the proposal a completely new and revolutionary idea of research, as well as their ambition and the way of conducting their research.
5. Researchers are also obliged to indicate in their proposal what synergic effects and elements of research will be jointly created and integrated by the formed group to achieve and master the goal of the research.

Call allocation: EUR 350,000,000 (expected number of supported grants 39)
Eligible expenditure: Max. up to EUR 10 million
Project realization:6 years

Deadline:5 November 2019
Announcement of evaluation:20 April 2020 (assumed)
Target group: A small group of 2–4 principal investigators and their teams

Requirements for researchers

1. The group of researchers is led by one of them in the position of a grant coordinator
2. A researcher/investigator may be of any nationality or age (even outside the EU), provided that the research is conducted within the host institution in the EU or associated countries. There is an exception to the ERC SyG according to which one of the principal investigators outside the group coordinator may be involved in a non-EU host institution or associated country.
3. The workload of each principal investigator on the ERC SyG project should be MIN. 0.3 (MIN. 0.5 in case of principal investigators involved in host institutions in the EU or associated countries).
4. The researcher can only participate in one ERC project as a PI.
5. The principal investigator should:
   1. either have sufficient scientific results appropriate to the field and career level (early achievements); in particular at least 5 publications in international peer-reviewed journals with at least one major publication without a PhD supervisor, together with scientific monographs and their possible translations, granted patents, invited lectures at international conferences/universities, awards, and memberships in academic bodies, or
   2. list the most relevant publications for the last 10 years (a ten-year track record) with him/her as the main author together with scientific monographs and their possible translations, granted patents, invited lectures at international conferences/universities, awards, and memberships in academic bodies, scientific expeditions, participation in the organization of scientific conferences related to the subject of research (membership of the principal investigator in the organizing committee), significant contributions to the career development of excellent scientists, and evidence of leadership in industrial innovation and design.
6. The contribution of each investigator (PI) and their team to the objective of the research and the (data) resources involved should be presented and described in the application.

 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THE CALL

Ing. Jitka Blažková

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Phone:	+420 549 49 8532
E‑mail:

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