European Research Council (ERC)
European Research Council (ERC)
The ERC is a flagship component of Horizon Europe, the EU’s programme for research and innovation. It provides individual grants to outstanding scholars with excellent research ideas. The focus is on academic excellence and pioneering frontier research, which is why the calls are open to all topics.
- Starting Grants for researchers with 2–7 years of experience since the completion of their PhD; up to 1.5 million euros over a maximum of five years
- Consolidator Grants for with 7–12 years of experience since the completion of their PhD; up to 2 million euros over a maximum of five years
- Advanced Grants for experienced excellent researchers; up to 2.5 million euros over a maximum of five years
- Synergy Grants for groups of two to four researchers and their teams; up to 10 million euros over a maximum of six years
Researchers who have already secured an ERC grant and would like to turn the ideas generated from the project into innovations can acquire additional funding through the ERC’s Proof of Concept calls.
The ERC calls are organised in annual work programmes. Applications are usually submitted by individuals, together with a host institution.
Do you have an outstanding research idea and an excellent CV?
Feel free to contact us! eu-ssc(at)uni-due.de
ERC Mentoring at the UDE
UDE offers outstanding young researchers an attractive academic environment. ERC applicants are provided with comprehensive support during the application phase. To this end, a mentoring programme for ERC Starting and Consolidator Grant applicants has been established, which enables applicants to exchange ideas with experienced ERC grantees, reviewers and expert researchers, and guarantees intensive administrative support in all phases of the application.
Please do not hesitate to contact us for more information.
eu-ssc(at)uni-due.de
Our mentors
Prof. Dr. Rainer Meckenstock
Prof. Meckenstock heads the Department of Aquatic Microbiology at the Faculty of Chemistry.
Institutional affiliations:
- Biofilm Center
- Strategic research area Water Science
- Centre for Water and Environmental Research
In his ERC Advanced Grant ‘EcOILogy – Microbial life in oil’, Prof. Meckenstock investigated how microbial degradation works in petroleum. Among other things, he addressed the following questions: How do microorganisms manage to survive in oil at 50 degrees despite extreme conditions? How exactly does life in oil work?
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Gabi Schierning
Prof. Schierning holds the Chair of Applied Quantum Materials at the Faculty of Engineering and is also a member of the Research Centre Future Energy Materials and Systems at the UA Ruhr.
Institutional affiliation:
- Research Centre Future Energy Materials and Systems at the UA Ruhr
- Profile focus: Nanosciences
- Center for NanoIntegration Duisburg-Essen (CENIDE)
In her ERC Consolidator Grant MATTER ‘MAcroscopic Quantum Transport MaTERial by Nanoparticle Processing,’ Prof. Schierning investigates topologically protected surface transport in nanomaterials. To do this, the nanomaterials must be synthesized and characterized in terms of their structural and electronic properties. The challenge here is to distinguish the different transport properties of electrons in 2D surface states from those in 3D volume states. In the long term, this should make it possible to utilize surface transport properties for specific applications.
Prof. Dr. Achim Goerres
Prof. Goerres holds the Chair in Empirical Political Science at the Faculty of Social Sciences.
Institutional affiliations:
- Institute of Political Science
- Strategic research area Change of Contemporary Societies
- Interdisciplinary Center for Immigration and Integration Research
In his ERC Consolidator Grant ‘POLITSOLID – The Ties that Bind: Experimental Analyses of Political Solidarities in Modern European Democracies’, Prof. Goerres is creating an artificial online state called Novaland, investigating how and why people react to external changes.