European Research Council (ERC) Announces €657 million for 2022 Consolidator Grants
A total of 321 mid-career researchers will receive funding of up to €2 million each to help them conduct pioneering research.
The European Research Council (ERC) has announced the results of the 2022 round of its Consolidator Grants, which help mid-career researchers consolidate their teams and conduct ground-breaking, pioneering research on topics of their choosing.
The grants are worth up to €2 million each over a period of five years, as well as an additional €1 million to cover:
- Eligible ‘start-up’ costs for PIs moving to the EU or an Associated Country from elsewhere as a consequence of receiving the ERC grant.
- Purchase of major equipment.
- Access to large facilities.
- Other major experimental and field work costs, excluding personnel costs.
The 2022 round of funding launched in October 2021 and closed for applications on 17 March 2022. A total of 2,222 proposals were submitted, of which 321 will receive funding, a success rate of 14.4%, up from the previous year’s success rate of 11.8%, when 2,652 applications were submitted.
Of the successful projects:
- 133 will be based on research in physical sciences and engineering.
- 91 will be based on life sciences research.
- 97 will be based on research in the social sciences and humanities.
Among the winners, 112 (34.8%) were female grantees, a slight increase on the previous year’s figure of 33.5%. Grants were awarded to researchers working in 21 countries, with Germany (62), the UK (45) and France (41) receiving the highest number of grants, while nationals of 37 countries were awarded funds, with the greatest numbers being Germans (52 researchers), Italians (32), French (31) and British (31).
As the UK is still not associated to Horizon Europe, successful applicants based in the UK will only be eligible for funding if the relevant Horizon Europe association agreement has been certified by the time of the signature of the grant agreement. However, successful applicants from UK host institutions can still be funded provided that they move to a host institution in an eligible country.
Full details of all the winning researchers are available on the ERC website.
(This report was the subject of a ResearchConnect Newsflash.)