Pavel Exner

Member of the European Research Council Scientific Council

Research Connection

Prague, 7 May 2009

FP7 IDEAS Programme

The European Research Council… the champions league for research funding in Europe

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Europe can only compete through Europe can only compete through the “knowledge triangle”the “knowledge triangle”

Leadership in Science, the true frontier of our time

Investment in excellent people & researchis an imperative, not an option for a society which does not want to lose in global competition

Education

InnovationResearch

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To become more competitive,To become more competitive,Europe must:Europe must:

Generate, attract & retain top talent

Integrate & internationalise our efforts

Encourage & trust the young

Create attractive career paths

Stimulate a continent-wide competition, a “Champions League”, that sets standards

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by investing in the best researchers & ideas

through investigator-driven projects

through competition at European level

on the basis of scientific excellence

as the sole criterion

ERC Aim & Strategy:ERC Aim & Strategy:Put Excellence at the Heart of European Science Policy

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ERC Grant schemesERC Grant schemes3Rs and 2 schemes

Aim: Retain – Repatriate – Recruit

Favour “brain gain” & “reverse brain drain” improve career opportunities & independence (esp.for the young)

increase competition, recognition & international visibility for individual top researchers in Europe

Raise aspiration & achievement of basic research in Europe - benchmark for researchers & research systems

Activities: 2 funding schemes ERC Starting Grant (StG): attract & retain the next generation of

independent research leaders - up to € 2.0 Mio for 5 years

ERC Advanced Grant (AdG): attract & reward established independent research leaders - up to € 3.5 Mio for 5 years

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ERC Grant schemesERC Grant schemesWho can apply? – General requirements

1. Principal Investigator Nationality / age / current place of work - not relevant

2. Host organisation located in EU member state/ associated country

3. Frontier Research project All fields of science, engineering & scholarship

(investigator-driven, bottom-up) Interdisciplinary projects encouraged

4. Individual research team In contrast to other FP7 programmes, ERC puts

emphasis on PI who can act alone or as a part of a team, national or international

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All fields of science, engineering & scholarship

For operational reasons the ERC ScC agreed on:

3 main research domains + to pre-allocate budget to these domains, incl. a 4th budget area for interdisciplinary research (interdisciplinary proposals which are cross-domain or cross-panel)

Physical Sciences & Engineering

Life Sciences (incl. medical)

Social Sciences & Humanities

Interdisciplinary Research

The call budgets are pre-allocated to these areas as follows:

39% - 34% - 14% - 13%

ERC Grant schemesERC Grant schemesAll fields, budget pre-allocation in 3 + 1 areas

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ERC Starting GrantERC Starting GrantProfile of the PI

Any nationality / age Any current place of work – but: working / moving to work in Europe (EU MS/ AS)

3-8 years after PhD - some career breaks accepted (up to a max 2 years) Potential for research independence & evidence of maturity

at least one important publication without participation of PhD supervisor

Track-record of early research achievements appropriate to their research field & career stage Starters vs Consolidators

First StG callFirst StG call 9167 proposals received - 559 interviews conducted - 299 grants9167 proposals received - 559 interviews conducted - 299 grants21 host countries, 32 nationalities, 170 host institutions21 host countries, 32 nationalities, 170 host institutions

Average Age: 35 yrsAverage Age: 35 yrs (spans from 28 – 44 yrs) (spans from 28 – 44 yrs)

Average post-PhD experience: 6-7 yrsAverage post-PhD experience: 6-7 yrs Average grant size: €1.1 Mio.Average grant size: €1.1 Mio. Gender: 26% womenGender: 26% women (varying from 12-71% across the different panels) (varying from 12-71% across the different panels)

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ERC Advanced GrantERC Advanced GrantProfile of the PI

Same as for StG (Any nationality / age / current place of work +working / moving to work in Europe)

and

Strong leadership profile (impact, recognition)

Excellent track record(in recent years, achievements no older than 10 years)

First AdG callFirst AdG call2167 proposals received - 280 grants

Average Age: 51 yrs (spans from 36 - 76yrs) Average post-PhD experience: 23 yrs Average requested grant: PE-1.9 M€, LS-2.1 M€, SH-1.7M€ Gender: 14% women (varying from 3 - 29% across panels)

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Complementarity of StG & AdGComplementarity of StG & AdG

Academic Age of Grantees (Years after PhD)

No PhD: 15 men, AdG-08

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46

Years after PhD

Num

ber

of G

rant

ees

Advanced grant 08

Starting grant 07

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Repatriation and RecruitmentRepatriation and Recruitment Grantees moving to Europe from overseas

Starting Grant 2007Advanced Grant 2008

Argentina Japan Australia

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Visibility of Frontier Research in EuropeVisibility of Frontier Research in EuropeGrantees and host institutions in the mediaGrantees and host institutions in the media

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ERC / National Funding ERC / National Funding Organisations InteractionsOrganisations Interactions

Complementarity and synergies NFO responsible for building up excellence in the national

research community (‘National League’) ERC responsible for building up excellence across Europe

without regard to nationality (‘European Champions League’) ERC as benchmark/indicator for excellence in frontier

research NFOs annual budget: ca €20 bn in total (DFG: €1733,8 Mio,

NSF: 6430 Mio, SNF: €295 Mio, NWO: €385Mio) ERC annual budget: ca €1.1bn in average (for 2007-2013)

Mutual support and cooperation National support for StG runners-up (CH, IT, SE, FR, CY, AT,

Flanders, HU, ES, NO, …), or extras to winners (Poland) NFO collaborate on expert level, other ways are sought

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Thank you!