Social Sciences and

Humanities in the ERC

-with focus on Italy

Angela Liberatore

Head of Unit

Social Sciences and Humanities, ERCEA

The European Research Council

Support for the individual scientist – no networks!

Global peer-review

No predetermined subjects (bottom-up)

Support of frontier research in all fields of science

and humanities

The ERC supports excellence in frontier research through

a bottom-up, individual-based, pan-European competition

What is ERC?

Le

gis

lati

on

Str

ate

gy

Scientific governance: independent Scientific Council

with 22 members including the ERC President; full

authority over funding strategy

Support by the ERC Executive Agency (autonomous)

Excellence as the only criterion

Budget: € 13 billion (2014-2020) - 1.9 billion €/year

€ 7.5 billion (2007-2013) - 1.1 billion €/year

│ 2

ERC H2020 Budget

ERC Budget

€ 13 billion

│ 3

ERC Scientific Council Members

• Prof. Geneviève ALMOUZNI (Biology)

• Prof. Manuel ARELLANO (Economics)

• Prof. Jean-Pierre BOURGUIGNON (Mathematics), ERC President

• Prof. Paola BOVOLENTA (Neurobiology)

• Prof. Margaret BUCKINGHAM (Biology)

• Prof. Eveline CRONE (Psychology) ERC Vice-President

• Prof. Ben L. FERINGA (Organic Chemistry)

• Prof. Mercedes GARCIA-ARENAL (History)

• Prof. Andrzej JAJSZCZYK (Electronics and Communication Engineering)

• Prof. Eystein JANSEN (Earth Science)

• Prof. Tomas JUNGWIRTH (Condensed Matter Physics)

• Prof. Michael KRAMER (Astrophysics)

• Prof. Kurt MEHLHORN (Computer Science)

• Prof. Barbara ROMANOWICZ (Geophysics)

• Prof. Martin STOKHOF (Philosophy)

• Prof. Giulio SUPERTI-FURGA (Medical Systems Biology)

• Prof. Jesper SVEJSTRUP (Biology)

• Prof. Nektarios TAVERNARAKIS (Molecular Systems Biology)

• Prof. Janet THORNTON (Bioinformatics and Structural Biology), ERC Vice-President

• Prof. Lene VESTERGAARD HAU (Physics)

• Prof. Michel WIEVIORKA (Sociology)

• Prof. Fabio ZWIRNER (Theoretical and High-Energy Physics), ERC Vice-President

│ 4

Starting Grants

starters

(2-7 years after PhD)

up to € 1.5 Mio

for 5 years

Advanced Grants track-record of

significant research

achievements in the

last 10 years

up to € 2.5 Mio

for 5 years

Synergy Grants (re-launched 2018)

2 – 4 Principal Investigators

up to € 10.0 Mio for 6 years

Proof-of-Concept Bridging the gap between research and

innovation –including social innovation

up to €150,000 for ERC grant holders

ERC Grant Schemes

Consolidator Grants

consolidators

(7-12 years after PhD)

up to € 2 Mio

for 5 years

│ 5

Physical Sciences & Engineering

PE1 Mathematics

PE2 Fundamental Constituents of Matter

PE3 Condensed Matter Physics

PE4 Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences

PE5 Synthetic Chemistry and Materials

PE6 Computer Science and Informatics

PE7 Systems and Communication Engineering

PE8 Products and Process Engineering

PE9 Universe Sciences

PE10 Earth System Science

Life Sciences

LS1 Molecular Biology, Biochemistry,

Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

LS2 Genetics, ‘Omics’, Bioinformatics and

Systems Biology

LS3 Cellular and Developmental Biology

LS4 Physiology, Pathophysiology and

Endocrinology

LS5 Neurosciences and Neural Disorders

LS6 Immunity and Infection

LS7 Applied Medical Technologies,

Diagnostics, Therapies and Public Health

LS8 Ecology, Evolution and Environmental

Biology

LS9 Applied Life Sciences, Biotechnology and

Molecular and Biosystems Engineering

│ 6

Evaluation Panel Structure (WP2020)

Social Sciences and Humanities

SH1 Individuals, Markets and Organisations

SH2 Institutions, Values, Environment and Space

SH3 The Social World, Diversity, Population

SH4 The Human Mind and Its Complexity

SH5 Cultures and Cultural Production

SH6 The Study of the Human Past

Evaluation of proposals:

Review procedure for StG, CoG, AdG

Remote assessment by Panel members

of section 1 – PI and synopsis (part

B1)

Panel meeting

Proposals retained

for step 2:

Score A

STEP 1

Score:B or C

STEP 2

Remote assessment by Panel members

and reviewers of full proposal (B1+B2)

Panel meeting + interview (StG and CoG)

Ranked list of

proposals:

Score A

Score: B

Feedback toapplicants

SyG evaluation process

│ 8

Excellence of the Research Project

Ground breaking nature

Potential impact

Scientific Approach

• Excellence of the Principal Investigator

Intellectual capacity

Creativity

Commitment

Note: Quality of the PI's institution (where they

come from / where they go to) is not evaluated

How are ERC research proposals evaluated?Excellence is the sole evaluation criterion

Interviews

(StG, CoG –step2, and SYN –step3)

All Panel Members involved, with one acting as lead

reviewer

Normally less than 10 minutes presentation followed by

around 10-15 minutes of questions

Applicants are informed of duration, whether PPT is

requested/allowed, etc.

Some institutions organise mock interviews to prepare

candidates

Interviews are very important for ranking and selection

decision!

│ 11

21% of the ERC-funded Projects

Deliver Scientific Breakthroughs

2010

2011

2012

Online survey:

1st panel wave

2013

2013

12

Source: MERCI online survey, a = only StG 2009 and 2010 cohortb = reference is number of persons who did not hold full or associate professorship at beginning of considered time periodc = reference is number of persons who did not neither hold full/associate professorship nor assistant professorship/group

leader position at beginning of considered time period

Share of StG2009 applicants promoted between different points of time

MERCI study: Institute for Research Information and Quality Assurance, Stefan Hornbostel

Receiving a StG

has strong positive

effects on the

individual career

development of

postdocs

Career Progress of StG2009 ApplicantsMERCI Survey: Funded vs Rejected

2010

2011

2012

Online survey:

1st panel wave

2013

2013

• StGrantees spend

significantly more

time on research (t=-

7.61 p=.000)

• Grantees spend

significantly less time

on looking for

funding (t=6.43

p=0.000), although

the number of third

party funding

applications does not

differ substantiallySource: MERCI online survey (Starting Grant 2009), N=842

MERCI Study:

Assessment of the

working situation

Impact of ERC Funding

More Time on Research

Impact of ERC Funding

Academic Autonomy

2010

2011

2012

Online survey:

1st panel wave

2013

2013

Source: MERCI online survey (Starting Grant 2009)

MERCI Study: Assessment of the working situation

│ 15

ERC Grants by Domain5

75

56

4

39

6

23

6

26

5

23

1

11

8

15

2

11

2

14

7

10

4

74

58

78

1

68

6

61

8

31

6 34

9

24

7

25

0

24

5

13

6

14

1

10

3

87

72

59

3

20

6

15

6

27

4

53

49

15

3

11

4

88 43

49

39

31

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

2000

UK DE FR NL CH IL IT ES BE SE AT DK FI NO IE PT HU EL CZ PL TR CY EE LU SI RO HR IS BG RS LT LV SK

ERC

gra

nts

Host country (as of 16/09/2019)

SH

PE

LS

│ 16

Horizon 2020 – Italy Top Host

Institutions in SH Domain

17

54 4 4 4

3 3 32 2 2 2

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

Nu

mb

er o

f To

p H

I in

SH

Top Host Institutions in Social Sciences and Humanities

Data as of 16/09/2019

│ 17

Horizon 2020 - Italy Success Rate per Domain

│ 18

Horizon 2020 Italy SH Success Rate by Panel

0,00% 2,00% 4,00% 6,00% 8,00% 10,00% 12,00% 14,00% 16,00%

SH1

SH2

SH3

SH4

SH5

SH6

SUCCESS RATE (SH FUNDED/EVALUATED IN %)

PAN

ELS

│ 19

Grantees at Home and Abroad

417 Italian grantees abroad

473 Italian grantees in Italy

48 foreign grantees in Italy (8.5% of all grantees in IT)

Research and Innovation

#HorizonEU

THE NEXT EU RESEARCH & INNOVATION

INVESTMENT PROGRAMME (2021 – 2027)

Horizon Europe

Based on the Commission Proposal for Horizon Europe, the

common understanding between co-legislators and the

Partial General Approach, both approved in April 2019

Horizon Europe: Preliminary structure

Widening Participation and Strengthening the European Research Area

Reforming and Enhancing the European R&I systemWidening participation and spreading excellence

Pillar 1Excellent Science

European Research Council

Marie Skłodowska-Curie

Actions

Research Infrastructures

Pillar 3Innovative Europe

European Innovation Council

European innovation

ecosystems

European Institute of

Innovation

and Technology

Pillar 2Global Challenges and

European Industrial

Competitiveness

• Health

• Culture, Creativity and

Inclusive Society

• Civil Security for Society

• Digital, Industry and Space

• Climate, Energy and Mobility

• Food, Bioeconomy, Natural

Resources, Agriculture and

Environment

Joint Research Centre

Clu

ste

rs

Pillar 1

EXCELLENT SCIENCE:

reinforcing and extending the excellence of

the Union's science base

European

Research

Council

Frontier research

by the best

researchers and

their teams

Research

Infrastructures

Integrated and

inter-connected

world-class

research

infrastructures

Commission proposal:

€ 2.4 billion

Commission proposal:

€ 6.8 billion

Commission proposal:

€ 16.6 billion

Marie

Skłodowska-

Curie Actions

Equipping

researches with

new knowledge

and skills through

mobility and training

Pillar 2 - Clusters

Global Challenges & European Industrial

Competitiveness: boosting key technologies and

solutions underpinning EU policies & Sustainable

Development Goals Commission proposal for budget: € 52.7 billion

Digital,

Industry &

Space

Culture,

Creativity

and

Inclusive

Societies

Civil

Security for

Society

Health

Food,

Bioeconomy,

Natural

Resources,

Agriculture &

Environment

Climate,

Energy and

Mobility

Mission

areas

Adaptation to climate change, including societal

transformation

Cancer

Healthy oceans,

seas, coastal

and inland waters

Soil health and food

Climate-neutral and smart cities

GRAZIE !

Angela.Liberatore@ec.europa.eu

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│ 25

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