Consiglio Europeo delle Ricerche (ERC)

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1 Consiglio Europeo delle Ricerche (ERC) Dr. Barbara ENSOLI, Direttore Centro Nazionale AIDS Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Roma Membro del Consiglio scientifico ERC

2 ERC mission The ERC's mission is to encourage the highest quality research in Europe through competitive funding and to support investigator-initiated frontier research across all fields of research, on the basis of scientific excellence 2

3 La struttura dell'erc La Commissione Europea Fornisce finanziamenti attraverso i Programmi Quadro dell UE Garantisce l autonomia del ERC Assicura l integrità e la responsabilità finanziaria del ERC Adotta i programmi annuali di lavoro stabiliti dal Consiglio Scientifico Il Consiglio Scientifico del ERC 22 eminenti ricercatori proposti e identificati da un comitato indipendente Nominati dalla Commissione (4 anni, rinnovabile una volta) Stabilisce la strategia scientifica generale; programmi di lavoro annuali (gare, criteri di valutazione, etc.); metodologia di valutazione tra pari (peer review); selezione e accreditazione degli esperti Controlla la qualità delle operazioni e della gestione Assicura la comunicazione con la comunità scientifica L Agenzia del ERC Esegue il programma annuale di lavoro stabilito dal Consiglio Scientifico Gestisce appelli a proposte e fornisce informazioni ed assistenza ai partecipanti Organizza valutazioni di pari (peer review) Stabilisce e gestisce gli accordi di sovvenzione/borse di studio Amministra gli aspetti scientifici e finanziari e segue gli accordi di sovvenzione Svolge attività di comunicazione e assicura la diffusione delle informazioni riguardanti l'erc

4 ERC Working Groups There are currently five Working Groups in the Scientific Council dedicated to the following topics, which are of particular interest to the ERC: Gender Balance Open Access Innovation and Relations with Industry Widening Participation Key Performance Indicators The Scientific Council may set up new Working Groups and discontinue existing ones in response to changing requirements. They report periodically on their work and conclusions to the plenary meetings of the Scientific Council. Decisions taken by Committees and Working Groups must be confirmed by the Scientific Council to be formally adopted. 4

5 ERC basics ERC funding schemes Starting Grants starters (2-7 years after PhD) up to 2.0 Mio for 5 years Consolidator Grants consolidators (7-12 years after PhD) up to 2.75 Mio for 5 years Advanced Grants track-record of significant research achievements in the last 10 years up to 3.5 Mio for 5 years Synergy Grants 2 4 Principal Investigators up to 15.0 Mio for 6 years Proof of Concept bridging gap between research - earliest stage of marketable innovation up to 150,000 for ERC grant holders 5

6 ERC basics Substantial grants to the very best The Researcher (PI : Principal Investigator) ERC funds individual scientists Any nationality, age or current place of work in the world Starting, consolidator or advanced grant (depending on work experience and scientific achievements) Research team The PI can choose national or trans-national team members if scientific added value proven The grant covers the salary of team members 6

7 ERC basics Substantial grants to fund frontier research Frontier research project All fields of fundamental research: Physical Sciences & Engineering, Life Sciences, Social Sciences & Humanities Bottom-up: no predetermined subjects, no priorities High risk/high gain 5 years projects No consortia Host Institution (HI) in Europe The one where the researcher already works, or any other institution established in the EU or associated countries Grants are portable (= the PI can change Host Institution) Universities, research centres; public or private 7

8 Indipendenza, riconoscimento e visibilità L'ERC offre: Libera scelta dell area di ricerca,dell'istituzione ospitante e dei membri del team (europei e non) Reale autonomia finanziaria per 5 anni Possibilità di negoziare le migliori condizioni di lavoro con le istituzioni ospitanti Mobilità dei ricercatori ovunque in Europa (portability of grants) Un "marchio di qualità" per attrarre finanziamenti aggiuntivi e ottenere riconoscimento Procedure semplici e burocrazia "leggera"

9 ERC basics Evaluation of proposals: main features Goal of the evaluation: select the best frontier research proposals Only evaluation criteria: excellence Method: peer review Structure: 25 panels distributed in 3 scientific domains (10 Physical Sciences, 9 Life sciences and 6 Social Sciences and Humanities) Each panel consists of 1 panel chair and panel members What makes ERC evaluation exceptional? Peers Review procedure 9

10 ERC basics Evaluation of proposals: peers Panel members: typically 375 / call High-level scientists Recruited by ScC from all over the world: ~14% from outside Europe About members plus a chair person Referees: typically 2000 / call Evaluate only a small number of proposals Similar to normal practise in peerreviewed journals US (7%) Other (7%) EU and Associated Countries (86%) 10

11 ERC basics Evaluation of proposals: review procedure STEP 1 STEP 2 Remote assessment by Panel members of section 1 PI and synopsis Remote assessment by Panel members and reviewers of full proposals Panel meeting Panel meeting + interview (StG and CoG) Proposals retained for step 2 Feedback to applicants Ranked list of proposals Right balance between generalist + specialized review Appropriate treatment of interdisciplinary proposals Good benefit-cost ratio 11

12 ERC basics Evaluation of proposals: panel structure Life Sciences LS1 Molecular & Structural Biology & Biochemistry LS2 Genetics, Genomics, Bioinformatics & Systems Biology LS3 Cellular and Developmental Biology LS4 Physiology, Pathophysiology & Endocrinology LS5 Neurosciences & neural disorders LS6 Immunity & infection LS7 Diagnostic tools, therapies & public health LS8 Evolutionary, population & environmental biology LS9 Applied life sciences & biotechnology Social Sciences and Humanities SH1 Individuals, institutions & markets SH2 The social world, diversity and common ground SH3 Environment,space and population SH4 The Human Mind and its complexity SH5 Cultures & cultural production SH6 The study of the human past Physical Sciences & Engineering PE1 Mathematics PE2 Fundamental constituents of matter PE3 Condensed matter physics PE4 Physical & Analytical Chemical sciences PE5 Materials & Synthesis PE6 Computer science & informatics PE7 Systems & communication engineering PE8 Products & process engineering PE9 Universe sciences PE10 Earth system science 12

13 ERC Calls Evaluated* Funded success rates** Starting Grant ,167 8, Starting Grant ,503 2, Starting Grant ,873 2, Starting Grant ,080 4, Starting Grant ,741 4, Starting Grant ,329 3, Consolidator Grant ,673 3, Starting and Consolidator Grant 30,366 29,462 2, Advanced Grant ,167 2, Advanced Grant ,584 1, Advanced Grant ,009 1, Advanced Grant ,284 2, Advanced Grant ,304 2, Advanced Grant ,408 2, Advanced Grant 12,756 12,404 1, Proof of Concept & Proof of Concept & Proof of Concept Proof of Concept Synergy Grant Synergy Grant * withdrawn and ineligible proposals not taken into account Total number of applications ** percentage of funded proposals in relation to evaluated proposals of which 13

14 ERC achievements Grants per country of host institution ERC Starting, Consolidator, Advanced Grant calls Current Host Institutions data as of 16/12/

15 ERC achievements ERC grantees with ERA nationality* *) nationality as last declared by the principal investigator 15

16 Country Higher-Education Institution No StG/CoG AdG Total LS PE SH UK University of Oxford UK University of Cambridge UK University College London CH Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich) CH Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) IL Weizmann Institute IL Hebrew University of Jerusalem UK Imperial College UK University of Edinburgh BE University of Leuven UK University of Bristol DE University of Munich (LMU) NL Radboud University Nijmegen NL University of Amsterdam NL Leiden University NL Utrecht University IL Technion - Israel Institute of Technology CH University of Zurich UK King's College London IL Tel Aviv University CH University of Geneva FI University of Helsinki SE Karolinska Institute Country Research Organisation No StG AdG Total LS PE SH FR National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) DE Max Planck Society FR National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) FR French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission ES Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) FR National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automatic Control (INRIA) Top European Institutions hosting Established at by least the European Commission 30 ERC Grantees by funding Schemes StG/CoG AdG First legal signatories of the grant agreement Data as of 16/12/

17 ERC Consolidator Grants The European Research Council (ERC) has selected 312 top scientists in its first Consolidator Grant competition. With over 3600 proposals submitted, the demand for these grants rose by 46% this year, compared to the corresponding group of applicants in In terms of host institutions, the UK (62 grants), Germany (43) and France (42) are in the lead. In terms of researchers' nationality, Germans (48 grants) and Italians (46) are at the top, followed by French (33), British (31) and Dutch (27) researchers. 17

18 ERC Sinergy Grants ERC Sinergy Grants are intended to enable a small group of Principal Investigators and their teams to bring together complementary skills, knowledge, and resources in new ways, in order to jointly address research problems. ERC Synergy Grants in brief: Research proposal: pioneering frontier research in any field of science, engineering or scholarship Groups: a minimum of two and a maximum of four Principal Investigators (PIs) Corresponding PI: acts as the ' with the ERCEA on behalf of the group No specific eligibility criteria but only exceptional proposals are likely to be funded in what are expected to be extremely competitive calls ERC Synergy Groups: expected to be interdisciplinary, often using multidisciplinary approaches. Host Institution: engages the Corresponding PI for the duration of the grant. It should be a legally recognised public or private research organisation situated in one of the EU Member States or Associated Countries Funding: up to a maximum of 15 million for a period up to 6 years (pro rata for projects of shorter duration) Calls for proposals: published annually with one deadline 18

19 ERC Sinergy Grants 2013 Call, no Italians 19

20 ERC achievements Developing a new generation of excellent scientists (team members) 2/3 of staff are people in the training phase of their career Analysis of 995 ERC projects 20

21 ERC achievements Attracting excellent researchers (team members) Composition of ERC teams (PIs not included) Analysis of 995 Starting and Advanced Grants EU: 67% Assoc. Countries: 12% non-era: 18% unknown: 3% 53% of non-era team members ''attracted'' to Europe with the ERC grant (10% of all team members) Most non-era from China, US, India, and Russia 21

22 Italy at ERC Evaluated proposals from hosts in Italy Ineligible and withdrawn proposals not taken into account 22

23 Italy at ERC Granted proposals at host institutions in Italy * * current host institutions; data as of 16/12/

24 Italy at ERC Success rates per country of Host Institution 24

25 Italy at ERC Success rates per domain

26 Italy at ERC ERC grant distribution to countries of HI ERC StG, CoG and AdG calls *) Host institution refers to the organisation with which the first grant agreement was signed 26

27 Italy at ERC Mobility of researchers ERC StG, CoG and AdG calls Foreign PIs in Italy, from DE (5), US (3), FR (2), UK (2), NL (2), NO (2), BE (2), etc. 178 Italian PIs abroad Current host institutions; data as of 16/12/

28 Italy at ERC Top host institutions in Italy ERC StG, CoG and AdG calls Current host institutions; data as of 16/12/

29 Italy at ERC PoC grants by country of host institution ERC PoC calls 2011, 2012 and Current host institutions; data as of 16/12/

30 ERC in H2020 Changes and continuity Essential features maintained: Same schemes, same principles, same selection procedures/criteria Independent Scientific Council with full authority over funding strategy Executive Agency with autonomous operation Increased budget (13.1 Bio in current prices for ): More opportunities than ever for top research talents Strengthening the Scientific Governance of the European Research Council: Strengthening the links between the Scientific Council and the Executive Agency Merging positions of President of ERC and Secretary General Full-time President based in Brussels 3 Vice-Chairs elected from amongst the Scientific Council members

31 Call budgets For the Starting, Consolidatore and Advanced Grant calls the ERC Scientific Council has established the following indicative percentage budgets for each of the three main research domains: Phisical Sciences and Engineering 44% Life Sciences 39% Social Sciences & Humanities 17%

32 Indicative planning for main calls 2014

33 Indicative planning for main calls 2015

34 The European Research Council More information on National Contact Point in your country Follow us on EuropeanResearchCouncil ERC_Research 34