The European Research Council (ERC) is awarding €580 million to 427 early-career researchers in its third round of Starting Grants.
ERC President Helga Nowotny said this latest wave of researchers adds to the some 1,200 ERC grant winners already pursuing ground-breaking, creative ideas. “It is especially encouraging to see that the pool of extremely bright and talented younger researchers in Europe is far from being exhausted and that the ERC is contributing so effectively towards building the future of individual scientific careers and to the growing excellence of European research institutions.”
At just over €580 million the amount awarded in this round of grants is up by more than 40 per cent. This year, candidates from 39 nationalities are among those selected and they will carry out their research in universities or other research institutions situated in 21 different countries in Europe.
The number of successful researchers coming from outside Europe in this year's Starting Grant competition doubled from last year. Of these 18 incoming scientists, 12 are Europeans returning from the US.
The ERC Executive Agency Director Jack Metthey said, “Brain circulation is an essential feature of excellence. The ERC aims at making Europe more attractive to top quality researchers from overseas, be they European nationals or non-Europeans. It is therefore gratifying to see that the ERC is getting increasingly acknowledged and known around the world.”
The average age of the selected researchers is about 36 years, of which 26.5 per cent are women, up from 23 per cent last year. In all, 45.7 per cent of grants are in Physical Sciences and Engineering, 35.8 per cent in Life Sciences and 18.5 per cent in Social Sciences and Humanities.
The total number of applicants was 2,873, a 14 per cent increase from last year. The success rate has gone up to 15 per cent.
- List of all selected researchers by country of host institution (in alphabetical order within each country group).
- Lists of selected researchers by domain (in alphabetical order): Social Sciences and Humanities, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Engineering.
- Statistics: Starting Grant call 2010.
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