Excellent young researchers at the start of their independent careers are the target group for ERC Starting Grants (StG).
Certain measurements serve as a means of evaluation, no matter which research domain or what career stage. For ERC Starting Grants, applicants should have produced at least one important publication as the main author or without the participation of their doctoral supervisor. Further criteria can include first-author publications in leading international journals, monographs, patents, presentations at international conferences or being the recipient of national or international scientific awards. The specific requirements required within a call are explained in the call’s Information for Applicants section.
Researchers of any nationality may submit an application for a Starting Grant two to seven years after completing their doctorate. Under certain conditions, this time frame can be extended. Separate rules apply for researchers with a medical degree .
Starting Grants of up to 1.5 million euro can be awarded for a period of up to 5 years. Up to 1 million euro may additionally be requested to cover eligible ‘start-up’ costs for researchers moving to the EU or an Associated State from a third country in order to purchase necessary major equipment, to gain access to large-scale facilities or to finance major costs for experiments and field research. The ERC Grant can cover up to 100 percent of a project’s total eligible direct costs and an overhead contribution of a 25 percent flat rate of the total eligible direct costs.
When conducting a Starting Grant project, researchers must dedicate at least 50 percent of their working time to the ERC project and at least 50 percent of their working time must be spent in the EU or in Associated States. The fulfilment of these requirements must be proven.
Further application requirements can be found here.
Results of Past Calls
Information on past calls sorted my funding line, year, research area and country can be found on the ERC homepage.
The results of Starting Grant calls since 2007 are briefly summarised here. Information about the composition of the review panels can be found on the documents page.
Horizon Europe
Starting Grants 2025 (Fifth Call)
- 3928 applications submitted (13 percent more than in the 2024 call)
- Distribution in the categories: Number of submitted applications by discipline:
- Physical Sciences and Engineering: 1660 projects
- Social Science and Humanities: 1187 projects
- Life Science:1081
- 751 million euro, scheduled 483 projects
- percent female scientists: 40 percent
- Press release (17 October 2024)
Starting Grants 2024 (Fourth Call)
- 3474 applications submitted (29 percent more than in the 2023 call), 494 projects were proposed to receive funding
- The funding rate 14.2 percent
- Distribution in the categories: Number of (submitted) funded applications by discipline:
- Physical Sciences and Engineering: (1443) 209 projects
- Social Science and Humanities: (1039) 139 projects
- Life Science: (992) 146
- 601 million euro, scheduled 387 projects
- percent female scientists: 44 percent
- Press release (9. November 2023)
- Press release (5. September 2024)
Starting Grants 2023 (Third Call)
- 2696 applications submitted (8 percent less than in the 2022 call), 400 projects were proposed to receive funding
- Distribution in the categories: Number of (submitted) funded applications by discipline:
- Physical Sciences and Engineering: (1150) - 173 projects
- Social Sciences and Humanities: (811) - 117 projects
- Life Sciences: 735 - 110 projects
- 628 million euro, 400 projects funded
- The funding rate 14,8 percent
- 87 projects hosted in Germany
- 66 german PIs
- 43 percent female scientists
- Press release (7. November 2022)
- Press release (5. September 2023)
Starting Grants 2022 (Second Call)
- 2932 applications submitted (28 percent less than in the 2021 call)
- Physical Sciences and Engineering: 1234 - 42 percent
- Social Sciences and Humanities: 850 - 29 percent
- Life Sciences: 848 - 29 percent
- 749 million euro earmarked for approximately 480 projects
- The funding rate was estimated at 16 percent.
- Approximately 41 percent female scientists
- Fact and Figures (17. January 2022)
Starting Grants 2021 (First Call)
- 4066 applications submitted (24 percent more than in the previous call), approximately 40 percent from female scientists.
- Success Rate 2021 of 9.8 percent
- Physical Sciences and Engineering: 1754 - 43,2 percent
- Social Science and Humanities: 1185 - 29,2 percent
- Life Science: 1117 - 27,5 percent
- Fact and Figures (16. April 2021)
Horizon 2020
Starting Grants 2020 (Thirteenth Call)
Starting Grants 2019 (Twelfth Call)
Starting Grants 2018 (Eleventh Call)
Starting Grants 2017 (Tenth Call)
Starting Grants 2016 (Ninth Call)
- Out of 2935 applications submitted, 325 projects were proposed for funding.
- The funding rate was approximately 11 percent.
- The proportion of female scientists receiving funding was30 percent.
- Total volume of the call: 485 million euro.
- 61 Grants went to German institutions, 49 to Principal Investigator with German nationality.
- ERC Statistical Evaluation
- ERC Press Release (26. November 2015)
- ERC Press Release (8. September 2016)
Starting Grants 2015 (Eighth Call)
Starting Grants 2014 (Seventh Call)
- Out of 3.200 applications submitted, 375 projects were proposed for funding.
- The funding rate increased from 9 percent to 11,5 percent compared with the previous year.
- The share of funded female scientists was 32 percent.
- Total volume of the call: 550 million euro.
- 72 Grants went to German institutions, 71 to Principal Investigator with German nationality.
- ERC Press Release (15. December 2014)
- ERC Press Release (3. March 2015)
- ERC Statistical Evaluation
- Grantees Listed by Host Country
Starting Grants 2013 (Sixth Call)
- For the first time, the call was only open to scientists 2 to 7 years following their doctorate and Consolidator Grants (7 to 12 years after a completed doctorate) were announced separately.
- Increase of applicants by 50 percent (compared to Starter-Stream in StG-2012)
- 287 projects were expected to be funded from the 400 million euro budget
- The overall success rate was 9 percent
- 46 grants went to German institutions, 55 to Principal Investigators with German nationality
- ERC Press Release (19. Juli 2013)
- ERC Statistical Evaluation
- Grantees Listed by Host Country
Starting Grants 2012 (Fifth Call)
Starting Grants 2011 (Fourth Call)
- 4,080 applications were received (1,690 in Physical Sciences and Engineering, 1,440 in Life Sciences, 950 in Social Sciences and Humanities)
- 480 projects were expected to be funded
- The success rate was approximately 12 percent
- 64 of the grantees worked at German host institutions and 83 Principal Investigators held German nationality
- ERC Press Release (9. September 2011)
- ERC Statistical Evaluation
- Grantees Listed by Host Country
Starting Grants 2010 (Third Call)
- A total of 427 projects can be funded (195 in Physical Sciences and Engineering, 153 in Life Sciences, 79 in Social Sciences and Humanities)
- The success rate was approximately 15 percent
- 67 of the projects were to be carried out at German institutions, 83 of the Principle Investigators held German nationality
- ERC Press Release (10. October 2010)
- ERC Statistical Evaluation
- Grantees Listed by Host Country
Starting Grants 2009 (Second Call)
- Of 2,503 projects submitted, 243 were expected to be funded
- The success rate was approximately 9.7 percent
- The successful scientists had 33 different nationalities and conducted research in 19 European countries, were an average of 36 years old and completed their doctorate on average 6.7 years previously
- The proportion of women was 23 percent
- ERC Statistics Outcome
- Grantees Listed by Host Country
Starting Grants 2007 (First Call)
