01 Proposal · Completeness Requirements To be admitted to the competition, a proposal must be complete, readable, and accessible. A complete proposal must include all sections as described in the ERC Work Programme, including Part I of the Scientific Proposal, Part II of the Scientific Proposal, Curriculum Vitae and Track Record, Resources and Time Commitment, Host Institution Support Letter, Ethics Issues Table, and other required sections depending on the grant type. Proposals that do not include some or all of these sections may be declared inadmissible. The proposal must be submitted electronically by an eligible Principal Investigator before the respective call deadline.
02 Proposal · Submission Method and Deadline Proposals must be submitted electronically via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal (F&T Portal) submission system. Submission is deemed to occur when the Principal Investigator has received an email confirming successful submission. Proposals not submitted before the specified deadline in accordance with the electronic submission procedure will not be regarded as having been received by the ERCEA. Applicants are strongly advised to submit proposals well in advance of the call deadline, preferably at least 48 hours prior to closure, to avoid last-minute technical issues. The submission system performs limited automatic validation checks, but these do not replace formal admissibility and eligibility review.
03 Host · Institution Binding Support Statement The Host Institution must confirm its association with and support to the project and the Principal Investigator through a binding statement of support, known as the Host Institution Support Letter. This statement must be provided at the time of application. The letter must be signed with a legally binding signature (blue ink or digital), dated, and stamped by the institution's legal representative on official letterhead. The letter must include mandatory commitments regarding hosting and engaging the Principal Investigator, guaranteeing scientific independence, providing research support and administrative assistance, ensuring appropriate working conditions, and respecting research integrity principles. Proposals that do not include this statement may be declared inadmissible.
04 Proposal · Content Alignment with Grant Objectives The content of a proposal must relate to the objectives and to the grant type set out in the call, as defined in the ERC Work Programme. If a proposal is considered not to relate to the objectives of the grant or call for proposals, it will be declared ineligible. The proposal should address the specific aims and scope of the grant type to which it is submitted (Starting Grant, Consolidator Grant, Advanced Grant, ERC Plus Grant, or Synergy Grant). All scientific fields are eligible for ERC funding, and the ERC welcomes interdisciplinary proposals.
05 Principal · Investigator Nationality and Residence ERC grant schemes are open to researchers of any nationality who intend to conduct their research activity in any EU Member State or Associated Country. The Principal Investigator does not need to be a citizen of an EU Member State or Associated Country, nor do they need to be employed by the host institution at the time of proposal submission. However, the Principal Investigator must be engaged by the host institution at least for the duration of the grant. Researchers of any age and nationality, residing anywhere in the world at the time of application, are eligible to apply, provided they meet other eligibility criteria and are not subject to restrictions outlined in the ERC Work Programme.
06 Consolidator · Grant PhD Eligibility Criteria To be eligible for a Consolidator Grant, a Principal Investigator must hold a PhD or an equivalent doctoral degree. The eligibility period is based on the time elapsed between the date of successful defence of the first PhD degree (or equivalent doctoral degree) and the cut-off date. For the 2027 Consolidator Grant call, the first PhD must have been successfully defended more than 5 years and no more than 15 years prior to January 1st, 2027. This means the PhD defence date must fall between January 1st, 2012 and December 31st, 2021 (inclusive). The eligibility period can be extended beyond 15 years for certain well-documented circumstances such as maternity leave, clinical training, long-term illness, disability, national service, major disaster, seeking asylum, or gender-based violence.
07 Consolidator · Grant Working Time Requirements For Consolidator Grants, the Principal Investigator is expected to dedicate a minimum of 40% of their working time to the ERC-funded project and spend a minimum of 50% of their working time in an EU Member State or Associated Country. The time commitment will be monitored during project implementation, and if the actual commitment falls below the minimum levels set out or the levels indicated in the proposal, appropriate measures may be taken, up to and including reduction of the grant and suspension or termination of the grant. The personnel cost for the Principal Investigator provided in the budget cannot be higher than the percentage of working time indicated in the proposal.
08 Eligible · Host Institution Legal Entity Types Any type of legal entity, public or private, can host a Principal Investigator and their team. This includes universities, research organisations, undertakings, and private for-profit research centres, including industrial laboratories. The ERC welcomes applications from Principal Investigators hosted by private for-profit research centres. The host institution must be established either in an EU Member State or Associated Country as a legal entity created under national law, or it may be an international European research organisation (such as CERN, EMBL, etc.), or any other entity created under EU law.
09 Host · Institution Geographic Location Requirements The Host Institution must be established either in an EU Member State or an Associated Country as a legal entity created under national law, or it may be an international European research organisation (such as CERN, EMBL, etc.), or any other entity created under EU law. International organisations with headquarters in an EU Member State or Associated Country are deemed to be established in that Member State or Associated Country. For Synergy Grants, one Host Institution (except the Corresponding Host Institution) may be an international organisation or a legal entity established outside the European Union or an Associated Country, subject to restrictions provided in the ERC Work Programme. For other grant types (Starting, Consolidator, Advanced, ERC Plus), the Host Institution must be established in an EU Member State or Associated Country.
10 Eligible · Scientific Fields and Interdisciplinary Research All scientific fields are eligible for ERC funding. The ERC operates on a bottom-up basis with no predetermined research priorities. Applications can be made in any field of research with an emphasis on the frontiers of science, scholarship and engineering. The ERC particularly welcomes proposals of an interdisciplinary nature that cross the boundaries between different fields of research, pioneering proposals addressing new and emerging fields of research, or proposals introducing unconventional, innovative approaches and scientific inventions. However, research proposals within the scope of Annex I to the Euratom Treaty (directed towards nuclear energy applications) must be submitted to relevant calls under the Euratom Research and Training Programme, not ERC calls.
11 Application · Restrictions for ERC Main Grants Several restrictions apply to applications in ERC main grant calls to maintain quality and integrity of the evaluation process. A Principal Investigator may have only one proposal to an ERC main grant call under evaluation at any given time. A Principal Investigator may submit only one eligible proposal to an ERC main grant call published under the same Work Programme. A Principal Investigator may hold only one ERC main grant at any given time, and a new main grant project can only start after the duration of a previous ERC main grant has ended. An applicant whose proposal has been selected for funding and who is preparing a grant agreement under a previous call may not apply for an ERC main grant call. A Principal Investigator in one of the ERC main grants may not submit another proposal unless the existing project ends less than two years following the call deadline. Additionally, researchers who have held a Starting or Consolidator Grant cannot apply for the same type of grant again. Researchers serving as panel members for an ERC call may not apply to the same type of grant call.
12 Part · I Scientific Proposal Page Limit Part I of the Scientific Proposal has a maximum page limit of 5 pages. This section should present the envisaged research and lay out the current state of knowledge, explain the scientific question and objectives of the project, and present the overall approach or research strategy to reach the goals. Part I should convince the evaluation panel that the proposal presents an original and creative idea addressing an important question in the research field(s), explain how the project will advance the frontier of knowledge, and what contribution it will make to the research field(s). References do not count towards the page limit. Only material presented within the page limit will be evaluated.
13 Part · II Scientific Proposal Page Limit Part II of the Scientific Proposal has a maximum page limit of 7 pages for Starting, Consolidator, and Advanced Grants, and up to 10 pages for Synergy Grant proposals. This section should provide a detailed explanation of the project implementation, including research methodology, work plan, risk assessment, and mitigating measures, and any further necessary background not included in Part I. Part II should not be a repetition of Part I. References do not count towards the page limit. Only material presented within the page limit will be evaluated.
14 Curriculum · Vitae and Track Record Page Limit The Curriculum Vitae and Track Record section has a maximum page limit of 4 pages for each Principal Investigator. This section should include a list of achievements reflecting the Principal Investigator's track record. A short narrative describing the scientific importance of the research outputs and the role played by the Principal Investigator in their production may also be included. For Synergy Grants, each Principal Investigator must provide their own CV and Track Record within the 4-page limit.
15 Resources · and Time Commitment Page Limit The Resources and Time Commitment section has a maximum page limit of 2 pages, except for Synergy Grant proposals where this section may exceed 2 pages. This section should provide a clear description and justification of the proposal budget and, if applicable, of any additional funding requested. The budget table and description of resources are part of the online submission form (Part A, Section Budget). References and the funding ID section do not count towards the page limits.
16 Complete · ERC Proposal Submission Components A complete ERC proposal submission must include the following components: (1) Administrative Form (Part A) including sections for General Information, Declarations, Participants, Budget and Resources, Ethics and Security, and Other Questions; (2) Part B1 of the Scientific Proposal (composed of Part I of the Scientific Proposal, Curriculum Vitae and Track Record, and for ERC Plus Grants, the Statement of Vision); (3) Part B2 of the Scientific Proposal (composed of Part II of the Scientific Proposal and Funding ID table); (4) Budget table annex (for some grant types, equipment depreciation table); (5) Host Institution Support Letter (signed, dated, and stamped); (6) PhD certificate or equivalent documentation (for Starting and Consolidator Grants); (7) If applicable, supporting documentation related to ethics and security issues. All files must be uploaded as PDF documents.
17 Administrative · Form Part A Sections and Elements The Administrative Form (Part A) consists of multiple sections that must be completed: (1) General Information - containing project acronym, title, duration, abstract, primary and secondary ERC review panels, keywords, and declarations; (2) Declarations - containing 10 general declarations related to the proposal and participation in Horizon Europe that must be confirmed by the Principal Investigator on behalf of the host institution; (3) Participants - containing information about the Principal Investigator, host institution, and additional beneficiaries, including ORCID numbers, contact details, and gender equality plan status; (4) Budget - containing budget table and description of resources; (5) Ethics and Security - containing ethics issues table and security issues table; (6) Other Questions - containing PhD reference date, working time commitments, eligibility declarations, and consent confirmations. All mandatory fields marked in red must be completed before submission can occur.
18 Proposal · Submission Format and File Requirements All parts of the proposal (Parts B1 and B2) and supporting documentation must be submitted in PDF (Portable Document Format). Other file formats will not be accepted by the submission system. There is an overall limit of 10 Mbytes to the size of each uploaded document (Part B1, Part B2, and supporting documentation), though it is advised to limit the size of Parts B1 and B2 to 2 Mbytes each. File names for Part B documents must use only alphanumeric characters; special characters and spaces must be avoided. Applicants are advised to clean documents before converting to PDF (accept tracked changes, delete notes) and verify that conversion software has successfully converted all pages. Unless specified in the call, embedded material and other documents sent electronically outside the submission system or by post will be disregarded.