European Research Council The European Research Council Established

European Research Council The European Research Council Established by the European Commission Alessandra Ferrari Research Programme Officer European Research Council Executive Agency UNIT B. 1 - Process Management and Review IFA Conference Prague, 31 May 2012

European Research Council Main points Established by the European Commission Some Background on the ERC Types of grants & evaluation process What is so special about the ERC? Some ERC funded projects in aging-related areas

European Research Council What is the ERC? Established by the European Commission Strategy Legislation ERC is the first pan European funding body to support excellence in frontier research and with a bottom-up approach • • Scientific Council with 22 members Support by the ERC Executive Agency Significant budget (1. 6 billion €/year) Excellence as the only valid criterion • • Support for the individual scientist – no networks! International peer-review No predetermined subjects (bottom-up) Support of frontier research in all fields of science and humanities │3

European Research Council FP 7 budget € 50. 5 billion ERC budget € 7. 5 billion; Increase by € 250 M/year JRC nonnuclear (3 %) Co-operation (65 %) Capacities (8 %) People (9 %) Ideas (15 %) Established by the European Commission

European Research Council ERC: a radical new approach to funding research at EU level Established by the European Commission Pan-European competition between individual teams. Open to any researcher in the world based on the sole criterion of excellence. Support investigator-driven or ‘bottom-up’ research projects in all fields of science, engineering and scholarship. Encourage creativity, risk-taking and ambition. Raise the status, attractiveness and visibility of frontier research in Europe and its top scientists of today and tomorrow.

European Research Council Creative freedom for the individual grantee Established by the European Commission ERC offers independence, recognition & visibility Ø to work on a research topic of own choice, with a team of own choice Ø to gain true financial autonomy for 5 years Ø to negotiate with the host institution the best conditions of work Ø to move with the grant to any place in Europe if necessary (portability of grants) Ø recognition: ERC has become the ‘gold standard’ │6

European Research Council Achievements of the ERC - so far Established by the European Commission Ø more than 2. 600 funded proposals in total Ø in more than 480 different host institutions in 26 countries, total 4 billion Ø but “excellence attracts excellence”: 50% of PIs in 50 institutions Ø highly competitive: average success rate 12 % Ø strong structuring effects: competition between European universities for first time ever, EU value added Ø strengthening merit-based evaluation systems in Europe │7

European Research Council ERC Grant schemes Established by the European Commission Starting and Consolidator Grants Starters (2 -7 years after Ph. D) up to € 2. 0 Mio for 5 years Consolidators (7 -12 years after Ph. D) 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

European Research Council Researchers Career development and funding schemes Established by the European Commission ERC Advanced ERC Sy. G– Synergy ERC St. G – Consolidators ERC St. G - Starters Full Professor Marie Curie Erasmus Post-docs Post Graduates Students Junior Professor/ Junior Researcher Associated Professor Senior Professor

ERC Grant schemes: Who can apply? European Research Council Established by the European Commission Excellent Researchers (PIs) Ø Any nationality, any age or any current place of work In conjunction with a Host Institution Ø Based in EU or associated countries │ 10

European Research Council ERC Grant Schemes (St. G, Co. G, Ad. G) Panel structure : 3 domains and 25 panels Each panel : Panel Chair and 10 -15 Panel Members Life Sciences LS 1 Molecular & Structural Biology & Biochemistry LS 2 Genetics, Genomics, Bioinformatics & Systems Biology LS 3 Cellular and Developmental Biology LS 4 Physiology, Pathophysiology & Endocrinology LS 5 Neurosciences & neural disorders LS 6 Immunity & infection LS 7 Diagnostic tools, therapies & public health LS 8 Evolutionary, population & environmental biology LS 9 Applied life sciences & biotechnology Established by the European Commission Social Sciences and Humanities SH 1 Individuals, institutions & markets SH 2 Institutions, values, beliefs and behaviour SH 3 Environment & society SH 4 The Human Mind and its complexity SH 5 Cultures & cultural production SH 6 The study of the human past Physical Sciences & Engineering PE 1 Mathematical foundations PE 2 Fundamental constituents of matter PE 3 Condensed matter physics PE 4 Physical & Analytical Chemical sciences PE 5 Materials & Synthesis PE 6 Computer science & informatics PE 7 Systems & communication engineering PE 8 Products & process engineering PE 9 Universe sciences PE 10 Earth system science │ 11

European Research Council Evaluation Criteria Established by the European Commission Excellence as sole criterion, to apply to: 1. Research Project (RP) ─ ─ Ground breaking nature Potential impact Scientific Approach Added value of the Group (only Sy. G) 2. Principle Investigator (PI) ─ Intelectual capacity ─ Creativity ─ Commitemnet │ 12

European Research Council ERC Starting Grant: 2011 Call Grantees by country of host Institution, 21 countries Source: 486 proposals Established by the European Commission │ 13

ERC Starting Grant: 2011 Call Grantees by nationality – 38 nationalities European Research Council Source: 486 proposals Established by the European Commission │ 14

European Research Council What is special about the ERC? Established by the European Commission It is a young organisation: ─ Simple approach ─ Simple rules ─ Simple evaluation We have a independent Scientific Council with considerable autonomy The time was right for the EU Completely bottom up with no priorities ─ Few and “large” panels Strong reliance on personal interviews (St. G) Simple evaluation criteria

European Research Council Established by the European Commission Some examples of ERC funded research projects

European Research Council Temporal Enhancement of Motor Performance Using Sensory Guides Cathy Craig - St. G 07 - SH 3 Queen’s University Belfast, UK € 0. 86 million Established by the European Commission Improving health and sports performance through the brain’s control Cathy Craig studies how sensory guides can improve balance and walking in people with Parkinson’s disease As people age, balance ability declines. New technologies can be exploited to develop games that are more suited to older adults and people with Parkinson’s so that they can use it to train their balance The latest results have shown significant progress in functional balance in older adults (>65 years) after playing these games for four weeks. These findings have major implications on/for falls prevention programmes and general healthier active older lives (see BBC report: http: //www. bbc. co. uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-14484516).

European Research Council The demography of skills and beliefs in Europe with a focus on cohort change Established by the European Commission Vagard Skirbekk - St. G 2009 – SH 3 International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria € 1 million Social change and an ageing population - Education-specific forecasts to assess which kinds of jobs allow older workers to have a better chance in the labour market - This analysis is vital to capitalise on the experience and skills which older workers can offer - The aim is to generate significant new insights into the potential social and economic challenges associated with ageing, and wider demographic shifts - Results will support governments to improve their social policies for the future on the basis of their wider knowledge of what that future might look like http: //www. iiasa. ac. at/Research/POP/ACC/index. html? sb=3

European Research Council The economic evaluation of end of life care Established by the European Commission Joanna Coast - St. G 2010 – LS 7 http: //consensus. nih. gov/ 2004/2004 End. Of. Life. Care. SOS 024 html. htm University of Birmingham, UK € 1 million - Health economics concentrates on the appropriate allocation of resources: these assessments are known as Quality-Adjusted Life-Years - Cost effectiveness should not be the only determinant of health care - New evaluative approach for end of life care to take into account autonomy, dignity, spirituality, lack of suffering and preparation for death - Creation of a new set of indices to measure quality of life - The aim is to develop appropriate measures which can accurately estimate the holistic benefits of end of life care, and in doing so contribute to a dignified end of life for both patients and their families. http: //www. birmingham. ac. uk/research/activity/mds/projects/Ha. PS/HE/ICECAP/index. asp

European Research Council Evolution of Alzheimers Disease: From dynamics of single synapses to memory loss Established by the European Commission Inna Slutsky - St. G 2011 – LS 5 Tel Aviv University, Israel € 2 million The disintegration of neuronal circuits is observed in Alzheimer's Disease (AD). The amyloid-beta peptide (Abeta) plays a central role in synaptic dysfunctions of AD, however still unknown. The project aims at unravelling mechanisms that regulate Abeta and uses an integrative approach to : - correlate structure and function at the level of single synapses - study the relationship between neuronal activity, temporo-spatial dynamics and molecular composition of Abeta, structural rearrangements within the Abeta signalling complexes and plasticity of single synapses and whole networks -elucidate fundamental principles of neuronal circuits function and identify critical steps that initiate primary synaptic dysfunctions at the very early stages of AD http: //www 2. tau. ac. il/nano/researcher. asp? id=aceggggjk

European Research Council Established by the European Commission These were only a few examples of ERC funded research! Please check for more on our website: http: //erc. europa. eu/ and http: //erc. europa. eu/projects-and-results

European Research Council Established by the European Commission Thank You for your attention! alessandra. ferrari@ec. europa. eu