European Research Council (ERC) 

General Information

General information on the ERC, the different calls, theirs scope and success stories can be found on the ERC website, see https://erc.europa.eu/  as well as on the website of the German national Contact Point for the ERC, see https://www.eubuero.de/de/nks-erc-2410.html

In a press release from 16 April 2026, the ERC announces several changes to the eligibility rules for applications for the calls for 2027, please see. It is strongly recommended to carefully read this information when considering preparing a proposal for one of the calls. In addition, in an open letter, the ERC president Maria Leptin explains stricter applications measures to be applied in order to cope with the ever raising demand

HZDR strategy

HZDR strongly supports the concept of the ERC as a funding organisation supporting frontier research, open also to blue-sky and fundamental research and led by an independent governance body, the scientific council. For this reason, extensive support is being offered to promising candidates during the proposal preparation phase and, if relevant, also for grant management. This support targets in particular candidates for Starting and Consolidator grants and is contingent to their choosing of the "HZDR track", detailed in a small document. 

Next Call 

The next call will target proposals for Advanced Grants 2026. It is expected to be published on 28 May 2026, with a deadline on 27 August 2026.

The ERC Workprogramm 2027 has not yet been published. However, call opening for Starting Grants might be expected in mid-July, with a deadline for submission in mid-October, followed by the Synergy Grants around 2 weeks later. Expect the call opening of the Consolidator Grants in September and their deadline in early January. 

Internal deadlines for ERC StG 2027

  • Expression of Interest*: 03 July 2026, 17:00:00 Brussels time 
  • Symposium: 14 September 2026, 10.00-11.30 

*Expression of Interest

  • Abstract of the planned project of roughly 1/2 page (not more!)
  • Short CV/ track record
  • List of a maximum of 5 most relevant publications for the proposed project
  • Brief description of any other activities you consider relevant for characterizing yourself with a view on the proposed project
  • To be sent to Barbara Schramm