€1.9 billion will be made available by the European Research Council (ERC) in 2021 to allow some 1,000 top researchers to pursue frontier research. As in previous years, most of the funding (66%) is earmarked for early- to mid-career scientists and scholars. The funding will also support jobs for an estimated 6,860 postdoctoral researchers, PhD students and other research staff employed in ERC-funded teams.
Established by the ERC Scientific Council, the 2021 work programme was adopted by the European Commission on 22nd February. This work programme is the first approved under the 2021-2027 European Union Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, Horizon Europe.
The work programme includes a calendar of grant competitions. The Starting Grant call is scheduled to open on 25 February 2021. While the initial plan was to close the call on 24 March, it should be noted that the deadline for submission of applications will be extended until 8 April. The extension of the deadline is intended to give as much time to Starting Grant applicants as possible while preserving the evaluation calendar and the budgetary allocation.
