On Thursday 30 May, the European Research Council (ERC) announced that it was working on introducing a new method for awarding lump sum grants. The ERC added that a pilot system will be set up, for advanced grants only, from the 2024 call.
The ERC states that its Scientific Council has established a series of conditions to ensure that the nature and flexibility of ERC grants are preserved. The evaluation criteria will remain the same for all grants, whether they are lump sums or actual costs.
For the ERC, this method should reduce administrative work for grant holders and their host institutions. By doing away with financial accounting, there will be no cost reporting or financial audits.
The ERC plans to award the lump sum on the basis of a budget, which must be detailed and justified at the proposal stage.
80% of the grant will be paid at the start of the project. The remaining 20% will be paid at the end of the project. Final payments of lump-sum grants will depend on the completion of the activities described in the grant agreement. By completion, the ERC means that the work towards achieving the objectives set has been carried out.
On the other hand, if, during the course of the project, events such as a discovery necessitate a significant deviation from the research path described in the proposal, the beneficiary may request a modification in order to finance the redefined objective with the grant.
The ERC will be offering information webinars this summer, starting on 7 June.
Link to webinar page: https://aeur.eu/f/cha (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)