Brussels, 23/02/2007 (Agence Europe) - The European Research Council (ERC), the first pan-European funding organisation to support frontier research across all fields of science and scholarship is now a reality. The formal act of establishment has been adopted by the European Commission and the first call for proposals, focused on researchers early on in their careers, was “pre-launched” on 22 December last. The ERC will have a budget of €7.5 billion spread out over the next 7 years to support best research in Europe. The ERC will be officially established during a conference to be held in Berlin on 27-28 February.
The ERC was created under the Ideas Specific Programme of the 7th framework programme as an autonomous body headed by an independent Scientific Council composed of 22 renowned high level scientists from across Europe, and chaired by Professor Fotis Kafatos of Imperial College London. The members of the Scientific Council represent a broad variety of disciplines. The main role of the Scientific Council is to define ERC strategy, and to follow up its management at the scientific level.
After adoption of the 7th framework programme and the Ideas Specific Programme at the end of 2006, the European Commission has taken the necessary measures to give the European Research Council, and the Scientific Council an official status under EU law. A first call for proposals will make it possible to grant €300,000 in 2007 (out of a total of €2 million over 5 years) to the most promising young researchers (having obtained their doctorates over the past few years). The closure date for this first call has been set at 25 April. Proposals can only be sent by electronic means as of 19 March, and eligible researchers must have received their doctorate more than two years but less than nine years ago (12 years at most if they can justify why they broke off their careers). In the following years, the subsidy regime for young researchers (Starting Independent Researcher Grant) will continue and will be supplemented by the Advanced Investigator Grant, open to researchers at all career stages.
The ERC will be officially set up during an inaugural conference held in Berlin on 27-28 February. This conference is jointly organised by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research and by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). It will be attended by Angela Merkel, German Chancellor and President-in-Office of the European Council, Janez Potocnik, European Research Commissioner, Professor Fotis Kafatos, ERC President, as well as members of the Scientific Council, and other high-ranking representatives of the European scientific community. (oj)