YBhg. Tan Sri / Dato' / Prof. / Assoc. Prof. / Dr. / Sir / Madam / Br. / Sr.,
The European Research Council (ERC), established by the European Union in 2007, is Europe's leading funding organisation for frontier research. It supports outstanding researchers of any nationality to conduct ambitious, investigator-driven research across Europe through prestigious grant schemes, including the Starting, Consolidator, Advanced, and Synergy Grants. Funded under the Horizon Europe programme, the ERC promotes scientific excellence and groundbreaking discoveries with a budget of over €16 billion for 2021–2027.
General conditions
1. Admissibility Conditions:
The conditions specific to ERC grants are described in the ERC Work Programme 2026 under the heading 'Admissibility, Eligibility, Resubmission Restrictions' and in the ERC Rules of Submission and Evaluation under Horizon Europe. An overview is provided below:
Admissibility: A proposal must be complete (including all sections under 1.5 Proposal Submission and Description section), readable and accessible. It must be submitted electronically by a Principal Investigator fulfilling the eligibility criteria (section 1.4.2.2 Eligible Principal Investigator(s)) before the respective call deadline. Proposals that do not meet these criteria or do not include a statement of support may be declared inadmissible.
2. Eligibility
The content of the proposal must relate to the objectives and to the grant type set out in the call, as defined in the ERC Work Programme 2026 (section 1.1 Objectives of ERC Grant Schemes). If a proposal is considered not to relate to the objectives of the grant or call for proposals, it will be declared ineligible.
Eligible Principal Investigators: The ERC grant schemes are open to researchers of any age and nationality, residing anywhere in the world at the time of application, and wishing to carry out their research in one of the EU or Associated Country-based Host Institutions (see Annex 3 of the ERC Work Programme 2026).
All Principal Investigators funded through an ERC Advanced Grant must spend a minimum of 50% of their working time in an EU Member State or Associated Country and a minimum of 30% of their working time on the ERC project.
Eligible Host Institution: Any type of legal entity, public or private, including a university, a research organisation or an undertaking can host a Principal Investigator and their team. The host institution (Applicant Legal Entity) must engage and host the Principal Investigator for at least the duration of the project, as defined in the grant agreement. It must be established either in an EU Member State or an Associated Country (see Annex 3 of the ERC Work Programme 2026) as a legal entity created under national law, or it may be an international European research organisation (such as CERN, EMBL, etc.), or any other entity created under EU law. International organisations with headquarters in an EU Member State or an Associated Country shall be deemed to be established in that Member State or Associated Country.
Eligible countries:
The conditions specific to the ERC are described in the ERC Work Programme 2026 under the heading 'Admissibility, eligibility and resubmission restrictions' and in Annex 3. An overview is provided below:
The ERC actions are open to researchers of any age and nationality, residing anywhere in the world at the time of application, and wishing to carry out their research in one of the EU Member State or Associated Country-based Host Institutions (see Annex 3 of the ERC Work Programme 2026). Principal Investigators funded through the ERC frontier research grants shall spend a minimum percentage of their working time on the ERC project (30% for the Advanced Grant) and a minimum percentage of their working time in an EU Member State or an Associated Country (50%).
Eligible Scientific Field: Applications in any field of science are eligible for the ERC funding and the ERC welcomes research proposals of an interdisciplinary nature.
Restrictions on applications: Given the large number of applications received every year, and the need to uphold the quality and integrity of the evaluation process, restrictions apply. For further details please consult the ERC Work Programme 2026, heading 'Restrictions on applications’ and the corresponding Table 6 or the Frequently Asked Questions.
3. Proposal submission and description:
Proposals for Advanced Grant calls are submitted by the Principal Investigator, on behalf of the Host Institution (also referred to as the applicant legal entity); the responsibility for the research conducted as part of the project rests with the Principal Investigator.
The applicant shall choose a primary evaluation panel (as listed in Annex 1 in the ERC Work Programme 2026) and may also list a secondary evaluation panel. The applicant should indicate when they believe that the proposal is of a cross-panel or cross-domain nature.
Complete proposals must be submitted via the submission tool available through the Funding & Tenders Portal (to access the submission tool, you need to register first). More information can be found in the ERC Information for Applicants and in the ERC Work Programme 2026 under the heading ‘Proposal Submission and Description’.
Thank you.
RESEARCH MANAGEMENT CENTRE