ERC flooded by first round of grants

The European Research Council's very first round of grants has resulted in a stampede of young scientists eager to grab a piece of Europe's new funding pie, figures released by the European Commission show. The ERC was launched two months ago, with the goal of supporting fundamental research without any of the political strings normally attached to European Union funding. Its first round of grants, targeted to young researchers beginning their own research programs, received more than 9,000 applications, ERC president Fotis Kafatos said last week."The high response rate is a clear signal of the expectations and interest in the ERC by Europe's young scientists and a measure of the need for grants of this kind in Europe," he said in a statement. The "Starting Grants" provide support for researchers who have recently completed their doctoral studies, and want to eventually become independent research leaders. They were open to applicants worldwide, as long as they intend to set up their teams at European institutions."From the sheer numbers you could argue that there is a lack of opportunity for young investigators to become independent," ERC secretary-general, Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker, told The Scientist. "It shows that young scientists see this as a last straw to apply for funding, which is a bad sign for national activities."Magnus Alphey, co-chair of the post-doc association at Dundee University's College of Life Sciences, Scotland, agreed that there was a distinct lack of opportunities for early career researchers wanting to make the leap to running their own lab. "The ratio of people applying for grants and the grants themselves, which are few and far between, is particularly bad," he told The Scientist. Indeed, the large number of proposals means most applicants come away with nothing. The total budget for the first round of grants is approximately €290 million, which the ERC estimates that will cover around 200 to 250 substantial grants, Winnacker said. The challenge for the ERC's fledgling organization is now to review the 9,167 proposals by July. At that point, roughly 400 to 500 of the best applicants will be asked to submit more detailed proposals."That's a lot of work, but we're prepared for it," Winnacker said. The task of reviewing the applications will fall to panels of senior scientists in Europe and beyond, selected by the ERC's Scientific Council. "Whether you need 300 reviewers or 1,000 reviewers it is not a problem," he said. Winnacker, former head of Germany's national research funder, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, is one of Europe's most respected science administrators. The 9,000 applications were at the "top end" of expectations, Winnacker said, but the ERC had made plans for as many as 10,000 proposals.When the proposals were classified broadly according to their main scientific focus, 46% were from the physical sciences and engineering, 37% were for the life sciences including medicine, and 17% were social sciences and humanities.Stephen Pincock mail@the-scientist.comLinks within this articleA. Scott, "ERC launched today," The Scientist, February 27, 2007. http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/52908/J. Burgermeister, "ERC scientific council named," The Scientist, July 19, 2005. http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/22733/"Impressive demand for first European Research Council grants," April 26, 2007. http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/07/573&type=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=enS. Pincock, "Could US scientists get EU funding?" The Scientist, April 19, 2007. http://www.the-scientist.com/news/home/53079S. Pincock, "ERC gets seasoned leader," The Scientist, September 6, 2006. http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/24620College of Life Sciences Postdoctoral Association at the University of Dundee http://www.dundee.ac.uk/lifesciences/postdoc/contacts.html

ERC flooded by first round of grants

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