The European Research Council (ERC) is a funding body of the European Union for thematically open cutting-edge research. The ERC has several funding lines open to outstanding researchers at all stages of their careers to carry out excellent projects together with their teams. All applications are assessed by independent panels of experts who are assigned to one of three scientific domains: Physical Sciences and Engineering, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences and Humanities,

In the European research framework programme Horizon Europe (2021–2027), the ERC has a total funding budget of 16 billion euros, which corresponds to about 17 percent of the total Horizon Europe budget. 

For further information and advice on the various funding opportunities within the framework of the different funding programmes, please visit the web sites of D7 / International Funding.

Current Starting Grants

Open to researchers between 2 and 7 years after PhD with a maxium funding of 2 million euros over up to 5 years.

Dr. Gilles Storelli, CECAD (2022)
Dissection of the host-microbe crosstalk that controls metabolism and physiology in intestinal symbiosis

Prof. Dr. Marcel Schubert, Humboldt Centre for Nano and Biophotonics  (2021)
HYPERION - Optical Sequencing inside Live Cells with Biointegrated Nanolasers

Current Consolidator Grants

Open to researchers between 7 and 12 years after PhD with a maximum funding of 2 million euros over up to 5 years.

Prof'in Dr. Kathrin Bringmann, Abteilung Mathematik (2020)
Modular Forms are Everywhere (ModEv)

Prof'in Dr. Ana García Sáez, Institut für Genetik, CECAD (2019)
Apoptotic foci: composition, structure and dynamics

Prof. Dr. Gunther Döhlemann, Botanisches Institut (2017)
De- and reconstructing virulence strategies of fungal plant pathogens

Current Advanced Grants

Open to established researchers with at least 10 years of significant research achievements with a maximum funding of 3.5 million euros over up to 5 years.

Prof. Dr. Malte Gather, Institut für Physikalische Chemie (2023)
HyAngle - Challenging the fundamental limit of angular dispersion by hybridizing light and matter

Prof. Dr. Joachim Saur, Institut für Geophysik und Meteorologie (2021)
Exo-Oceans - Searching and Characterizing Extraterrestrial Subsurface Oceans

Prof. Dr. Stephan Schlemmer, Institut für Astrophysik (2021)
Missions - Molecular Spectra of Missing Ions in the Laboratory and in Space

Current Synergy Grants

Open to groups of 2 to 4 researchers and their teams with maxium funding of up to 10 million euros over up to 6 years.

Prof. Dr. Björn Schumacher, CECAD (2023)
BATPROTECT

Current Proof of Concept Grants

For people who have already received an ERC grant and would like to transform the ideas arising from the project into innovations, with funding of 150,000 euros over 18 months.

Prof. Dr. Malte Gather, Institut für Physikalische Chemie (2024)
CELL-FORCE – Validation of a novel device for real-time, long-term measurement of cellular forces