European Research Council
ERC
Funds frontier research on excellence alone, through Starting, Consolidator, Advanced and Synergy Grants. Single-investigator awards of a size and flexibility that few UK schemes match; UK-hosted researchers are eligible under association arrangements.
- Kind of funder
- International (open to UK)
- Where it funds
- UK-wide, International
- Indicative award size
- £1.5m – £14m
- Who can apply
- Universities, Research institutes, Individual researchers
- Career stages
- Early career, Established researcher
Starting €1.5m, Consolidator €2m, Advanced €2.5m, Synergy up to €10m — before extra allowances.
Research areas
Named schemes (2)
ERC Consolidator Grant ↗
Around €2m over five years for researchers seven to twelve years past their PhD who are consolidating an independent team.
Open12 Jan 2027£2m – £3m per awardpulled from EU portal 2026-09-25ERC Starting Grant ↗
Around €1.5m over five years for researchers two to seven years past their PhD, judged on excellence alone. UK-hosted applicants are eligible under association arrangements.
Rolling / recurringCheck funder site for current round£1.5m – £2m per awardchecked 2026-05-01