FP7 Program Ideas
The "Ideas" Programme is implemented through the European Research Council (ERC) which is the first European funding body set up to support investigator-driven frontier. The ERC complements other funding activities in Europe such as those of the national research funding agencies and has an overall budget of € 7.5 billion over 7 years (2007-2013).
Programme's objectives
- encouraging investigator-driven, or 'bottom-up' frontier research and encouraging the work of the established and next generation of independent top research leaders in Europe
- improving the attractiveness of Europe for the best researchers from both European and third countries, as well as for industrial research investment, by providing a Europe-wide competitive funding structure
- bringing new and unpredictable scientific and technological discoveries, broadening social innovations of the future
Actions
The “Ideas Programme” will be implemented through the following actions:
- ERC Starting Indipendent Research Grants: aims at supporting up-and-coming research leaders who are about to establish or consolidate an independent research team and to start conducting independent research in Europe. Candidates must have received their PhD or equivalent degree more than two years but less than nine years prior to the deadline of the call;
- ERC Advanced Investigator Grants: aims at encouraging researchers who have already established themselves as being independent research leaders in their own right. It supports risk-taking and interdisciplinarity and pioneering frontier research projects. Candidates may be at any career stage.
General principels of ERC Funding schemes and application processes
- individual teams led by independent Principal Investigators are supported; i.e. no trans-national partnerships nor consortia are required;
- all fields of research are eligible, i.e. no thematic or policy-driven research priorities need to be covered;
- scientific excellence is the sole selection criterion, i.e. no political considerations affect evaluation and funding decisions;
- attractive long-term funding to support the very best research leaders, i.e. grants are managed according to simple procedures that combine flexibility with accountability.
For the open calls please consult the CORDIS website.