Glossary

To protect the EU's financial interests, the Commission and its Executive Agencies use an internal information tool, the Early Warning System (EWS), to flag identified risks related to beneficiaries of centrally managed contracts and grants.

Trade, services or other activity irrespective of a profit or non-profit purpose.

A Web-based system to prepare, upload and submit FP7 proposals. Access is provided via the Participant Portal. The site contains all information about EU funding, ERC grants, etc. It also offers interactive online services bringing together researchers, decision-makers and other players in research.

Proposals must fulfill all of the eligibility criteria if they are to be retained for peer review evaluation. These criteria are rigorously applied. In the case of two-stage proposal submission, each stage is subject to an eligibility check. All proposals submitted under a call will be checked against specific eligibility criteria.

An internal committee of the ERCEA which examines in detail cases of proposals whose eligibility for inclusion in an evaluation is in question.

Criteria laid down by the FP7 Rules for Participation as well as the Financial Regulation that need to be met for a proposal to be eligible, complemented by any additional conditions laid down by the "Ideas" Work Programme relevant for the call. For example: receipt of proposal before the deadline, completeness of the proposal, proposal submitted to the right domain. Proposals that do not comply with these criteria may be excluded from the evaluation, selection and award procedures.

Research activities in FP7 must respect fundamental ethical principles. Proposals which contravene fundamental ethical principles cannot be selected. Ethical principles include the need to ensure the freedom of research and the need to protect the physical and moral integrity of individuals and the welfare of animals. For this reason, the ERC Executive Agency carries out an ethics review of proposals when appropriate.

Ethics Monitoring is an activity in the domain of Ethics Review. The objective of the Ethics Monitoring is to ensure that the research carried out under ERC grants complies with fundamental ethical principles throughout the duration of the grant.
Dual Use has to be avoided: Research having direct military application or the potential for terrorist abuse.

The Ethics Review aims at ensuring (where necessary with the help of independent experts) that any research carried out under ERC grants complies with European fundamental ethical values. The Ethics Review also comprises Ethics Monitoring.

The European Research Area is composed of all research and development activities, programmes and policies in Europe which involve a transnational perspective. Together, they enable researchers, research institutions and businesses to increasingly circulate, compete and co-operate across borders. The aim is to give them access to a Europe-wide open space for knowledge and technologies in which transnational synergies and complementarities are fully exploited.

The European Research Council (ERC) is the European Union funding body that implements the Specific FP7 Programme 'Ideas'. It is part of the Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7). The Ideas Programme supports "investigator-driven" research carried out across all fields by individual national or transnational teams in competition at the European level.

The ERC consists of an independent Scientific Council, responsible for scientific strategy, and an administrative arm, the European Research Council Executive Agency (ERCEA).

The European Research Council Executive Agency is responsible for all aspects of the administrative implementation and execution of the FP7 Specific Programme IDEAS. It particularly implements the evaluation procedures, peer review and selection processes according to the principles established by the Scientific Council, and ensures the financial and scientific management of the grants.

The evaluation criteria for FP7 are established in the FP7 Rules for Participation. These evaluation criteria are generally relating to quality, impact and implementation of projects.
For support of 'frontier' research actions by the ERC, the sole criterion of scientific "excellence" applies.
For Coordination and Support Actions, including the Proof of Concept, project related criteria apply.
These criteria against which eligible proposals are assessed by independent experts are further specified in the "Ideas" Work Programme.

Evaluation groups together define the processes related to the technical and logistical aspects of proposal evaluation. The objective of the processes is to obtain recommendations from independent experts on project proposals presented in answer to ERC calls. Evaluations are carried out following the criteria and methodology established in the "Ideas" Work Programme and ERC Rules for Submission.

The assessment of a particular proposal following the evaluation by independent experts is provided in an Evaluation Report.