The event will thus try to convene the representatives of national institutions relevant for successful application to the ERC and bring them together with potential ERC candidates, as well as with the ERC Scientific Council members and staff from the ERC Executive Agency, to discuss together the best possible ways of supporting outstanding scientist in your country and help them successfully apply to the ERC.

With the ERC widening European participation events the ERC Scientific Council plans to open a forum for dialogue, exchange of experiences, networking, and learning about good practices among different stakeholders relevant for successful application to the ERC.

Programme:

13:30     Registration

14:00     Welcome by the Chair

                                Prof. Mart Saarma, Vice-president of the ERC Scientific Council

14:05     Opening: The ERC’s quest to support excellent researchers all over Europe

                                Prof. Eva Kondorosi, Chair of the ERC Scientific Council working group on Widening European
                                participation      

14:20     Preparing an ERC application and the evaluation process

                                Dr. Alejandro Martin-Hobdey, Call Coordination and Follow-up, ERCEA

                                Presentation followed by Q&A session

14:50     Testimony of an ERC grantee in Estonia

                                Prof. Ülo Niinemets, Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences

                                Estonian University of Life Sciences, ERC Advanced Grantee

15:10     The ERC: Supporting Excellent Young Science Across Europe

                                Prof. Lynn Kamerlin, Vice-Chair Young Academy of Europe Board, ERC Starting Grantee

15:30     Coffee break

16:00     Panel discussion: Perspectives on widening European participation in ERC competitions; moderated by Prof. Mart Saarma, Vice-president of the ERC Scientific Council with panellists:

                ERC: Prof. Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, The ERC president and Prof. Eva Kondorosi, Chair of the ERC ScC WG on Widening European participation

                Poland: Prof. Michał Karoński, Chairman of the Council  of the National Science Centre, and Prof. Tomasz Dietl, Polish Academy of Sciences, ERC AdG

                Estonia: Prof. Andres Koppel, Head of the Estonian Research Council and Prof. Toivo Maimets, Director of the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology - University of Tartu, member of the EC RISE High Level Group

                Lithuania: Prof. Asta Pundziene , Vice Rector for Research,  Kaunas University of Technology and Prof. Eugenijus Butkus, Prof. Faculty of Chemistry, Vilnius University

                Latvia: Prof. Andris Ambainis, Professor Faculty of Physics and Mathematics,  University of Latvia, ERC Advanced Grantee

                Finland: Prof. Anna-Liisa Laine, Center of Excellence in metapopulation biology, University of Helsinki, ERC Starting Grantee

                Followed by discussion with participants

 17:30     Closing reception