FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Yes, these costs are eligible if they are incurred during the lifetime of the project and provided that they are in line with the requirements for direct costs as listed in Article II.14 of the General Conditions of the ERC Grant Agreement Single and Multi-Beneficiary.

If the Grant Agreement contains a Special Clause 39 ERC, then the initial host institution is responsible for providing open access to those publications that have been published while it was the beneficiary. For any publication after the transfer of host institution, the new host institution is responsible as far as the deposit in a repository and the provision of open access is concerned, irrespective whether the publication is based on work carried out at the old or the new host institution.

One of the specificities of the ERC Grant Agreement is the split of the reporting into two distinct sets of reporting periods, in order to diminish the administrative burden on the researchers:

-Scientific reports, usually after half of the project (30 months) and at the end of the project in Starting and Advanced Grants and two intermediate reports (usually every 24 months) and one at the end of the project in Synergy Grants. Scientific reports are submitted by the Principal Investigator on behalf of the Host Institution/beneficiary;

- Financial reports, usually every 18 months and at the end of the project. Financial reports are submitted by the Host Institution with a contribution from the Principal Investigator, as per General Conditions to the ERC Grant Agreement, Article II.3.1.b for Single or Article II.3.bis.1.b for Multi-beneficiary Grant Agreements.

Two different departments/units in the ERCEA follow the (two) separate reporting streams to independently ensure appropriate work progress, follow-up and monitoring of the project. The templates are sent via advance notice letter 15 days before the end of the reporting period (in order to ensure that the beneficiary uses the latest version available).

If the scientific report has been approved without conditions, the payment will be performed at the end of the next financial reporting period without the need of any additional scientific requirements (if no new scientific issues arise meanwhile). If the scientific report has been approved conditionally, at the end of the next financial reporting period, the payment will be subject to verification that the suggested scientific recommendations have been properly fulfilled in the meantime. If the scientific report has been rejected and a revised version of the report was requested, the payment at the forthcoming financial reporting period will be suspended, until a satisfactory revised scientific report is submitted and approved by the scientific department. If the scientific report has been rejected, the ERCEA may start the procedure for termination of the Grant Agreement.

Final reports submitted within the framework of the termination will be due 45 days after the decision on termination became definitive.

In the evaluation of scientific reports, the ERCEA Scientific Department may require sometimes additional experts review. In these cases the time to evaluate the reports and disburse payments can be suspended till the review is satisfactory.

According to the conditions of the ERC Consolidator Grant 2017 call, there is no eligibility restriction to holders of a 'habilitation'. The reference date used for calculation of the applicant's eligibility is the PhD award date or medical doctor degree award date. 

For more information please consult the ERC policy on PhD and equivalent doctoral degrees in the ERC Work Programme 2017, Annex 2.

The European Union has a range of programmes which have been set up to support projects and initiatives in various domains across the EU and beyond.In accordance with the Commission's guidelines on visual identity, all EU programmes must be identified exclusively by the EU emblem and the mention of the programme name.The names of programmes, such as Horizon 2020 and FP7, will be used as verbal brands, i.e. references to them will be made without a specific logo.Commission services will apply the Commission’s visual identity guidelines when communicating about EU programmes. Beneficiaries of EU funding will use the European emblem in their communication to acknowledge the support received under EU programmes.The guidelines mentioned below are intended for beneficiaries of EU funding and other third parties who communicate about EU programmes to show how the European Union emblem can be used in conjunction with text which highlights the fact of EU funding.

For further information please see :  The use of the EU emblem in the context of EU programmes - Guidelines for beneficiaries and other third parties 

According to the conditions of the ERC Consolidator Grant 2019 call, for medical doctors who have been awarded both a medical doctor degree and a PhD, the date of the earliest degree that makes the applicant eligible takes precedence in the calculation of the eligibility time-window (7-12 years after the date of award of the PhD or 9-14 years past the medical doctor degree completion for Consolidators).

For more information, please consult the ERC policy on PhD and equivalent doctoral degrees in the ERC Work Programme 2019 – Annex 2.

Indeed, although most of the rules applicable to other researchers funded under Horizon 2020 also apply in the same way to researchers funded by the ERC, there are a number of differences. In particular, in the case of the ERC the open access obligations described in Article 29.2 of the Model Grant Agreement apply not only to articles in scientific journals, but also to long-text publications such as monographs, edited volumes, or book chapters.

An overview of the open access related rules for ERC funded researchers can be found on the ERC website. Note that Article 29.2 of the ERC Model Grant Agreement is slightly different from the corresponding article in the general Horizon 2020 Model Grant Agreement. Details on the application of the article to ERC grants can be found in the ERC specific part of the Annotated Model Grant Agreement.

No, a PhD is not formally required to submit a proposal to the ERC Advanced Grant 2020 (ERC-2020-AdG) call. As specified in the ERC Work Programme 2020, excellence is the sole criterion for the evaluation of a proposal. However, a Principal Investigator (PI) is expected to have outstanding research results within the last 10 years. For more information, please refer to the ERC Work Programme 2020, or the Information for Applicants relevant for the call.

Yes, an experienced researcher is welcome to apply to the ERC Advanced Grant 2020 (ERC-2020-AdG) call at any stage of their career if they can prove - independently of their age - that they are still active with recent outstanding results. As stated in the ERC Work Programme 2020, Principal Investigators (PIs) may be of any age and nationality and may reside in any country in the world at the time of the application. The commitment and official support of a Host Institution is nevertheless required for the whole duration of the grant. For more information, see the ERC Work Programme 2020 or the Information for Applicants to the Advanced Grant call.

Similar to the general H2020 grants, given the COVID-19 situation, maximum flexibility will be given on scheduled due dates for deliverables, milestones, scientific and financial reporting as well as to the implementation of the action whose performance was impacted by the confinement measures (see FAQs on delays in submitting reports or deliverables, on interim payments, on reorientation of the action).

As regards the time-commitments obligation for PIs, the normal rules of the grant apply. We remind our beneficiaries that the PI’s time-commitments obligations must be fulfilled for the overall action duration (NOT annually or per reporting period). Therefore, if due to COVID-19 the PI cannot fulfil the time-commitment obligations under the project in a reporting period, she or he may compensate for it in the next reporting periods once the confinement measures are lifted, and fulfil the time-commitments by the end of the action. If needed, beneficiaries may suspend the action implementation during the period where no work can be carried out (in line with Article 49 H2020 MGA). In addition, if the PI cannot fulfil the time-commitment obligations for the whole action, the beneficiary may request a suitable extension of the action that will be treated favourably and swiftly (see FAQ on extension of action duration). This extension will not count against another potential extension under H2020 ERC grants, which will follow the normal rules and procedures.

This information will not be provided to the evaluators and it will not be evaluated. Please note that the absence of a Gender Equality Plan will not prevent the signature of the grant agreement for the ERC 2021 Calls.

For ERC calls under Horizon Europe, the information requested in Part A on the career stage of the PI will not be provided to the reviewers of your proposal and will not be part of the evaluation. This data is gathered for statistical purposes and used to evaluate the Horizon Europe Programme as a whole.

Only the extension circumstances listed in the ERC Work Programme 2021 are eligible.

For the ERC-2021-COG call, no specific extension due to COVID-19-related circumstances is listed among the eligible reasons for extension. However, even if COVID is not among the valid reasons for the eligibility extension, it might have led to a situation that could be the basis for granting such an extension (e.g. a documented (part-time) leave to take care of the children e.g. during the school closure, due to lock-down or a documented medical condition of the PI or a close family member due to COVID-19 together with the related leave taken).

According to the ERC Work Programme 2021: “A researcher participating as Principal Investigator in an ERC frontier research project may not submit a proposal for another ERC frontier research grant, unless the existing project ends no more than two years after the call deadline.” Therefore, you will only be eligible for the ERC-2021-COG call if your current project finishes before 20-04-2023.

Please note that in case at some point you request and are granted an extension to the current project, your application to the ERC-2021-COG call will become automatically ineligible if, with such extension, the project’s duration goes beyond the two years after the ERC-2021-COG call deadline.

As indicated in the ERC Work Programme 2021, for the ERC Consolidator Grant 2021 (ERC-2021-COG) call, the eligibility periods can be extended in case of specific and properly documented circumstances. In case of maternity, the PIs may request 18-months extension for each child born before or after the PhD award. If the applicant can document a longer maternity leave, the eligibility period will be extended by the documented amount of actual leave taken until the call deadline.

The ERCEA is trying to follow the national rules in order to accommodate different couple/family scenarios. Hence, for the partner who was entitled to ‘maternity leave’ according to the national rules we would apply the same, provided that it is properly documented.

If, in light of the above, the male applicant considers that he should be entitled to the extension based on maternity leave, he should make the case and together with his application submit all relevant supporting documentation, including also documents from the national Social Security scheme (see more details on the supporting documents in the Information for Applicants document).

According to the conditions of the ERC Consolidator Grant 2021 (ERC-2021-COG) call, for applicants holding a degree in medicine who have been awarded both a degree in medicine and a PhD, the date used for the calculation of the eligibility period (i.e. medical degree plus two years or PhD award date) is the date of the earliest degree that makes the applicant eligible. For more information please consult the ERC policy on PhD and equivalent doctoral degrees in the ERC Work Programme 2021 – Annex 2 and section 4.3 of the Information for Applicants document to the Starting and Consolidator Grant 2021 Calls.

For the ERC Consolidator Grant 2021 (ERC-2021-COG) call, the budget table and description of resources are part of the online submission form Part A (Section 3 - Budget). The description and justification of the resources should be provided in the text box (Section C. Resources) under the budget table.

The budget section contains the proposal budget including the ‘total eligible project costs’ and the ‘Requested EU contribution’ for the project. The budget is subdivided in personnel costs, travel and subsistence, equipment, consumables, publications (including any costs related to Open Access), other additional direct costs, internally invoiced goods and services, and any envisaged subcontracting costs. The budget table will provide automatically one budget line per beneficiary. Applicants should indicate the costs for each cost category as accurately as possible using only Euro integers.

In case the ‘total eligible costs’ differ from the ‘requested EU contribution’, specify in the Resources section what exactly is funded from other sources.

Applicants should carefully check all the values of the budget table. The ‘Total eligible costs’ of the project will be automatically calculated based on the figures inserted in the individual columns. The ‘Requested EU contribution’ has to be filled in manually. Please make sure to update the ‘Requested EU contribution’ if updates are made in any of the cost categories.

In the Section C. Resources, the applicant should state and fully justify the amount of funding considered necessary to fulfil the objectives for the duration of the project. The project cost estimation should be as accurate as possible. The evaluation panels assess the estimated costs carefully; unjustified budgets will be consequently reduced.

Applicants should:

• Take into account the dedicated working time to run the project when estimating personnel costs. They should describe the size and nature of the team, indicating, where appropriate, the key team members and their roles. The participation of team members engaged by other host institutions should be justified and in relation to the additional financial cost this may impose.
• Include a short technical description of any requested equipment, why they need it and how much they plan to use it for the project.
• Include a realistic estimation of the costs for Open Access to project outputs. Costs for providing immediate Open Access to publications (article processing charges/book processing charges) are eligible if they are incurred during the lifetime of the project.
• Specify the cost items covered by 'Other personnel costs' category as well as ‘Other additional direct costs' category if applicable.
• As regards ‘Internally invoiced goods and services’, costs for host institution invoices and invoices for other entities should be included under this heading e.g. access to large facilities, access to other services that are charged as unit costs.
• Specify the requested amount for additional funding if applicable (all items MUST be included in the overall budget table under the relevant individual columns) and they should justify the request.
• Specify if they will use third parties giving in-kind contributions to the action (if applicable).

More explanation can be found in the Information for Applicants document.

For the ERC Consolidator Grant 2021 (ERC-2021-COG) call, the budget table and description of resources will be extracted from the online submission form Part A (Section 3 - Budget) and made available to the experts evaluating the proposal. Please see Annex 4.6 of the Information for Applicants document for an example of the Proposal Budget Report. It shows how experts will see the information entered in section 3 - Budget (including “Section C. Resources”).

Regarding the ERC Consolidator Grant 2021 (ERC-2021-COG) call, there has been a change compared to the ERC-2020-COG call: the budget table and the justification of the resources will not count towards the page limit of Part B2 anymore.

The budget table and description of resources are part of the online submission form Part A (Section 3 – Budget). The section "C. resources" has a maximum length of 8000 characters (including spaces) which corresponds approximately to 2 pages. Please refer to section 2.3 of the Information for Applicants document for further instruction on how to draw up the budget.

For the ERC Consolidator Grant 2021 (ERC-2021-COG) call, the budget table and description of resources are part of the online submission form Part A (Section 3 - Budget). The description and justification of the resources should be provided in the text box (Section C. Resources) under the budget table.

The applicant should NOT include any description of resources or budget table in Part B2.

According to the ERC Work Programme 2021, in order to be eligible to apply to the ERC Consolidator Grant 2021 (ERC-2021-COG) call, a Principal Investigator must have been awarded a PhD or equivalent doctoral degree. It is recognised that there are some other doctoral titles that enjoy the same status and represent variants of the PhD in certain fields. All of them have similar content requirements. First professional degrees will not be considered in themselves as PhD-equivalent, even if recipients carry the title "Doctor". For more information please consult Annex 2 ‘ERC policy on PhD and equivalent doctoral degrees’ in the ERC Work Programme 2021 - and section 4.3 of the Information for Applicants document to the Starting and Consolidator Grant 2021 Calls.

No, according to the conditions of the ERC Consolidator Grant 2021 (ERC-2021-COG) call, the Principal Investigator must have been awarded a PhD or equivalent doctoral degree to be eligible. First-professional degrees will not be considered in themselves as PhD-equivalent, even if recipients carry the title "Doctor". For more information please  consult the ERC policy on PhD and equivalent doctoral degrees in the ERC Work Programme 2021, Annex 2 and section 4.3 of the Information for Applicants document to the Starting and Consolidator Grant 2021 Calls.

For the ERC Consolidator Grant 2021 (ERC-2021-COG) call, Step 1 of the peer review evaluation process is based only on Part B1 (the extended synopsis, the Principal Investigator's CV and the track record) and peer reviewers do not have access to the full research proposal. At Step 2, the peer reviewers base their assessment on the complete versions of the retained proposals – Part B1, Part B2 and section 3 – Budget and time commitment from section 5 – Other questions (included in the online submission form). Please note that experts do not have access to any supporting documentation during the evaluation. For more information on the evaluation process, please refer to the Information for Applicants document and ERC Work Programme 2021 (section 'Evaluation procedure and criteria').

For the ERC Consolidator Grant 2021 (ERC-2021-COG) call, the applicant must choose and indicate the most relevant ERC Panel (‘primary evaluation panel’) for the evaluation of the proposed research and indicate one or more ERC key words representing the research fields involved. Applicants may indicate a second relevant panel. They should indicate when they believe that their proposal is of a cross-panel or cross-domain nature. Further explanations can be found in the Information for Applicants document to the Starting and Consolidator Grant 2021 Calls. The primary panel structure is also indicated in Annex 1 to the ERC Work Programme 2021.

For the ERC Consolidator Grant 2021 (ERC-2021-COG) call, the CVs of individual team members should not be included. Although it is not mandatory to provide the names of individual team members, the proposal should describe the composition of the team that will carry out the proposed activities. Further explanations can be found in the Information for Applicants document of the Starting and Consolidator 2021 Grants.

During each step of the ERC Consolidator Grant 2021 (ERC-2021-COG) call evaluation, the two main elements of the proposal (Principal Investigator and research project) will be evaluated and rated. At the end of each evaluation step, the proposals will be ranked by the panels on the basis of the panels' overall appreciation of their strengths and weaknesses taking into account the marks they have received.

At the end of Step 1 of the evaluation, on the basis of the assessment of Part B 1, the proposal will receive one of the following scores: A, is of sufficient quality to pass to Step 2 of the evaluation; B, is of high quality but not sufficient to pass to Step 2 of the evaluation; or C, is not of sufficient quality to pass to Step 2 of the evaluation.

At the end of Step 2 of the evaluation, on the basis of the assessment of the full research proposal, applicants will be informed of one of the following scores for their proposal either: A, fully meets the ERC's excellence criterion and is recommended for funding if sufficient funds are available; or B, meets some but not all elements of the ERC's excellence criterion and will not be funded.

More information on the results of the peer review evaluation can be found in the ERC Rules of submission and evaluation under Horizon Europe.

According to the conditions of the ERC Consolidator Grant 2021 (ERC-2021-COG) call, the only eligible career breaks that can be considered for the extension of the eligibility window are: maternity or paternity leave (before or after PhD award), long-term illness (over ninety days for the Principal Investigator or a close family member) (after PhD award), clinical training (after award of first eligible degree and by up to 4 years max.), national service (after PhD award). All these circumstances need to be properly documented. Please find below examples of such documents:

For maternity: birth certificate(s) or passport(s) of the child(ren), family book or any other official document that links the mother and the child(ren). For extension requests above 18 months per child, an official signed document from the employer certifying start and end date(s) of the individual leave(s) must be submitted. Any document should mention the reason for the leave. If the leave was conducted as a part-time leave this should be stated. It is acceptable if the time off work happened over several periods.

For paternity leave taken: an official signed document from the employer certifying start and end date(s) of the individual leave(s); an official document proving the PI's right to social paternity benefits can also be accepted. Any document should mention the reason for the leave. If the leave was conducted as a part-time leave, this should be stated. It is acceptable if the time off work happened over several periods.

For clinical training: an official document signed by the employer (usually a hospital) certifying start and end date(s) of the individual training period(s). Any document should mention the type of training. If the training was conducted part-time, this should be stated. It is acceptable if the training happened over several periods and for different clinical specialties.

For long-term illness (over ninety days for the Principal Investigator or a close family member such as a child, spouse, parent or sibling):

• For the PI: an official, signed document from the employer certifying start and end date(s) of the individual leave(s) or a medical record that indicates work incapability with the start and end date(s) of the illness period(s). Any document should mention the reason for the leave. If the leave was conducted as a part-time leave, this should be stated. It is acceptable if the time off work happened over several periods, as long as the leaves were related to the same illness or condition.
• For taking care of close family members: an official signed document from the employer certifying start and end date(s) of the individual leave(s). Any document should mention the reason for the leave. If the leave was conducted as a part-time leave, this should be stated. It is acceptable if the time off work happened over several periods, as long as the leaves were related to the same illness or condition. Furthermore, the request should be supported by an official document explaining the long-term nature of the illness or condition of the applicant or the close family member (e.g. from a hospital, a doctor or an insurance company). The supporting documents should also prove the family relationship in case the extension request relates to caring for a seriously ill close family member.

For national service: a document signed by official authority with start and end date of the service.

According to the ERC Work Programme 2021, the date of the first PhD considered for the calculation of the eligibility period shall be the date of the actual award according to the national rules in the country where the degree was awarded. This rule is explained further in Information for Applicants document to Starting (ERC-2021-STG) and Consolidator Grant (ERC-2021-COG) 2021 calls (section 1.2 Admissibility and eligibility/Principal Investigator):

The reference date towards the calculation of the eligibility period should be the date of the actual award according to the national rules in the country where the degree was awarded (generally, the date of successful defense/viva). The issue date of the PhD certificate is not to be confused with the award date of the PhD.

In case of applicants having been awarded several PhDs, the reference date is the award date of the first PhD. In case of degrees in medicine considered equivalent to a PhD, the certified date of the medical degree completion plus two years is the time reference for calculation of the eligibility time-window. For more information, see section 'Admissibility and eligibility criteria' of the ERC Work Programme 2021 and its Annex 2.

For clinical training, an extension can be granted corresponding to the documented amount of clinical training received by the PI after the award of the first eligible degree up to a maximum of 4 years (counting up until the call deadline). For applicants to the ERC-2021-COG call whose first eligible degree is a degree in medicine, clinical training can be accepted from the date of the completion of their medical degree. No extension will be accepted for serving as a house doctor or hospital doctor unless it is part of a clinical training programme. In case of part-time clinical training, the exact total training time will be accepted on a pro-rata basis to extend the eligibility window of the applicant.

Supporting documents: an official document signed by the employer (usually a hospital) certifying start and end date(s) of the individual training period(s). Any document should mention the type of training. If the training was conducted part-time, this should be stated. It is acceptable if the training happened over several periods and for different clinical specialties.

According to the conditions of the ERC Consolidator Grant 2021 (ERC-2021-COG) call, as long as no PhD document or equivalent is uploaded in the Funding & Tenders Portal, it will not be possible to validate/submit the proposal. A warning message will inform the applicant of the missing document. If another document is uploaded instead and the PhD certificate is missing, the ERCEA may contact the PI and ask for a clarification and the missing document. For more information, see section 'Admissibility and eligibility criteria' of the ERC Work Programme 2021.

According to the ERC Work Programme 2021, for medical doctors (or applicants holding a degree in medicine), a first degree in medicine will not be accepted by itself as equivalent to a PhD award. To be considered an eligible Principal Investigator, applicants holding a degree in medicine need to provide the certificates of both the medical degree and a PhD or proof of an appointment that requires doctoral equivalency (e.g. post-doctoral fellowship, professorship appointment). Additionally, applicants must also provide information on their research experience (including peer-reviewed publications) in order to further substantiate the equivalence of their overall training to a PhD. In these cases, the certified date of the medical degree completion plus two years is the reference date of the actual award used for the calculation of the eligibility time period established for Consolidator Grant in the section "Eligible Principal Investigator". For more information, see sections 'Admissibility and eligibility criteria' and Annex 2 ERC policy on PhD and equivalent doctoral degrees' of the ERC Work Programme 2021 and section 4.3 of the Information for Applicants document to the Starting (ERC-2021-STG) and Consolidator Grant (ERC-2021-COG) 2021 Calls.

According to the conditions of the ERC Consolidator Grant 2021 (ERC-2021-COG) call, it is the applicant’s responsibility to choose and indicate the most relevant ERC Panel (‘primary evaluation panel’) for the evaluation of the proposed research and to indicate one or more ERC key words representing the research fields involved. The PI may indicate a second relevant panel. The initial allocation of the proposal to a panel will be based on the preference expressed by the applicant. However, when necessary due to the expertise required for the evaluation, a proposal may be reallocated to a different panel with the agreement of both panel chairs concerned. The composition of the ERC evaluation panels are by nature multi-disciplinary. The primary allocated panel will determine if additional reviews by appropriate members of other panel(s) or additional remote experts are needed. The applicant should indicate when they believe that their proposal is of a cross-panel or cross-domain nature. Further explanations can be found in the Information for Applicants document to the Starting and Consolidator Grant 2021 Calls.

According to the conditions applied to the ERC frontier research Grants 2021, there are four main restrictions to be considered for Principal Investigators in this regard:

1. A researcher may participate as Principal Investigator [Including all Principal Investigators supported under the Synergy Grant] in only one ERC frontier research project at any one time. A new frontier research project can only start after the duration of the project fixed in a previous frontier research ERC grant agreement has ended.
2. A researcher participating as Principal Investigator in an ERC frontier research project may not submit a proposal for another ERC frontier research grant, unless the existing project ends no more than two years after the call deadline. [NB According to the duration of the project fixed in a previous frontier research ERC grant agreement].
3. A PI who is a serving as a Panel Member for a 2021 ERC call or who served as a Panel Member for a 2019 ERC call may not apply to a 2021 ERC call for the same type of grant. [NB: The members of the ERC panels alternate to allow panel members to apply to the ERC calls in alternate years].
4. A Principal Investigator may submit proposals to different ERC frontier research grant calls published under the same Work Programme, but only the first eligible proposal will be evaluated.

These restrictions are specified in the ERC Work Programme 2021 and may be modified in future work programmes by the ERC Scientific Council in the light of experience. Please note however that it is possible to participate in more than one ERC grant as a team member.

As indicated in the ERC Work Programme 2021, the eligibility periods can be extended in case of specific and properly documented circumstances. In case of maternity, the Principal Investigators (PIs) may request: 18 months extension for each child born before or after the PhD award. If the applicant can document a longer maternity leave, the eligibility period will be extended by the documented amount of actual leave taken until the call deadline.

The ERCEA is trying to follow the national rules in order to accommodate different couple/family scenarios. Hence, for the partner who was entitled to ‘maternity leave’ according to the national rules we would apply the same, provided that it is properly documented.

If, in light of the above, the male applicant considers that he should be entitled to the extension based on maternity leave, he should make the case and together with his application submit all relevant supporting documentation, including also documents from the national Social Security scheme (see more details on the supporting documents in the Information for Applicants).

The budget table and description of resources are part of the online submission form Part A (Section 3 - Budget). The description and justification of the resources should be provided in the text box (Section C. Resources) under the budget table.

The budget section contains the proposal budget including the ‘total eligible project costs’ and the ‘Requested EU contribution’ for the project. The budget is subdivided in personnel costs, travel and subsistence, equipment, consumables, publications (including any costs related to Open Access), other additional direct costs, internally invoiced goods and services, and any envisaged subcontracting costs. The budget table will provide automatically one budget line per beneficiary. Applicants should indicate the costs for each cost category as accurately as possible using only Euro integers.

In case the ‘total eligible costs’ differ from the ‘requested EU contribution’, specify in the Resources section what exactly is funded from other sources.

Applicants should carefully check all the values of the budget table. The ‘Total eligible costs’ of the project will be automatically calculated based on the figures inserted in the individual columns. The ‘Requested EU contribution’ has to be filled in manually. Please make sure to update the ‘Requested EU contribution’ if updates are made in any of the cost categories.

In the Section C. Resources, the applicant should state and fully justify the amount of funding considered necessary to fulfil the objectives for the duration of the project. The project cost estimation should be as accurate as possible. The evaluation panels assess the estimated costs carefully; unjustified budgets will be consequently reduced.

Applicants should:

• Take into account the dedicated working time to run the project when estimating personnel costs. They should describe the size and nature of the team, indicating, where appropriate, the key team members and their roles. The participation of team members engaged by other host institutions should be justified and in relation to the additional financial cost this may impose.
• Include a short technical description of any requested equipment, why they need it and how much they plan to use it for the project.
• Include a realistic estimation of the costs for Open Access to project outputs. Costs for providing immediate Open Access to publications (article processing charges/book processing charges) are eligible if they are incurred during the lifetime of the project.
• Specify the cost items covered by 'Other personnel costs' category as well as ‘Other additional direct costs' category if applicable.
• As regards ‘Internally invoiced goods and services’, costs for host institution invoices and invoices for other entities should be included under this heading e.g. access to large facilities, access to other services that are charged as unit costs.
• Specify the requested amount for additional funding if applicable (all items MUST be included in the overall budget table under the relevant individual columns) and they should justify the request.
• Specify if they will use third parties giving in-kind contributions to the action (if applicable).

More explanation can be found in the ERC Information for Applicants.

The budget table and description of resources will be extracted from the online submission form Part A (Section 3 - Budget) and made available to the experts evaluating the proposal. Please see Annex 4.6 of the Information for Applicants document for an example of the Proposal Budget Report. It shows how experts will see the information entered in section 3 - Budget (including “Section C. Resources”).

The budget table and the justification of the Resources will not count towards the page limit of Part B2 anymore (which is a change compared to the StG 2020 call).

The budget table and description of resources are part of the online submission form Part A (Section 3 – Budget). The section C. resources has a maximum length of 8000 characters (including spaces) which corresponds approximately to 2 pages. Please refer to section 2.3 of the Information for Applicants document for further instruction on how to draw up the budget.

The budget table and description of resources are part of the online submission form Part A (Section 3 - Budget). The description and justification of the resources should be provided in the text box (Section C. Resources) under the budget table.

The applicant should NOT include any description of resources or budget table in Part B2.

According to the conditions of the ERC Starting Grant 2021 call, the only eligible career breaks that can be considered for the extension of the eligibility window are: maternity or paternity leave (before or after PhD award), long-term illness (over ninety days for the Principal Investigator or a close family member) (after PhD award), clinical training (after award of first eligible degree and by up to 4 years max.), national service (after PhD award). All these circumstances need to be properly documented. Please find below examples of such documents:

For maternity: birth certificate(s) or passport(s) of the child(ren), family book or any other official document that links the mother and the child(ren). For extension requests above 18 months per child, an official signed document from the employer certifying start and end date(s) of the individual leave(s) must be submitted. Any document should mention the reason for the leave. If the leave was conducted as a part-time leave this should be stated. It is acceptable if the time off work happened over several periods.

For paternity leave taken: an official signed document from the employer certifying start and end date(s) of the individual leave(s); an official document proving the PI's right to social paternity benefits can also be accepted. Any document should mention the reason for the leave. If the leave was conducted as a part-time leave, this should be stated. It is acceptable if the time off work happened over several periods.

For clinical training: an official document signed by the employer (usually a hospital) certifying start and end date(s) of the individual training period(s). Any document should mention the type of training. If the training was conducted part-time, this should be stated. It is acceptable if the training happened over several periods and for different clinical specialties.

For long-term illness (over ninety days for the Principal Investigator or a close family member such as a child, spouse, parent or sibling):

- For the PI: an official, signed document from the employer certifying start and end date(s) of the individual leave(s) or a medical record that indicates work incapability with the start and end date(s) of the illness period(s). Any document should mention the reason for the leave. If the leave was conducted as a part-time leave, this should be stated. It is acceptable if the time off work happened over several periods, as long as the leaves were related to the same illness or condition.

- For taking care of close family members: an official signed document from the employer certifying start and end date(s) of the individual leave(s). Any document should mention the reason for the leave. If the leave was conducted as a part-time leave, this should be stated. It is acceptable if the time off work happened over several periods, as long as the leaves were related to the same illness or condition. Furthermore, the request should be supported by an official document explaining the long-term nature of the illness or condition of the applicant or the close family member (e.g. from a hospital, a doctor or an insurance company). The supporting documents should also prove the family relationship in case the extension request relates to caring for a seriously ill close family member.

For national service: a document signed by official authority with start and end date of the service.

For clinical training, an extension can be granted corresponding to the documented amount of clinical training received by the Principal Investigator (PI) after the award of the first eligible degree up to a maximum of 4 years (counting up until the call deadline). For applicants whose first eligible degree is a degree in medicine, clinical training can be accepted from the date of the completion of their medical degree. No extension will be accepted for serving as a house doctor or hospital doctor unless it is part of a clinical training programme. In case of part-time clinical training, the exact total training time will be accepted on a pro-rata basis to extend the eligibility window of the applicant.

Supporting documents: an official document signed by the employer (usually a hospital) certifying start and end date(s) of the individual training period(s). Any document should mention the type of training. If the training was conducted part-time, this should be stated. It is acceptable if the training happened over several periods and for different clinical specialties.

According to the ERC Work Programme 2021, the date of the first PhD considered for the calculation of the eligibility period shall be the date of the actual award according to the national rules in the country where the degree was awarded. This rule is explained further in Information for Applicants document to Starting and Consolidator Grant 2021 Calls (section 1.2 Admissibility and eligibility/Principal Investigator):

The reference date towards the calculation of the eligibility period should be the date of the actual award according to the national rules in the country where the degree was awarded (generally, the date of successful defense/viva). The issue date of the PhD certificate is not to be confused with the award date of the PhD.

In case of applicants having been awarded several PhDs, the reference date is the award date of the first PhD. In case of degrees in medicine considered equivalent to a PhD, the certified date of the medical degree completion plus two years is the time reference for calculation of the eligibility time-window. For more information, see section 'Admissibility and eligibility criteria' of the ERC Work Programme 2021 and its Annex 2.

According to the ERC Work Programme 2021, for medical doctors (or applicants holding a degree in medicine), a first degree in medicine will not be accepted by itself as equivalent to a PhD award. To be considered an eligible Principal Investigator, applicants holding a degree in medicine need to provide the certificates of both the medical degree and a PhD or proof of an appointment that requires doctoral equivalency (e.g. post-doctoral fellowship, professorship appointment). Additionally, applicants must also provide information on their research experience (including peer reviewed publications) in order to further substantiate the equivalence of their overall training to a PhD. In these cases, the certified date of the medical degree completion plus two years is the reference date of the actual award used for the calculation of the eligibility time period established for Starting Grant in the section "Eligible Principal Investigator". For more information, see sections 'Admissibility and eligibility criteria' and Annex 2 ERC policy on PhD and equivalent doctoral degrees' of the ERC Work Programme 2021 and section 4.3 of the Information for Applicants document to the Starting and Consolidator Grant 2021 Calls.

According to the conditions of the ERC Starting Grant 2021 call, for applicants holding a degree in medicine who have been awarded both a degree in medicine and a PhD, the date used for the calculation of the eligibility period (i.e. medical degree plus two years or PhD award date) is the date of the earliest degree that makes the applicant eligible. For more information please consult the ERC policy on PhD and equivalent doctoral degrees in the ERC Work Programme 2021 – Annex 2 and section 4.3 of the Information for Applicants document to the Starting and Consolidator Grant 2021 Calls.

No, according to the conditions of the ERC Starting Grant 2021 call, the Principal Investigator must have been awarded a PhD or equivalent doctoral degree to be eligible. First-professional degrees will not be considered in themselves as PhD-equivalent, even if recipients carry the title "Doctor". For more information please consult the ERC policy on PhD and equivalent doctoral degrees in the ERC Work Programme 2021, Annex 2 and section 4.3 of the Information for Applicants document to the Starting and Consolidator Grant 2021 Calls.

According to the conditions applied to the ERC frontier research Grants 2021, there are four main restrictions to be considered for Principal Investigators in this regard:

1. A researcher may participate as Principal Investigator [Including all Principal Investigators supported under the Synergy Grant] in only one ERC frontier research project at any one time. A new frontier research project can only start after the duration of the project fixed in a previous frontier research ERC grant agreement has ended.
2. A researcher participating as Principal Investigator in an ERC frontier research project may not submit a proposal for another ERC frontier research grant, unless the existing project ends no more than two years after the call deadline. [NB According to the duration of the project fixed in a previous frontier research ERC grant agreement has ended].
3. A PI who is a serving Panel Member for a 2021 ERC call or who served as a Panel Member for a 2019 ERC call may not apply to a 2021 ERC call for the same type of grant. [NB The members of the ERC panels alternate to allow panel members to apply to the ERC calls in alternate years].
4.  A Principal Investigator may submit proposals to different ERC frontier research grant calls published under the same Work Programme, but only the first eligible proposal will be evaluated.

These restrictions are specified in the ERC Work Programme 2021 and may be modified in future work programmes by the ERC Scientific Council in the light of experience. Please note however that it is possible to participate in more than one ERC grant as a team member.

According to the conditions of the ERC Starting Grant 2021 call, it is the applicant’s responsibility to choose and indicate the most relevant ERC Panel (‘primary evaluation panel’) for the evaluation of the proposed research and to indicate one or more ERC key words representing the research fields involved. The Principal Investigator (PI) may indicate a second relevant panel. The initial allocation of the proposal to a panel will be based on the preference expressed by the applicant. However, when necessary due to the expertise required for the evaluation, a proposal may be reallocated to a different panel with the agreement of both panel chairs concerned. The composition of the ERC evaluation panels are by nature multi-disciplinary. The primary allocated panel will determine if additional reviews by appropriate members of other panel(s) or additional remote experts are needed. The applicant should indicate when they believe that their proposal is of a cross-panel or cross-domain nature. Further explanations can be found in the Information for Applicants document to the Starting and Consolidator Grant 2021 Calls.

For the ERC Starting Grant 2021, Step 1 of the peer review evaluation process is based only on Part B1 (the extended synopsis, the Principal Investigator's CV and the track record) and peer reviewers do not have access to the full research proposal. At Step 2, the peer reviewers base their assessment on the complete versions of the retained proposals – Part B1, Part B2 and section 3 – Budget and time commitment from section 5 – Other questions (included in the online submission form). Please note that experts do not have access to any supporting documentation during the evaluation. For more information on the evaluation process, please refer to the ERC Work Programme 2021 (section 'Evaluation procedure and criteria').

For the ERC Starting Grant 2021, the applicant must choose and indicate the most relevant ERC Panel (‘primary evaluation panel’) for the evaluation of the proposed research and indicate one or more ERC key words representing the research fields involved. Applicants may indicate a second relevant panel. They should indicate when they believe that their proposal is of a cross-panel or cross-domain nature. Further explanations can be found in the Information for Applicants document to the Starting and Consolidator Grant 2021 Calls. The primary panel structure is also indicated in Annex 1 to the ERC Work Programme 2021.

The CVs of individual team members should not be included. Although it is not mandatory to provide the names of individual team members, the proposal should describe the composition of the team that will carry out the proposed activities. Further explanations can be found in the Information for Applicants document of the Starting and Consolidator 2021 Grants.

During each step of the ERC Starting Grant 2021 evaluation, the two main elements of the proposal (Principal Investigator and research project) will be evaluated and rated. At the end of each evaluation step, the proposals will be ranked by the panels on the basis of the panels' overall appreciation of their strengths and weaknesses taking into account the marks they have received.

At the end of Step 1 of the evaluation, on the basis of the assessment of Part B 1, the proposal will receive one of the following scores: A, is of sufficient quality to pass to Step 2 of the evaluation; B, is of high quality but not sufficient to pass to Step 2 of the evaluation; or C, is not of sufficient quality to pass to Step 2 of the evaluation.

At the end of Step 2 of the evaluation, on the basis of the assessment of the full research proposal, applicants will be informed of one of the following scores for their proposal either: A, fully meets the ERC's excellence criterion and is recommended for funding if sufficient funds are available; or B, meets some but not all elements of the ERC's excellence criterion and will not be funded.

More information on the results of the peer review evaluation can be found in the ERC Rules of submission and evaluation under Horizon Europe.

According to the conditions of the ERC Starting Grant 2021 call, as long as no PhD document or equivalent is uploaded in the submission tool of the Funding & Tenders Portal, it will not be possible to validate/submit the proposal. A warning message will inform the applicant of the missing document. If another document is uploaded instead and the PhD certificate is missing, the ERCEA may contact the PI and ask for a clarification and the missing document.

For more information, see section 'Admissibility and eligibility criteria' of the ERC Work Programme 2021.

Before engaging in communication activities expected to have a major media impact, European Research Council (ERC) grantees (beneficiaries/participants) must inform the ERC Executive Agency via their project officers or via the mailbox ERC-PRESS@ec.europa.eu.

The European emblem (flag) may be used by third parties only if is not:

• likely to create confusion between the user and the European Union or the Council of Europe;
• linked to aims or activities incompatible with the principles and objectives of the European Union or the Council of Europe.In the case of EU-funded projects:
• logos that are developed for projects funded by the EU, and that are not owned by the EU, may not be identical or similar to the European emblem (this includes logos that incorporate the twelve stars);
• the European emblem should be given appropriate prominence when displayed in association with a logo;
• contractors are exempt from the obligation to obtain prior permission from the Commission to use the emblem, but are subject to the general third-party-use restrictions mentioned above. This tacit authorization to use the European emblem implies no right of exclusive use. It does not permit the appropriation of the emblem, or of any similar trade mark or logo, whether by registration or by any other means.For further information please see :  Europa - The European Flag  (see the Graphics guide to the European flag link for more details)

The European Research Council (ERC) logo and European emblem can be downloaded from the ERC website "logos and banners" page. The ERC logo can be used by beneficiaries of ERC funding support for the sole purpose of acknowledging that suppport. No explicit permission is necessary to use the ERC logo in this case.

For actual cost-based H2020 actions & MSCA actions

• Given this unprecedented pandemic situation, maximum flexibility will be given in relation to the action implementation.
• Whenever possible, beneficiaries are encouraged to telework or to use other forms of remote working. Teleworking during the confinement and the subsequent transitional period will be accepted even if it is not the beneficiary’s usual practice to telework. Costs of hours worked for the Horizon 2020 action via teleworking during those periods are eligible under the same conditions than hours worked on-site. For actual cost-based grants, the beneficiary is also entitled to the 25 % indirect costs flat rate on the costs of those teleworked hours. Private costs incurred by the employee for its teleworking activities (e.g. electricity at home, internet connection fee, printer consumables, etc.) are not eligible as direct costs for the Horizon 2020 actions. The potential reimbursement of those costs by the beneficiary to the employee is covered by the 25 % flat rate for indirect costs.

Beneficiaries are also highly encouraged to shift their tasks whenever possible. For instance, tasks where physical presence is needed on the ground (e.g. experiments/lab work, etc.) may be postponed after the confinement measures are over and meanwhile remote work could be done instead (desk work, drafting of reports, etc.) Costs will still be eligible for the work carried out under the action even if such shifting entails deviations from the initial timing set out in Annex 1.

Additional possibility for H2020 MSCA actions:

• Beneficiaries are reminded that periods in which a researcher was absent for 30 consecutive days or less (for reasons other than normal annual leave) can STILL be charged to the action and the costs will be eligible.
• Moreover, the budget is flexible on the use of the amounts received. Research, training and networking unit costs should be used primarily for the research, training and networking activities planned in Annex 1. Yet, beneficiaries may allocate some of these amounts to help maintaining the salary of the researchers that are prevented from implementing the action due to the COVID-19 situation. There is no time limit for the use of these funds.
• Beneficiaries have the same flexibility on deciding how to spend the institutional unit costs in order to complete their research. The only condition is that the Research, Training and Networking costs must be spent in support of the implementation of the project, as outlined in the Annex 1 to the grant agreement. There is no time limit for the use of these funds.

MSCA COFUND: Institutions have flexibility to decide how to spend the management unit cost. The latter should be used primarily for the management of the action. Yet, beneficiaries (or other host institutions with whom they have shared the management unit cost) may allocate some of these amounts to help maintaining the salary of the researchers that are prevented from implementing the action due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation. There is also no time limit for the use of these funds.

Additional clarifications for ERC actions:

• Telework arrangements are particularly recommended for Principal Investigators that are currently blocked from returning to the EU or Associated Countries. In such a case, specific arrangements need also to be anticipated and taken also for the team’s work supervision, and ERCEA must be notified accordingly.
• The time teleworked by these PIs during the time they are prevented from returning to the EU or the Associated Countries may count as time spent on the ERC project and in the EU or the Associated Countries for the purpose of the Principle Investigator’s time commitments. However, time records for the PIs should be kept even if no personnel costs are charged for him/her to the project.

Yes. Any SME (as defined by Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC) can be a Host Institution (HI) for an ERC grant as long as it meets the conditions of eligibility of the HI laid down in the ERC Work Programme 2021.

Under the ERC-2021-AdG call, the Scientific Proposal (Part B2) can be maximum 14 pages.

Since the ERC-2019-AdG call, the budget table and description of resources are part of the administrative proposal submission form (Part A, 3 - Budget) and do not count towards the page limit of the Scientific Proposal (Part B2).

The justification of the project costs and description of time commitment (Resources and Time Commitment) can be maximum two pages, i.e. Section C. Resources may have a maximum length of 8000 characters, including spaces. Please note that 4000 characters, font size 11, single line spacing, correspond to one A4 text page.

The budget table itself does not count towards the page limit.

Yes, as specified in the ERC Work Programme 2021, a PI whose proposal was evaluated as category A or category B at step 2 in an ERC 2020 Starting (StG), Consolidator (CoG) or Advanced (AdG) call, or evaluated A or B at step 3 in the ERC 2020 Synergy (SyG) call, may submit a proposal to the ERC Advanced Grant 2021 (ERC-2021-ADG) call.

No, under call ERC-2021-AdG, a Principal Investigator (PI) whose proposal was evaluated as category C in the step 1 Starting (StG), Consolidator (CoG), Advanced (AdG) Grant or Synergy Grant (SyG) calls for proposals under ERC Work Programme 2019 and 2020 may not submit a proposal to the ADG call under Work Programme 2021. For more information, please refer to the restrictions on submission of proposals in the ERC Work Programme 2021.