FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

According to the conditions applied to the ERC frontier research grants 2022, there are three main restrictions to be considered for Principal Investigators (PI) in this regard:

1. A researcher may participate as PI [Including all PIs supported under the Synergy Grant] in only one main frontier research grant at any one time [NB: A new frontier research project can only start after the duration of the project fixed in a previous frontier research grant agreement has ended.] In other words, at any one time, a PI can have only one ongoing ERC grant.
2. A researcher participating as PI in one of the main frontier research grants may not submit another proposal for a main ERC grant, unless the existing project ends no more than two years after the call deadline. Therefore, an ongoing ERC main frontier research grant must end before 10 November 2023 for a PI to be eligible to apply to the 2022 Synergy grants.
3. A PI may submit proposals to different main frontier research grant calls published under the same Work Programme, but only the first eligible proposal will be evaluated. As an example, if you apply as a Principal Investigator to the 2022 Synergy Grant call (ERC-2022-SYG), and this proposal is eligible, you will not be eligible to apply to the 2022 Starting, Consolidator or Advanced grants calls.

These restrictions are specified in the ERC Work Programme 2022 and may be modified in future work programmes by the ERC Scientific Council in light of experience. Please note however that it is possible to participate in more than one ERC grant as a team member.

To be eligible for calls with deadlines in the calendar year 2022, Host Institutions (HIs) which can be legal entities from an EU Member State or Associated Country that are public bodies, research organisations or higher education institutions (including private research organisations and private higher education institutions establishments) must have a gender equality plan (GEP) or an equivalent strategic document in place for the duration of the project at the latest by the time of the Grant Agreement preparation.This requirement does not have to be fulfilled for ERC calls published under the ERC Work Programme 2022, having a deadline in 2021 calendar year (ERC-2022-SYG, ERC-2022-POC1).

Yes, a Principal Investigator (PI) whose proposal was evaluated as category A or category B at Step 3 in the 2020 Synergy Grant (SyG) call may submit a proposal to the ERC-2022-SyG call. The only restrictions on scores are on those applicants who received a C score at step 1 of the evaluation in the ERC-2020-SyG call. For other restrictions please consult the ERC Work Programme 2022, section Restrictions on submission of proposals.

In Horizon Europe, all interactions with ERCEA will take place online via the Funding & Tenders Portal (F&T Portal), under "My Area" (after EU Login). The handling of documents will be fully electronic as there is no need anymore to exchange any paper document. The grants for the successful proposals submitted to the ERC 2022 calls (ERC-2022-STG, ERC-2022-COG, ERC-2022-ADG, ERC-2022-SYG, ERC-2022-PoC1, ERC-2022-POC2) will be prepared and then signed electronically. Requests of amendments will be prepared, submitted and either accepted or rejected electronically. All reports will have to be submitted for review via the F&T Portal. According to the various phases of the project lifecycle, the correct actors (HIs and/or PIs) will be informed via email that certain tasks must be performed in the F&T Portal. Notwithstanding the above and in an effort to keep on offering a high level service, we strongly encourage both the HIs and the PIs to contact the respective Agency staff for discussion in an informal way about any changes in their respective action. This is of utmost importance in order to avoid cancellation of documents or requests that are incomplete or incorrect. The name and surname of the ERC officer responsible for the PI's grant can be found in the F&T Portal. The officer can be easily contacted via the messaging tool embedded in the F&T Portal, allowing the PI (corresponding PI for the Synergy grants) to communicate directly with the officer without having to use emails. Furthermore, the ERCEA has set up a helpdesk to provide Principal Investigators with assistance and guidance throughout the lifetime of the project. The helpdesk can be contacted by email at ERC-C2-PI-HELPDESK@ec.europa.eu.

According to the ERC Work Programme 2021, in order to be eligible to apply to the ERC Starting Grant 2021 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.

There is no obligation to include local and regional authorities as beneficiaries in the consortium; however, the Call text makes it clear that public authorities need to be strongly engaged in the proposed activities. Proposals must clearly explain how their actions will ensure the collaboration between local authorities and energy communities.