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:
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.
