You are an ERC grantee? You carried out public engagement or science communication activities in the course of your project or up to two years after its end? Your efforts and impact can be rewarded with a prize of €10 000! Check if you are eligible, read the call documents and apply before the deadline.
Many ERC grantees engage the public with their research, showing commitment to bridging the gap between science and society. Some are outstanding science communicators, effectively conveying complex ideas to diverse audiences and promoting a deeper understanding of cutting-edge scientific advancements. Others invest in public outreach or embrace citizen science, enabling the public to actively participate in scientific research, fostering a sense of shared discovery.
The ERC's Public Engagement with Research Award recognizes and rewards grantees who successfully engage audiences outside their domain with ERC-funded research.
ERC Principal Investigators – even though they don’t have to include a plan for communication activities in their grant applications – have a contractual obligation to promote their ERC-funded research.
What is Public Engagement with Research?
In a two-way interaction, public engagement with ERC-funded activities involves the public in project design, conduct, or dissemination, fostering mutual understanding for mutual benefit.
The public engagement activities may include, for example:
- Citizen science activities conducted in collaboration or consultation with the public at any stage of the frontier research project, from design to implementation. Citizen science initiatives comprise activities such as public consultations or citizen juries.
- Public outreach activities putting the spotlight on a research topic by disseminating its content, promoting discussion, or inspiring potential future researchers. Public outreach initiatives can consist of diverse activities, such as art and science projects, educational programmes, exhibitions, and can include diverse audiences and venues such as students, schools, museums, or science festivals.
- Activities that foster consultation and exchange with citizen groups to raise awareness on a topic, to address a societal challenge, or to contribute to an issue in the public debate. These activities can be undertaken based on preliminary or final project results, as well as any particular result or output generated in the context of an ERC frontier research project. Examples of people and organisations that are likely to be engaged include journalists, policy makers at regional, national, or international level, non-governmental organisations, citizen or patient groups, product users.
2026 Awards
Who can apply?
All Principal Investigators in an ERC frontier research project, ongoing or ended on or after 31 December 2023, are eligible to apply. Please see Annex 3 of the ERC Work Programme 2026 for any restrictions.
Each Principal Investigator may submit only one application per ERC project under this work programme.
Eligible and admissible applications
All applications must refer to public engagement activities for an ERC-funded project, regardless of the sources of funding for the public engagement activities themselves. These activities should be sufficiently mature to demonstrate impact.
Award amount
Up to eight prizes will be awarded under this work programme of a value of €10 000 each.
Award criteria
The quality of the applications received will be evaluated on the basis of two weighted award criteria:
- Strategy and implementation: quality of the public engagement strategy and its implementation, including appropriateness of the used tools, channels and resources and the implementation to the objectives and audience of the action. Degree of novelty or creativity of the approach. quality of the public engagement strategy, its alignment with action objectives and audience, and the novelty or creativity of the approach, along with the appropriateness of tools, channels, and resources used.
- Impact: quantitative and qualitative evidence of the activity’s success in achieving its own public engagement objectives, including evidence of learning by the research team or the public who engaged in the activity on how to successfully engage with each other. quantitative and qualitative evidence of the activity’s success in achieving its own public engagement objectives, including possible evidence of learning for both the research team and the engaged public regarding successful engaging strategies.
Further details on the evaluation procedure, as well as possible promotional activities will be specified in the rules for contest.
Past awards
- 2024 awards
The contest closed for applications on 21 February 2024. The ERC received 99 applications from ERC grantees across 20 countries. A pre-selection was organised to choose the best proposals for the jury review. The Jury of the award, composed of experts in public engagement and science communication, consequently selected six winners who were announced an award ceremony in Brussels on 24 October 2024. Each laureate received a prize of €10 000.
- Lucie Cluver from the University of Oxford was awarded ‘for initiating and fostering global collaboration to provide research-based parenting support in crises, improving the well-being of millions worldwide.’
- Frédéric Dias from ENS Paris-Saclay was awarded ‘for engaging people living on the Aran Islands in frontier science, integrating local expertise with ocean wave research to advance knowledge and to improve community resilience.’
- Tobias Hauser from University College London and Tubingen University was awarded ‘for co-creating an accessible, interactive resource on obsessive-compulsive disorders, bridging neuroscience and community needs for real impact.’
- Orla Muldoon from the University of Limerick was awarded ‘for advancing public understanding of gender-based violence, highlighting its systemic nature and driving societal change.’
- Philipp Stockhammer from LMU Munich was awarded ‘for innovative public engagement on the ancient origins of the Mediterranean diet, reaching global audiences through edutainment and media.’
- Mathilde Touvier from the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM) was awarded ‘for promoting innovative and far-reaching public engagement on food additives, improving global public health awareness and nutrition policies.’
Press releases
Six ERC grantees win 2024 Public Engagement with Research Award
Winning projects 2024 Public Engagement with Research AwardGeneral information about the call
Rules of Contest
Call on the funding and tenders portal: ERC-2024-PERA
Jury members 2024
ERC Work Programme 2024
FAQs- Lucie Cluver from the University of Oxford was awarded ‘for initiating and fostering global collaboration to provide research-based parenting support in crises, improving the well-being of millions worldwide.’
- 2022 awards
The announcement of the winners occurred during an award ceremony held on Thursday, July 14, 2022, as a hybrid event, within the framework of the Euroscience Open Forum in Leiden (The Netherlands).Three awards, each valued €10 000, along with a "Public's Choice" award without a specified prize amount.
Award category: Involve - citizen science
Mariska Kret, Leiden University
RecognizeYourself - Bringing science to the zoo, involving the public into the study of great apes emotions
Award category: Inspire - public outreach
Jonathan Tennyson, University College London
Orbyts - Engaging students in original research, inspiring science careers
Award category: Influence - media and policy
Alpa Shah, London School of Economics and Political Science
CounterOppression - Challenging inequalities, countering oppression
Public's Choice
Artur Obłuski, University of Warsaw
NAFEER - Engaging local community in Sudan to promote archaeological heritagePress releases
Winners of ERC public engagement award announced (14 July 2022)
ERC Public Engagement with Research: voting starts for your favourite project (30 June 2022)
ERC Public Engagement with Research Award: Second edition launched (4 November 2021)General information of the call
Rules of Contest 2022
Call on the funding and tenders portal: ERC-2022-PERA
Jury members 2022
ERC Work Programme 2022
- 2020 awards
The winners were announced at a virtual award ceremony on 7 July 2020.Award category: public outreach
Konstantinos Nikolopoulos, University of Birmingham, UK
ExclusiveHiggs – Exploring the interface between science and art to inform, educate and inspire the public.Award category: online and social media
Anna Davies, Trinity College Dublin
SHARECITY – Crowdsourcing data of urban-based food sharing activitiesAward category: press and media relations
Erik Van Sebille, University of Utrecht, Netherlands
TOPIOS - Tracking of plastic in our seasPress releases
Winners of the ERC Public Engagement with Research Award 2020 announced (7 July 2020)
New competition for ERC Public Engagement with Research Award launched (24 September 2019)Contest document
Guide for applicants
