ERC publications

2015 was a very fruitful year for the ERC, fulfilling its core mission to support ambitious projects proposed by scientists. Some of these will certainly result in ground-breaking research pushing ahead the frontiers of human knowledge, indispensable to open the way to radical innovations. This is key in the battle for keeping Europe an exciting place to be and strengthening its capacity to deal with the numerous challenges it has to…

This summary report provides a general overview of the research landscape of the projects funded by the ERC in FP7 in the domains of life sciences, physical sciences and engineering, and social sciences and humanities. One interesting analysis in the report concerns how bottom-up research funded by the ERC contributes to particular European thematic policy priorities — the examples given are nanotechnology, energy, health and migration…

This report aims to provide an authoritative quantitative overview of the European Research Council (ERC) funding activities over the course of the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Union for research, technological development and demonstration activities 2007-2013 (FP7).

Spotlight on ERC projects

The idea of automated machines that can perform tasks autonomously dates back to ancient times but robotics is a relatively new research domain – less than 60 years old. Today, this broad, interdisciplinary scientific field combines mechanical and electrical engineering, computational studies, communication engineering, but also neurosciences and cognitive sciences. From the big industrial robots that assist production in…

Annual report on the ERC activities and achievements in 2014

Every year, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) organises the world’s largest general scientific meeting which brings together thousands of scientists, policy makers, educators, journalists and students. This year’s AAAS Annual Meeting takes place from 12 to 16 February in San Jose, California, and focuses on the theme of Innovations, Information, and Imaging. The objective is to debate the impact on…

Examples of ERC projects at ESOF 2014

The projects presented in this brochure are investigating: how to model urban agglomerations; the development of “smart cities”; how the urban environment could affect cardiovascular health; energy poverty; anxiety, consumer culture and food safety and the role of space in policy making.

Cancer is among the leading causes of death worldwide, accounting for 8.2 million deaths in 2012 according to the World Health Organization. According to the same source, it is expected that annual cancer cases will rise from 14 million in 2012 to 22 million by 2030. Research on cancer development, treatment and prevention, as well as basic research in this area, is essential to reduce the burden of this disease. Research…