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Viruses: know your enemy to defeat it
17 August 2020
Does the word ‘virus’ scare you? Clearly COVID19 has reminded us how vulnerable we are to viruses, but there is nothing new about viral pandemics. Deepening our understanding of viruses is essential to tackle current and future viral threats.
From the USA to the Centre for the Unknown
6 August 2020
As part of a series of interviews with researchers who have moved from other continents and countries to work in Europe, EURAXESS’s North American representatives Jackson Howard and Dr. Derya Buyuktanir Karacan interview US neuroscientist Megan Carey.
Second round winners in 2020 - Proof of Concept call
28 July 2020
Projects awarded ERC Proof of Concept grants are as varied as the fundamental research that inspired them. Three examples from the latest batch of 55 funded projects include one project to make gecko-inspired gripping technology to help assemble products with tiny parts. Another will tap into the international digital music market by producing song word metadata for playlist generators, while a third project is creating a way to ensure live vaccines for mosquito-transmitted viruses avoid generating any vaccine resistant virus strains.
Facing challenges at a critical time: Jean-Pierre Bourguignon back at the ERC
24 July 2020
As Germany has just taken over the Presidency of the EU, let me take you back to the ERC’s launch ceremony in Berlin in 2007, during the previous German EU Presidency. Then, Chancellor Angela Merkel...
Moving around Africa – paths for people and products
3 July 2020
African countries, like all others, have been taking measures to restrict the spread of COVID-19. Their success partly depends on how the population and their goods move through the continent. As part of our series on the ERC’s Scientific Officers and their favourite ERC funded research, political scientist Inge Ruigrok reflects on her own work in Africa. In parallel, she takes a timely look at Paul Nugent’s research into transport hubs, corridors and borders in African states.
Plant Health: why research is so important
1 July 2020
Science is fundamental to protect plants. As an introduction to a new series of articles on plant health, plant genomics expert Pere Puigdomènech tells us why.
Frontier research at the service of the coronavirus epidemic response
1 July 2020
How can frontier science help fight the current COVID-19 outbreak? To find out, we talked to a range of ERC grantees who are working in the fields of molecular biology, virology, immunology, epidemiology, and network science. As it turns out, much of their work can be applied to the current situation and could help understand, predict and contain the outbreak. We will add more news on ERC-funded research as they become available.
Piecing together Egyptian knowledge
26 June 2020
Classicist Julie Baleriaux, part of the ERC’s team of Scientific Officers, describes her career path and shares with us some fascinating ERC funded research. Egyptologist Verena Lepper is deciphering 4000 years’ worth of text to uncover the secrets of an Island.
Research Perspective from Down Under
8 June 2020
Researchers from anywhere in the world can apply for European Research Council grants, provided the research they undertake will be carried out in an EU Member State or Associated Country . But how and why would researchers from far flung countries hope to win ERC grants? Two Australian ERC Grant recipients share their experiences and motivation.
Nobel Prize winner: This epidemic has so far been a close shave for humanity
27 May 2020
Some COVID-19 patients have low oxygen levels without being aware of it. This ‘silent hypoxia’ puzzles clinicians. We talked about this with Sir Peter Ratcliffe, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine last year for his “discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability.” Professor Ratcliffe is a Distinguished Scholar of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and Director for the Target Discovery Institute at Oxford University, as well as Director of Clinical Research at the Francis Crick Institute in London. The European Research Council has supported the groundbreaking work of Professor Ratcliffe for five years from 2008 to 2013.