ERC Advanced Grants: Nearly €840 million to support Europe’s leading researchers

Ekaterina Zaharieva, European Commissioner for Startups, Research, and Innovation, said:

‘My congratulations to all the 319 new ERC Advanced Grant winners and a warm welcome to the researchers from Australia, Canada and the United States who have chosen Europe to carry out their research. These projects embody the spirit of scientific exploration that drives progress. The increase in applications from researchers based outside Europe shows that initiatives such as ‘Choose Europe’, aimed at attracting and keeping talent, are helping to reinforce Europe's appeal to top scientific talent worldwide.’  

President of the European Research Council, Prof. Maria Leptin, said:

‘The new Advanced Grant projects demonstrate the creativity, ambition, and intellectual boldness that frontier research requires. The ERC’s role is to support researchers who are asking difficult scientific questions and want to venture into unexplored territory in pursuit of new knowledge. Congratulations to all our new grantees. They are of 33 different nationalities - testament to Europe's strength as a destination for outstanding scientific talent, regardless of origin. We need to step up investment for Europe to lead in science and innovation.'

Projects selected for funding 

The new grantees’ work will cover a wide range of subjects, such as investigating people’s varying vulnerability to drug addiction, extending women’s fertility and health or exploring the brain mechanisms behind stuttering. Another researcher aims to develop new mathematical and algorithmic tools to tackle the growing complexity of large-scale networks, from transport systems to the internet. Yet another scientist seeks to better understand complex systems across mathematics and physics, from magnets to quantum materials. 

Read more about the research examples. 

Facts and figures

The new grantees will be based at universities and research centres in 24 EU Member States and associated countries, notably in the UK (62 grants), Germany (46), Switzerland (32), Spain (29), and France (26). Among the winners are 52 Germans, 45 Britons and 29 Italians, as well as researchers of 30 other nationalities. 
A record of 3,329 proposals was submitted to this competition, up 31% from 2,534 last year. 9.6% of proposals were selected for funding. Estimates show that the grants will create more than 3,000 jobs in the teams of new grantees.   

See more statistics and the full list of winners.

’Choose Europe’

Since the launch of the Choose Europe initiative, which aims to attract and retain scientific talent in Europe, the ERC has opened three grant competitions in which researchers applying from outside Europe have been able to request up to an additional €2 million to support the costs of establishing a new laboratory or research team in Europe. 

This ERC Advanced Grants competition is the first of these three calls for which the results have been announced. Thirteen researchers currently based outside Europe (four percent of all winners) were selected for funding: nine from the United States, two in Australia and two in Canada. Last year, four researchers based outside Europe won Advanced Grants (1.4% of successful applicants).  

Seven of these thirteen successful applicants made use of the special provision for researchers relocating to Europe under the Choose Europe for Science initiative and requested additional funding to establish a new laboratory and research team in Europe. 

The increased interest in ERC grants was also reflected in the number of applications from researchers based outside Europe. A total of 164 researchers applied for an ERC Advanced Grant in 2025, compared with 44 the previous year. 

Next Advanced Grants call – 2026 round

Interested in applying for an ERC Advanced Grant? The 2026 funding round is now open for applications, with the deadline set for 27 August 2026.  

More information.