The call for ERC Consolidator Grants 2019 closed for applications on 7 February 2019. These are the preliminary data on the submitted proposals:

•  The ERC received 2,452 proposals for Consolidator Grants, an increase of 2.6% compared to the 2018 call when 2,389 applications were submitted.
• Physical Sciences and Engineering attracted the highest number of applications (1,071), followed by Life Sciences (710), and Social Science and Humanities (672).
• Women submitted 789 proposals (32%), same share as in the previous call.

The ERC Work Programme earmarked €602 million for an estimated 314 Consolidator Grants in 2019. The ERC is now starting evaluation of the proposals. The selected projects will be announced at the end of 2019.

ERC Consolidator Grants are designed to support excellent Principal Investigators at the career stage at which they may still be consolidating their own independent research team or programme. Applicant Principal Investigators must demonstrate the ground-breaking nature, ambition and feasibility of their scientific proposal.