European Research Council (ERC) Grants

The University of Padova supports ERC applicants through the dedicated Talent@Unipd programme.

The European Research Council (ERC) is an independent Scientific Council made of scientists, engineers and scholars of the highest repute and expertise. The ERC's mission is to encourage the highest quality research in Europe through competitive funding and to support investigator-driven frontier research across all fields of research, on the basis of scientific excellence.

The European Research Council (ERC) grants support individual researchers of any nationality and age who wish to pursue their frontier research. The ERC encourages in particular proposals that cross disciplinary boundaries, pioneering ideas that address new and emerging fields, and applications that introduce unconventional, innovative approaches.

ERC Success stories at the University of Padova 

Go to the following links to learn more about the projects and Principal Investigators who have chosen the University of Padova to develop their frontier research in the framework of the European Research Council (ERC) funding schemes: ERC Starting Grants; ERC Consolidator Grants; ERC Advanced Grants; ERC Proof of Concept Grants.

  ERC principles in brief

  • 1 researcher; 1 host institution; 1 project; 1 selection criterion that is scientific excellence;
  • No consortia, no networks, no co-financing;
  • “Bottom-up” approach: researchers can decide themselves upon the topic of their research project;
  • Applications can be made in any field of research, including social sciences and humanities;
  • Independent researchers from anywhere in the world, of any age and career stage can apply;
    Host institutions must provide conditions for the researcher to direct the research and manage its funding;
  • The grant is 'portable' to another host institution, if the grant holder wishes to transfer it
  • Research must be carried out in one of the 28 EU member states or associated countries.

  Funding Schemes

  • ERC Starting Grants  fund early-career promising researchers (2-7 years after PhD) - up to 1.5 million euro for a period of 5 years.
  • ERC Consolidator Grants fund already independent top researchers (7-12 years after PhD) - up to 2 million euro for a period of 5 years.
  • ERC Advanced Grants fund senior exceptional research leaders with widely recognized scientific achievements in the last 10 years - up to 2.5 million euro for a period of 5 years.
  • ERC Proof of Concept Grants fund ERC grant holders to bring their research results closer to the market - up to 150,000 euro for a period of 12 months
  • Synergy Grants (SyG) are addressed to small groups of excellent researchers (from 2 to 4 researchers).

International Research Office

via Martiri della libertà 8, 35137 Padova, Italy
tel. +39 049.827 1947 / 1948 / 1945
fax +39 049.827 1911
international.research@unipd.it