ERC Synergy Grants

Update:

The 2023 call will have a deadline in November 2022.

You can only have one ERC at a time. (i.e. You cannot for example have a SyG and a Consolidator Grant)

Blocking rules: If you get rejected for SyG with a C the whole PI team isblocked to apply for SyG for 2 years. PIs in the Advanced Grant category will additionally be blocked for 1 year from applying to Advanced Grants.

If your career was affected by Covid-19, you can state this in your CV.

You can include a short narrative about your results in the track record.

What is a Synergy Grant?

The ERC Synergy Grants allow teams of 2-4 Principal Investigators (PI) to work on a project of their choice.

The project description must emphasise how the PIs as a group will achieve results that they could not have achieved on their own.

One of the PIs must be chosen as corresponding PI, but PIs are seen as equal (no coordinator role as in collaborative projects). PIs can be located in different countries and/or institutions as well as sectors. Up to one PI from a country outside of Europe ("third country") can now participate in a SyG project.

PIs should devote at least 30 % of their working time to the project.

Career stages as defined in the Starting Grants (2-7 years after PhD), Consolidator Grants (7-12 years after PhD) and Advanced Grants also apply for Synergy Grants and will be taken into account during the evaluation.

Funding: Projects will run for up to 6 years with a funding of 10 million € for the PI group and their teams. Up to 4 milion € can be added in case of the need for "startup costs" for PIs who move to Europe because of an ERC, the purchase of major equipment or access to large facilities. We highly recommended to discuss this with the local research adviser at your faculty/department or in the central administration.

The ERC Synergy Grants have in the past been very competitive and it is strongly recommended that all participating PIs are at a level where they could apply for a StG/CoG/AdG on their own.

The project description must be clear on new and ground breaking elements, that currently cannot be achieved by a single discipline.

As with the other ERC grants, a shorter extened synopsis and a longer project desctription targeted towards specialits must be submitted at the same time. Each PI must submit a CV and Track Record.

The evaluation will include 3 steps: review of the extended synopsis, review of the full proposal for teams selected for round 2 and an interview  for the PI group. The research advisers can provide tips and hints for the interview and help with training.

The ERC does not have any fixed panels, but builds teams of reviewers from an invited pool ("floating panels"), so it is more difficult to guess who will look at your proposal.

Blocking periods apply. Teams with a C at the end of stage 1 will face a 1 year blocking for ERC AdG and 2 years for SyG. Teams with a B at the end of step one or two will receive a 1 year blocking period for ERC SyG.