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ERC Grants

All researchers and projects that have received the prestigious grants for frontier science from the European Research Council (ERC).

Bildecollage med portretter av Ivarsflaten, Bremer og Meckler
Photo:
Paul S. Amundsen, Eivind Senneset og Ellen Viste

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The European Research Council (ERC) is a part of the EU's research programme Horizon Europe. The ERC promotes high-quality research by funding the best researchers and the best ideas in Europe. The topics are proposed by the researchers themselves and selected through strong competition.
ERC funding is considered one of the most prestigious awards a researcher can receive.

Ongoing ERC funded research at UiB

Synergy Grant

Andrea Bender,
Department of Psychosocial Science

QUANTA (2021-2027)
The Evolution of Cognitive Tools for Quantification
QUANTA investigates when, why, and how humans developed number systems,and why those vary so massively across cultures.

Advanced Grants

Rolv Skjærven
Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care

HealthierWomen (2019-2024)
A woman's reproductive experience: Long-term implications for chronic disease and death
The purpose of the new research project is to investigate how pregnancy complications affect women's future health. Read more here.

John Birks,
Department of Biology

HOPE (2017-2023)
Humans on Planet Earth-Long term impact on biosphere dynamics
We know that humans have changed the Earth in the last 8000 years, through agriculture, erosion, modifying water and nutrient budgets and so on. The HOPE project wants to elucidate whether early humans modified these major ecological processes.

Consolidator Grants

Karl Magnus Laundal,
Department of Physics and Technology/
Birkeland Centre for Space Science
Dynamit (2023-2027)
Dynamic Magnetosphere Ionosphere Thermosphere coupling
The project will investigate how Earth's atmosphere is dynamically coupled to space. 

Hallvard Moe,

Department of Information and Media Studies
PREPARE (2023-2027)
Distributed and prepared. A new theory of citizens’ public connection networks in the age of datafication. 
Pawel Burkhardt
Michael Sars Centre
ORIGINEURO (2023-2027)
Tracking the deep evolutionary origins of neurons.
The project will investigate the special nervous system of ctenophores (comb jellies) with a focus on their anatomy, development and function and could challenge the standard view that neural networks always consist of individual neurons.

Inga Berre,
Department of Mathematics

MaPSI (2021-2026)
Mathematical and Numerical Modelling of Process-Structure Interaction in Fractured Geothermal Systems

The project will develop new mathematical models and numerical methods, and use these in the simulation of processes in geothermal systems that has not been possible to quantify previously.

Ragnhild Muriaas, 
Department of Government

SUCCESS (2021-2026)
Gender-Gap in Political Endurance: a novel political inclusion theory
Professor Ragnhild Muriaas at the Department of Comparative Politics will shed light on what makes women leave politics faster than men, and what makes them stay. With the project, she will launch a completely new way of understanding gender balance in politics. Read more here.

Nele Meckler
Department of Earth Sciences

FluidMICS (2021-2026)
Fluid Inclusion Microthermometry in Speleothems
Nele Meckler and her colleagues will reconstruct past climate, by studying stalagmites in tropical caves, where tiny drops of ancient water are preserved in the rocks and can tell them about climate at the time when the water dripped from the cave ceiling.

Elisabeth Ivarsflaten
Department of Government

INCLUDE (2021-2026)
Openings to the Inclusion of Muslim Minorities in Today’s Democracies
Professor Elisabeth Ivarsflaten receives the ERC Consolidator Grant for the project "INCLUDE". The project addresses one of the most fundamental challenges of our time; how to live peacefully together as diverse societies.  

Saket Saurabh
Department of informatics

LOPRE (2019-2024)
Lossy preprocessing
Saket Saurabh aims to revolutionise how we handle, utilise and compress Big Data.

Harald Sodemann,
Geophysical Institute/ Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research

ISLAS (2018-2023)
Isotopic links to atmospheric water's sources
Harald Sodemann will use new technology to trace water vapour and its significance for weather prediction and climate models. 

Thomas Arnesen
Department of Biomedicine

NterAct (2018-2023)
Discovery and functional significance of posttranslational N-terminal acetylation
Thomas Arnesen will study a gene that controls cell motion and how it is turned on and off.

Jill Walker Rettberg
Department of Linguistic, Literary and Aesthetic Studies

MachineVision (2018-2024)
Machine Vision in Everyday Life: Playful Interactions with Visual Technologies in Digital Art, Games, Narratives and Social Media
Jill Walker Rettberg studies how new algorithmic images are affecting us as a society and as individuals. 
  

Starting Grants

Vadim Kimmelman, Department of Linguistic, Literary and Aesthetic StudiesNonmanual (2023-2027)
The project “Fundamentals of formal properties of nonmanuals: A quantitative approach” (NONMANUAL) will study facial expressions and body and head movements in five different sign languages, using large datasets, Computer Vision and advanced statistical analysis.
Carlo Koos,
Department of Government
WarEffects (2022-2026)
The Micro-Level Effects of Civil Wars on Multiple Dimensions of Women’s Empowerment
 The project investigates if, how and under which conditions violence in Civil Wars affects women's empowerment and gender relations.
Adriana Bunea
Department of Comparative Politics

CONSULTATIONEFFECTS (2019-2025)
Effects of stakeholder consultations on the inputs, processes and outcomes of executive policymaking
The project aims to investigate stakeholder consultations as institutions of political participation and representation, and to systematically study their effects on executive policymaking in the EU.

Iain G. Johnston
Department of Mathematics

EvoConBiO (2019-2024)
Uncovering and engineering the principles governing evolution and cellular control of bioenergetic organelles 
EvoConBiO will investigate a hypothesised universal tension between robustness and control that shapes how organelle genomes have evolved, how they are controlled and protected by modern-day cells, and how scientists may intervene to improve bioenergetic performance in important crop and biofuel species. 

Timothy Lynagh
Michael Sars Centre

iGLURs- A NEW VIEW (2018-2023)
Exposing Nature’s View of Ligand Recognition in Ionotropic Glutamate Receptors
This project aims to establish the complete evolutionary and chemical basis for ligand recognition in ionotropic glutamate receptors (iGluRs). 

Randi Jacobsen Bertelsen
Department of Clinical Science

BRuSH (2019-2024)
Oral Bacteria as determinants for respiratory health
BRuSH will examine of bacteria in the oral cavity can have an influence on the health of our respiratory system.  

Scott Bremer
Centre for the Study of the Sciences and the Humanities

CALENDARS (2018-2023)
Co-production of seasonal representations for adaptive institutions
Scott Bremer is looking at how rapid seasonal changes are affecting institutions in society and how we can re-learn and adapt to seasonal change in new ways. 

Hans Christian Steen-Larsen
Geophysical Institute/ Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research

SNOWISO (2018-2022)
Signals from the Surface Snow: Post-Depositional Processes Controlling the Ice Core Isotopic Fingerprint
Steen-Larsen will analyze isotopes from ice cores to create a better understanding of past climate variations, and thus better climate models.

Proof of Concept Grants

Harald Sodemann,
Geophysical Institute/ Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research  

VISOR - Versatile water vapour isotope calibration device for laboratory and field use.
Noel Keenlyside
Geophysical Institute/ Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research
TOSCP – Towards Operational Supermodel Climate Prediction

Some researchers have not started their ERC project yet, and are therefore not added to the list.
Researchers who have received an ERC award but are carrying out or have carried out their ERC projects at other institutions are not added to the list.

 

Completed ERC projects

Synergy Grant

 
Eystein Jansen & 
Kerim Hestnes Nisancioglu
Department of Earth Science/
Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research
ICE2ICE (2014-2019) Arctic Sea Ice and Greenland Ice Sheet Sensitivity

Advanced Grants

 

Kenneth Hugdahl, Department of Biological and Medical Psychology
(2 grants)

ONOFF (2016-2021)
Perception of voices that do not exist: Tracking the temporal signatures of auditory hallucinations

VOICE (2011-2016)
From cognition to brain systems

Bruce Kapferer, Department of Social Antrhopology

EGALITARIANISM (2014-2019)
Egalitarianism: Forms, Processes, Comparisons

Nikolai Østgaard, Department of Physics and Technology

TGF-MEPPA (2013-2018)
Terrestrial Gamma Flashes-the Most Energetic Photon Phenomenon in our Atmosphere

Pål Rasmus Njølstad, Department of Clinical Science

SELECTionPREDISPOSED (2012-2017)
Novel Tools for Early Childhood Predisposition to Obesity

Fedor Fomin, Department of Informatics

PREPROCESSING (2011-2016)
Rigorous Theory of Preprocessing

Christopher Henshilwood, Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion

TRACSYMBOLS (2010-2015)
Tracing the evolution of symbolically mediated behaviours within variable environments in Europe and southern Africa
Frede Tingstad, Department of Biological SciencesMINOS (2010-2015)
Microbial Network Organisation

Consolidator Grants

 
Marit Skivenes,
Department of Government
DISCRETION (2017-2023)
Discretion and the child´s best interests in child protection
Marit Skivenes researches discretionary decision-making in child protection services in different countries.

Andreas H. Hejnol,
Michael Sars Centre

EVOMESODERM (2015-2020)
The evolution of mesoderm and its differentiation into cell types and organ systems
Noel Keenlyside,Geophysical Institute /
Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research
STERCP (2015-2020)
Synchronisation to enhance reliability of climate prediction

Starting Grants

 

Daniel Lokshtanov, Department of Informatics

PaPaAlg (2017-2022) 
Pareto-Optimal Parameterized Algorithms
Nele Meckler, Department of Earth Science /
Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research
C4T (2015-2020) 
Climate change across Cenozoic cooling steps reconstructed with clumped isotope thermometry
Saket Saurabh, Department of InformaticsPARAPPROX (2012-2017) 
Parameterized Approximation 

Contact information

For more information about the projects, contact the responsible researcher.

For infomation about ERC grants at UiB, please contact Senior Adviser Katie Anders.

This page is updated by Katie Anders and Åshild Nylund

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