European Research Council Synergy Grants: 13 projects for France

The ERC, created by the European Union in 2007, is the first European entity for funding of cutting-edge research. The Council funds “creative researchers of all nationalities and ages” to carry out projects across Europe. The ERC offers four major funding programmes: starting grands, consolidator grants, advanced grants and synergy grants. The latter, the ERC Synergy Grants, fosters collaboration between outstanding researchers, “enabling them to combine their expertise, knowledge and resources to push the boundaries of scientific discovery”. Fifty-seven research groups work to receive a total of €571 million to address “some of the most complex scientific problems, covering a wide range of disciplines”. 

International synergies

The ERC Synergy Porgramme is without a doubt the most international programme, since it “helps to open top European research to the best scientific talent globally, creating further synergies”.

International applicants submitted 548 proposals in this call. As the ERC explains,the 57 winning projects involve 201 researchers who will carry out their projects at 184 universities and/or research centres in 24 countries across Europe and beyond. More precisely, Germany (with 34 projects), the UK (18), France (13), the US (12), Spain (11) and Netherlands (10) are hosting the highest number of projects. Six additional projects involve researchers based in Czechia (2 projects), Greece (1), Hungary (1), Poland (1) and Portugal (1) - countries that have so far hosted fewer ERC grants.

Nearly 32% of the researchers who are part of the winning projects are women, “the highest proportion since the scheme began”. According to the ERC, this marks “a notable increase compared to previous years, with 18.5% in 2023 and 22% in 2022”.

13 projects for France involving 17 women and men researchers

The grants awarded by the European Union last for six years and are worth a maximum of €10 million (with some possibility of additional funding), are designed to enable groups of two to four scientists from European member or associate countries to “address some of the most complex scientific problems, covering a wide range of disciplines”.

In France, in the 17 French researchers involved in the 13 winning projects, ten are conducting their research at the CNRS, while the others are based in other teaching and research organisations, namely:

• the University of Lille;
• the University of Toulouse Capitole;
• the Centre international de recherche aux Frontières de la Chimie of the  University of Strasbourg (Jean-Marie Lehn Foundation);
• the Toulouse School of Economics;
• the French Atomic Energy and Alternative Energy Commission (CEA);
• the Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation (INRIA);
• the Institute of health and medical research (INSERM);

The CNRS declared that at its level, “the number of projects selected on behalf of the organisation are the highest since this type of call was launched”.