ERC ADVANCED GRANTS

Yes, a Principal Investigator (PI) engaged in the US or in any third country can apply for an ERC Advanced Grant 2025 (ERC-2025-AdG) call, as long as they will be engaged and hosted by a host institution based in an EU Member State or an Associated Country for the whole duration of the grant (see the ERC Work Programme 2025 for the eligibility conditions). Principal Investigators funded through the ERC Advanced Grants call have to spend a minimum of 50% of their total working time in an EU Member State or Associated Country and a minimum of 30% of their total working time on the ERC project (see the ERC Work Programme 2025 for the Advanced Grant Profile).

Yes, this is possible as long as the Principal Investigator (PI), at the time of submission, is supported by one organisation acting as host institution (applicant legal entity) based in an EU Member State or an Associated Country, committing itself, through the host institution support letter, to host and engage the PI for the whole duration of the action, as well as to ensure that the project will be performed under the guidance of the PI. For an ERC Advanced grant (ERC-2025-ADG), the PI is expected to devote 30% of their working time to the ERC funded project. Specific circumstances, where the minimum time requirement of the call (30%) results from the sum of more than one employment contract of the PI with different organisations, may be accommodated in case the proposal is selected for funding. Other organisation(s) hosting team members should be referred to as (an) additional partner(s) in the proposal and their details should be given in the administrative proposal submission form in the Funding & Tenders Portal.

To calculate the person-months of the PI or other staff members, applicants to the call ERC-2025-AdG should multiply the percentage of time commitment by the number of months the person will be working on the project.

• For personnel working throughout the full project duration:

Multiply the percentage of time commitment by the total number of months of the project.

Example: If the PI is committed at 50% for a project with a duration of 60 months, the number of person-months

should be 0.5 × 60 = 30.

• For personnel working for only part of the project duration:

Multiply the percentage of time commitment by the number of months the person is actually employed on the project.

Example: If a staff member works 50% for 24 months, the person-months should be 0.5 × 24 = 12.

Yes. An SME (as defined by Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC) can be a host institution (HI) for an ERC grant as long as it meets the conditions of eligibility of the HI laid down in the ERC Work Programme 2025.

No, according to the conditions applied to the ERC frontier research Grants 2025, researchers serving as Panel Chairs or Panel Members for the ERC-2025-AdG call, or who served for the ERC-2023-AdG call, cannot apply to the ERC-2025-AdG call (see the ERC Work Programme 2025).

Yes, Switzerland will become an associated country to whole Horizon Europe Programme with a retroactive effect as of 1 January 2025 once the agreement on Switzerland’s participation becomes applicable. Until the entry into force of the association agreement, the transitional arrangement for Switzerland applies to the whole Horizon Europe Programme for award procedures implementing the 2025 budget and onwards. Consequently, legal entities established in Switzerland will be treated as entities established in an Associated Country under the ERC Work Programme 2025 for all ERC 2025 calls . However, grant agreements can only be signed with successful applicants if the association agreement with Switzerland applies at that time.

Applicants to the ERC-2025-AdG should always include in the Part A budget table the costs for all resources they expect to incur during the project implementation. If some resources will not be funded by the lump sum contribution but are covered directly by the beneficiaries or other sources of funding, the corresponding amounts should be deducted from the Requested EU contribution. The applicants should also explain the resources that are covered by other funding sources in the last textbox ‘Funding from other sources’ of the Part A – Budget section C. Resources.

No, a PhD is not required to submit a proposal to the ERC-2025-AdG call. As specified in the ERC Work Programme 2025, excellence is the sole criterion for the evaluation of a proposal. A competitive Principal Investigator (PI) is expected to have outstanding research results. For more information, please refer to the ERC Work Programme 2025, or the Information for Applicants relevant for the call.

Researchers with a Hungarian host institution concerned by the Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/2506 can continue to apply to ERC calls for proposals (e.g. ERC-2025-SyG, ERC-2025-STG, ERC-2025-COG, ERC-2025-ADG, ERC-2025-POC) after the 16 December 2022.

For successfully evaluated proposals, if these measures are not lifted at the time of the grant agreement signature, (following the procedure set out by Article 7 of Regulation 2020/2092), the concerned Hungarian entities would be found ineligible to receive Union funding. The applicant researchers concerned will then be informed about the available options to mitigate the consequences to their proposals, which will include the possibility to use portability.

Yes. A SME (as defined by Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC) can be a Host Institution (HI) for an ERC grant as long as it meets the conditions of eligibility of the HI laid down in the ERC Work Programme 2024PDF.

No, according to the conditions applied to the ERC frontier research Grants 2024, researchers serving as Panel Chairs or Panel Members for the ERC-2024-AdG call, or who served for the ERC-2022-AdG call, cannot apply to the ERC-2024-AdG call (see the ERC Work Programme 2024PDF).

Yes, as announced in the ERC communication of 18 March 2024, legal entities established in Switzerland will be treated as entities established in an Associated Country under the ERC Work Programme 2024 for calls opening in 2024, i.e. for the Advanced Grant call. However, grant agreements can only be signed with successful applicants if the association agreement with Switzerland applies at that time.

Applicants to the ERC-2024-ADG should always include in the Part A budget table the costs for all resources they expect to incur during the project implementation. If some resources will not be funded by the lump sum contribution but are covered directly by the beneficiaries or other sources of funding, the corresponding amounts should be deducted from the Requested EU contribution. The applicants should also explain the resources that are covered by other funding sources in the last textbox ‘Funding from other sources’ of the Part A – Budget section C. Resources.

No, a PhD is not required to submit a proposal to the ERC-2024-AdG call. As specified in the ERC Work Programme 2024PDF, excellence is the sole criterion for the evaluation of a proposal. A competitive Principal Investigator (PI) is expected to have outstanding research results. For more information, please refer to the ERC Work Programme 2024PDF, or the Information for ApplicantsPDF relevant for the call.

Researchers with a Hungarian host institution concerned by the Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/2506 can continue to apply to ERC calls for proposals (e.g. ERC-2024-SYG, ERC-2024-STG, ERC-2024-COG, ERC-2024-ADG, ERC-2024-POC) after the 16 December 2022.

For successfully evaluated proposals, if these measures are not lifted at the time of the grant agreement signature, (following the procedure set out by Article 7 of Regulation 2020/2092), the concerned Hungarian entities would be found ineligible to receive Union funding. The applicant researchers concerned will then be informed about the available options to mitigate the consequences to their proposals, which will include the possibility to use portability.

Yes, a Principal Investigator (PI) engaged in the US or in any third country can apply for an ERC Advanced Grant 2024 (ERC-2024-AdG) call, as long as they will be engaged and hosted by a Host Institution based in an EU Member State or an Associated Country for the whole duration of the grant (see the ERC Work Programme 2024PDF for the eligibility conditions). Principal Investigators funded through the ERC Advanced Grants call have to spend a minimum of 50% of their total working time in an EU Member State or Associated Country and a minimum of 30% of their total working time on the ERC project (see the ERC Work Programme 2024PDF for the Advanced Grant Profile).

No, according to the conditions applied to the ERC frontier research Grants 2023, researchers serving as Panel Chairs or Panel Members for the ERC-2023-ADG call, or who served for the ERC-2021-ADG call, cannot apply to the ERC-2023-ADG call (see the ERC Work Programme 2023PDF).

Yes, a Principal Investigator (PI) engaged in the US or in any third country can apply for an ERC Advanced Grant 2023 (ERC-2023-ADG) call, as long as they will be engaged and hosted by a Host Institution based in an EU Member State or an Associated Country for the whole duration of the grant (see the ERC Work Programme 2023PDF for the eligibility conditions). Principal Investigators funded through the ERC Advanced Grants call have to spend a minimum of 50% of their total working time in an EU Member State or Associated Country and a minimum of 30% of their total working time on the ERC project (see the ERC Work Programme 2023PDF for the Advanced Grant Profile).

Yes, this is possible as long as the Principal Investigator (PI), at the time of submission, is supported by one organisation acting as Host Institution (applicant legal entity) based in an EU Member State or an Associated Country, committing itself, through the Host Institution support letter, to host and engage the Principal Investigator for the whole duration of the action as well as to ensure that the project will be performed under the guidance of the Principal Investigator who is expected to devote 30% of their working time to the ERC funded project. Specific circumstances, where the minimum time requirement of the call (30%) results from the sum of more than one employment contract of the PI with different organisations, may be accommodated in case the proposal is selected for funding. Other organisation(s) hosting team members should be referred to as (an) additional partner(s) in the proposal and their details should be given in the administrative proposal submission form in the Funding & Tenders Portal.

No, a PhD is not required to submit a proposal to the ERC-2023-ADG call. As specified in the ERC Work Programme 2023PDF, excellence is the sole criterion for the evaluation of a proposal. A competitive Principal Investigator (PI) is expected to have outstanding research results within the last ten years. For more information, please refer to the ERC Work Programme 2023PDF, or the Information for ApplicantsPDF relevant for the call.

Yes. Any SME (as defined by Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC) can be a Host Institution (HI) for an ERC grant, as long as it meets the conditions of eligibility of the HI laid down in the ERC Work Programme 2023PDF.

According to the conditions applied to the ERC main frontier research grants 2023, there are three main restrictions to be considered for Principal Investigators (PI) in this regard:

• A researcher may participate as PI [Including all PIs supported under the Synergy Grant] in only one main frontier research grant at any one time [NB: A new main frontier research project can only start after the duration of the project fixed in a previous frontier research grant agreement has ended.] In other words, at any one time, a PI can have only one ongoing ERC main grant.
• A researcher participating as PI in one of the main frontier research grants may not submit another proposal for a main ERC grant, unless the existing project ends no more than two years after the call deadline. Therefore, an ongoing ERC main frontier research grant must end before 8 November 2024 for a PI to be eligible to apply to the 2023 Synergy grant.
• A PI may submit proposals to different main frontier research grant calls published under the same Work Programme, but only the first eligible proposal will be evaluated. As an example, if you apply as a Principal Investigator to the 2023 Synergy Grant call (ERC-2023-SYG), and this proposal is eligible, you will not be eligible to apply to the 2023 Starting, Consolidator or Advanced grants calls.

These restrictions are specified in the ERC Work Programme 2023PDF and may be modified in future work programmes by the ERC Scientific Council in light of experience. Please note however that it is possible to participate in more than one ERC grant as a team member.

A Principal Investigator (PI) can apply for an ERC Advanced Grant 2023 (ERC-2023-ADG) call even if they do not yet have ten years of research experience.

However, applicants for the prestigious ERC Advanced Grant are expected to be active and established research leaders and have a track record of recent outstanding research achievements which must be presented in the application. For more information on the expected profile of the Advanced Grant applicant, please refer to the ERC Work Programme 2023PDF or the Information for ApplicantsPDF relevant for the call.

No. For the 2025 ERC Advanced Grants (ERC-2025-ADG), the size of the lump sum is defined by the proposed activities and the resources needed and will therefore vary between proposals. The maximum grant amount for Advanced Grants is €2.5 million, to which a further €1 million can be requested as additional funding where justified.

ERC Proof of Concept (POC) grants are implemented under a fixed lump sum model where every funded project has the same budget, currently € 150,000.

More information can be found in the ERC Work Programme 2025PDF.

Under call ERC-2025-AdG, once the grant agreement is signed, only the overall lump sum amount is relevant. The detailed budget breakdown in different cost categories is no longer available and is not annexed to the grant agreement. As long as the project is implemented in line with the objectives of the proposal as evaluated and described in the signed grant agreement, there is flexibility for applicants to use the available funds as they see fit and they do not need to worry about budget categories. Deviations from the original work plan are permitted as long as they are justified or acceptable, serve the agreed scientific goals of the project, and do not call into question the original award decision (including, where applicable, the award of additional funding).

Under the ERC-2025-AdG call, the scientific proposal (Part B2) can be maximum 14 pages. The budget table and description of resources (Part A, Section 3 - Budget) together with the equipment table (Excel template for depreciation and use to be completed and uploaded in Excel format as a separate annex) are part of the administrative form and do not count towards the page limit of the scientific proposal (Part B2).The justification of the project costs and description of time commitment (Resources and Time Commitment) should be provided in the relevant text boxes of Section C. Resources with a maximum length of characters specified for each category of costs, including spaces. Please note that 4000 characters, font size 11, single line spacing, correspond to one A4 text page. The budget table itself does not count towards the page limit.

One person-month is the amount of time over a month equivalent to one person working full-time according to the rules of the beneficiary. Personnel costs are not limited to net salaries. They also include social security contributions, taxes and other statutory costs. ERC-2025-ADG applicants should include the total costs of these expenses that their institution expects to incur for the project for each staff category based on their usual accounting practices and the number of person months needed over the full duration of the project.

Under call ERC-2025-AdG, the equipment table (for depreciation and use) must include all equipment items expected to be purchased for the project. Purchases of equipment, infrastructure or other assets used for the project must be budgeted as depreciation costs, calculated on the basis of the estimated costs which will be written off in accordance with international accounting standards and the beneficiary’s usual accounting practices. Please note that only the portion of the costs that corresponds to the rate of expected use during the grant duration can be budgeted. Items can be grouped in one row of the table provided that they have the same depreciation time, expected percentage of usage for the grant and expected use time during the grant - the quantity and type of the grouped items should be provided in column "Comments". The sum of all items should match the total amount indicated under heading C.2 Equipment in the part A budget table. If no equipment is budgeted, applicants should upload an empty table.

Under call ERC-2025-AdG, the host institution in ERC lump sum grants has the contractual obligation to guarantee the Principal Investigator scientific independence, in particular for the use of the budget to achieve the scientific objectives as described in the signed grant agreement. Consequently, the HI should not claim overheads beyond to the 25% of the EU contribution set out in Article 35 of the Regulation establishing the HE programme.

Under the lump sum model for the call ERC-2025-ADG, the Principal Investigator will have the flexibility to use the lump contribution as they see fit, as long as the project is implemented as agreed. Where additional funding is awarded, that part of the contribution can be used with the same flexibility as the rest of the contribution during the implementation of the grant, provided that the initial decision awarding the grant, including the additional funding, is not called into question. This means that the budget flexibility for additional funding remains subject to the eligibility conditions, related to the four kinds of items/activities (i.e. (a) "start-up" costs for Principal Investigators moving to the EU or an Associated Country, (b) the purchase of major equipment, (c) access to large facilities, and/or (d) other major experimental and field work costs) which are established in the ERC WP 2025 specifically for additional funding. In case changes to activities related to additional funding occur, the beneficiary is expected to report on them, e.g. in the scientific reporting, and the ERCEA will need to assess whether the work actually performed complies with at least one of the four established eligibility conditions for additional funding. Like for any major change in activities compared to what was initially planned in Annex I, the Agency will also assess whether essential work has been completed and/or, equivalent work has been carried out and/or deviations are justified and remain within the original objectives of the project.

Under call ERC-2025-AdG, the right to portability, i.e. the possibility for the Principal Investigators to move with their grant to a different host institution, as defined in the ERC Work Programme 2025 is an important aspect of ERC grant, which will be maintained under the ERC lump sum model (ERC-ADG-2025 call). The transfer conditions (including transfer of team members, intellectual property rights and equipment) should be negotiated between the initial and the new host institution, taking into account the views of the Principal Investigator (Annotated Grant AgreementPDF, p. 414).

Applicants to the call ERC-2025-ADG should not change the way they plan and think about their research project or how they write their scientific proposal because of the introduction of the lump sum funding model. The ERC keeps funding frontier research, and the introduction of the lump sum model for the ERC Advanced Grant call for proposals does not change the ERC funding strategy or the nature of funded projects with regard to their ambition, flexibility and openness to serendipity. To help the panel assess the budget and to ensure sound financial management of EU funds, the budget breakdown provided by applicants will have to be sufficiently explained for the panel to assess whether the requested grant is in line with the work proposed, reasonable and non-excessive. At the same time, it is understood that given the nature of five year-frontier research projects, the budget breakdown can only be planned to a certain level of detail. For a better overview of budget estimates and to facilitate the budget assessment by the panel, changes in the submission form have been put in place for the ERC lump sum model: 1. New columns are introduced in the budget table to record the planned person-months per staff category, 2. The section ‘use of resources’ of the budget form is structured in six boxes corresponding to the four formal cost categories and separate justifications for requests for additional funding or funding from other sources, and 3. An equipment table (for depreciation and use) must be submitted. In addition, applicants (understood as both the Principal Investigator and the host institution) need to declare at submission stage that cost estimates are based upon the organisation’s usual cost accounting practices, and in compliance with the basic eligibility conditions for EU actual costs grants.

Yes, under the lump sum model under (ERC-2025-AdG call), amendments to an ERC project will be possible. ERC grantees conduct frontier research and deviations from the original proposal can be expected. Principal investigators can explain such changes in the mid-term scientific report or report those changes at any time during the implementation of the project. If needed, the grant agreement can be amended as long as the changes do not call into question the original award decision, in the same way as for actual cost grants. The rules concerning the changes requiring an amendment and the changes which can simply be indicated in the periodic report (simplified approval procedure) are the same as for standard grants. However, to formalize a change in the breakdown of lump sum shares, an amendment is always required.

Under call ERC-2025-AdG, the budget table prepared at the time of proposal submission will not be transferred to the grant agreement. Instead, Annex 2 of the grant agreement will provide a breakdown of lump sum shares by beneficiary. It is possible to change the lump sum share of a beneficiary through an amendment. However, the transfer of budget must be justified by the technical implementation of the action, for example, changes in the work plan, addition or termination of beneficiaries’ participation. Deviations from the original work plan are permitted as long as they are justified, acceptable, serve the agreed scientific goals of the project, and do not call into question the original award decision.

In line with a decision of the ERC Scientific Council, Advanced Grant 2025 (ERC-2025-AdG) projects will comprise one single formal work package covering the entire project. This means that the project as a whole will be assessed for implementation and final payment, an aspect that was deemed important to maintain the flexibility necessary for frontier research projects. The principle of a single lump sum work package does not restrict the applicant’s freedom to plan and structure their research proposal in any form they see fit (e.g. research lines, objectives, different sub-projects, etc.).

Under call ERC-2025-AdG, Part A (Section 3 – Budget) contains a table with two additional columns for each staff category under personnel costs to report the number of person months and the average monthly salary (which will be automatically calculated by the system). A description and justification of resources should be provided in the relevant text boxes under the budget table. The section Resources comprises 6 text boxes:-A. Personnel – 2.500 characters max.-B. Subcontracting (if applicable) – 1.000 characters max.-C. Purchase costs – 3.500 characters max.-D. Internally invoiced goods and services (if applicable) – 1.000 characters max.-Request for additional funding (if applicable) – 1.000 characters max.-Funding from other sources (if applicable) – 1.000 characters max. Additionally, an excel file with complete information on depreciation and usage of all equipment items needs to be completed and uploaded as a separate annex (if no equipment costs are budgeted, an empty table is to be uploaded).The templates for parts B1 and B2 remain unchanged.

Under the ERC-2025-AdG call, the budget table and description of resources are part of the administrative form (Part A, Section 3 - Budget). All the resources have to be described and justified in the text box under the budget table (Section C. Resources). The equipment table (Excel template for depreciation and use to be completed) has to be uploaded in Excel format as a separate annex. The applicant should NOT include any description of resources or budget details in Part B2 (scientific proposal).

No, applicants cannot choose between the actual cost model and the lump sum funding model. Projects selected for funding under the ERC Advanced grant 2025 (ERC-2025-AdG) call for proposals will follow the lump sum funding model. The Starting Grant, Consolidator Grant and Synergy Grants calls will continue to apply the actual cost model.

In lump sum grants selected under the call ERC-2025-AdG, costs incurred will not be reported. Therefore, certificates on financial statements will not be required. Their related costs are not eligible and cannot be included as part of the requested lump sum contribution.

Both under the actual cost model and under the lump sum model (ERC-2024-ADG call), ERC expert panels assess the budget of the proposed projects. Under the actual cost model, the ERC Executive Agency reimburses beneficiaries up to the maximum grant amount approved by the evaluation panel, based on the actually incurred eligible costs claimed in the periodic reports. Under the lump sum model, however, once the grant is awarded on the basis of the panel recommendation or the panel approves the budget of the proposal following their assessment of the cost estimates , the ERC Executive Agency will pay the full grant amount in two instalments: a pre-financing payment of 80% at the start, and a second payment of 20% upon completion of the project. Beneficiaries do not have to submit cost claims, but they do have to report on the scientific progress and implementation of the project.

Under call ERC-2024-AdG, the Host Institution in ERC lump sum grants has the contractual obligation to guarantee the Principal Investigator scientific independence, in particular for the use of the budget to achieve the scientific objectives as described in the signed grant agreement. Consequently, the HI should not claim overheads beyond to the 25% of the EU contribution set out in Article 35 of the Regulation establishing the HE programme.

Under the lump sum model for the call ERC-2024-ADG, the Principal Investigator will have the flexibility to use the lump contribution as they see fit, as long as the project is implemented as agreed. Where additional funding is awarded, that part of the contribution can be used with the same flexibility as the rest of the contribution during the implementation of the grant, provided that the initial decision awarding the grant, including the additional funding, is not called into question. This means that the budget flexibility for additional funding remains subject to the eligibility conditions, related to the four kinds of items/activities (i.e. (a) "start-up" costs for Principal Investigators moving to the EU or an Associated Country, (b) the purchase of major equipment, (c) access to large facilities, and/or (d) other major experimental and field work costs, excluding personnel costs.) which are established in the ERC WP 2024 specifically for additional funding.

In case changes to activities related to additional funding occur, the beneficiary is expected to report on them in the e.g. scientific reporting and the ERCEA will need to assess whether the work actually performed complies with at least one of the four established eligibility conditions for additional funding. Like for any major change in activities compared to what was initially planned in Annex I, the Agency will also assess whether essential work has been completed and/or, equivalent work has been carried out and/or deviations are justified and remain within the original objectives of the project.

Under call ERC-2024-AdG, the right to portability, i.e. the possibility for the Principal Investigators to move with their grant to a different Host Institution, as defined in the ERC Work Programme 2024PDF is an important aspect of ERC grant, which will be maintained under the ERC lump sum model (ERC-ADG-2024 call). The transfer conditions (including transfer of team members, intellectual property rights and equipment) should be negotiated between the initial and the new Host Institution, taking into account the views of the Principal Investigator (Annotated Grant AgreementPDF, p. 414).

No. For the 2024 ERC Advanced Grants (ERC-2024-ADG), the size of the lump sum is defined by the proposed activities and the resources needed and will therefore vary between proposals. The maximum grant amount for Advanced Grants is €2.5 million, to which a further €1 million can be requested as additional funding where justified.

ERC Proof of Concept (POC) grants are implemented under a fixed lump sum model where every funded project has the same budget, currently € 150,000.

Applicants to the call ERC-2024-ADG should not change the way they plan and think about their research project or how they write their scientific proposal because of the introduction of the lump sum funding model. The ERC keeps funding frontier research, and the introduction of the lump sum model for the ERC Advanced Grant call for proposals does not change the ERC funding strategy or the nature of funded projects with regard to their ambition, flexibility and openness to serendipity.

To help the panel assess the budget and to ensure sound financial management of EU funds, the budget breakdown provided by applicants will have to be sufficiently explained for the panel to assess whether the requested grant is in line with the work proposed, reasonable and non-excessive. At the same time, it is understood that given the nature of five year-frontier research projects, the budget breakdown can only be planned to a certain level of detail. For a better overview of budget estimates and to facilitate the budget assessment by the panel, changes in the submission form have been put in place for the ERC lump sum model:

1. New columns are introduced in the budget table to record the planned person-months per staff category,

2. The section ‘use of resources’ of the budget form is structured in six boxes corresponding to the four formal cost categories and separate justifications for requests for additional funding or funding from other sources, and

3. An equipment table (for depreciation and use) must be submitted.

In addition, applicants (understood as both the Principal Investigator and the host institution) need to declare at submission stage that cost estimates are based upon the organisation’s usual cost accounting practices, and in compliance with the basic eligibility conditions for EU actual costs grants.

Yes, under the lump sum model under (ERC-2024-AdG call), amendments to an ERC project will be possible. ERC grantees conduct frontier research and deviations from the original proposal can be expected. Principal investigators can explain such changes in the mid-term scientific report or report those changes at any time during the implementation of the project. If needed, the grant agreement can be amended as long as the changes do not call into question the original award decision, in the same way as for actual cost grants. The rules concerning the changes requiring an amendment and those which can simply be indicated in the periodic report (simplified approval procedure) are the same as for standard grants. However, to formalise a change in the breakdown of lump sum shares, an amendment is always required.

Under call ERC-2024-AdG, the budget table prepared at the time of proposal submission will not be transferred to the grant agreement. Instead, Annex 2 of the grant agreement will provide a breakdown of lump sum shares by beneficiary. It is possible to change the lump sum share of a beneficiary through an amendment. However, the transfer of budget must be justified by the technical implementation of the action, for example, changes in the work plan, addition or termination of beneficiaries’ participation. Deviations from the original work plan are permitted as long as they are justified, acceptable, serve the agreed scientific goals of the project, and do not call into question the original award decision.

Under call ERC-2024-AdG, the equipment table (for depreciation and use) must include all equipment items expected to be purchased for the project. Purchases of equipment, infrastructure or other assets used for the project must be budgeted as depreciation costs, calculated on the basis of the estimated costs which will be written off in accordance with international accounting standards and the beneficiary’s usual accounting practices. Please note that only the portion of the costs that corresponds to the rate of expected use during the grant duration can be budgeted. Items can be grouped in one row of the table provided that they have the same depreciation time, expected percentage of usage for the grant and expected use time during the grant - the quantity and type of the grouped items should be provided in column "Comments". The sum of all items should match the total amount indicated under heading C.2 Equipment in the part A budget table. If no equipment is budgeted, applicants should upload an empty table.

In line with a decision of the ERC Scientific Council, Advanced Grant 2024 (ERC-2024-ADG) projects will comprise one single formal work package covering the entire project. This means that the project as a whole will be assessed for implementation and final payment, an aspect that was deemed important to maintain the flexibility necessary for frontier research projects.

The principle of a single lump sum work package does not restrict the applicant’s freedom to plan and structure their research proposal in any form they see fit (e.g. research lines, objectives, different sub-projects, etc.).

Under call ERC-2024-AdG, Part A (Section 3 – Budget) contains a table with two additional columns for each staff category under personnel costs to report the number of person months and the average monthly salary (which will be automatically calculated by the system). A description and justification of resources should be provided in the relevant text boxes under the budget table. The section Resources comprises 6 text boxes:

-A. Personnel – 2.500 characters max.

-B. Subcontracting (if applicable) – 1.000 characters max.

-C. Purchase costs – 3.500 characters max.

-D. Internally invoiced goods and services (if applicable) – 1.000 characters max.

-Request for additional funding (if applicable) – 1.000 characters max.

-Funding from other sources (if applicable) – 1.000 characters max.

Additionally, an excel file with complete information on depreciation and usage of all equipment items needs to be completed and uploaded as a separate annex (if no equipment costs are budgeted, an empty table is to be uploaded).

The templates for parts B1 and B2 remain unchanged.

Under the ERC-2024-AdG call, the scientific proposal (Part B2) can be maximum 14 pages. The budget table and description of resources (Part A, Section 3 - Budget) together with the equipment table (Excel template for depreciation and use to be completed and uploaded in Excel format as a separate annex) are part of the administrative form and do not count towards the page limit of the scientific proposal (Part B2).

The justification of the project costs and description of time commitment (Resources and Time Commitment) should be provided in the relevant text boxes of Section C. Resources with a maximum length of characters specified for each category of costs, including spaces. Please note that 4000 characters, font size 11, single line spacing, correspond to one A4 text page. The budget table itself does not count towards the page limit.

Under the ERC-2024-AdG call, the budget table and description of resources are part of the administrative form (Part A, Section 3 - Budget). All the resources have to be described and justified in the text box under the budget table (Section C. Resources). The equipment table (Excel template for depreciation and use to be completed) has to be uploaded in Excel format as a separate annex. The applicant should NOT include any description of resources or budget details in Part B2 (scientific proposal).

In lump sum grants selected under the call ERC-2024-ADG, costs incurred will not be reported. Therefore, certificates on financial statements will not be required., Therefore, their related costs are not eligible and cannot be included as part of the requested lump sum contribution.

Under call ERC-2024-AdG, once the grant agreement is signed, only the overall lump sum amount is relevant.The detailed budget breakdown in different cost categories is no longer available and is not annexed to the grant agreement. As long as the project is implemented in line with the objectives of the proposal as evaluated and described in the signed grant agreement, there is flexibility for applicants to use the available funds as they see fit and they do not need to worry about budget categories. Deviations from the original work plan are permitted as long as they are justified or acceptable serving the agreed scientific goals of the project, and do not call into question the original award decision (including, where applicable, the award of additional funding). Regarding the flexibility in the use of the additional funding, where awarded, please refer to Q&A 45591.

ERC Advanced Grant applicants to the ERC-2024-ADG call should not change the way they plan and think about their research proposal. The ERC will continue to fund frontier research, the ground-breaking and ambitious research nature of ERC grants will not change, and the evaluation criterion will remain the same. Part B1 (synopsis, CV and track record) and Part B2 (scientific proposal) do not change as a result of the change to the lump sum model. The new financing model should have no impact on the scientific quality or innovative character of the proposed projects, nor on the quality of the scientific evaluation. The focus of the evaluation will remain on the scientific merits of the proposal. Thus, proposals should not change in terms of their ground-breaking and ambitious nature. Also, the flexibility during project implementation will not change.

Under the ERC-2023-AdG call, the budget table and description of resources are part of the administrative form (Part A, Section 3 - Budget). All the resources have to be described and justified in the text box under the budget table (Section C. Resources). The applicant should NOT include any description of resources or budget details in Part B2 (scientific proposal).

Under the ERC-2023-AdG call, the Scientific Proposal (Part B2) can be a maximum of 14 pages. The budget table and description of resources are part of the administrative form (Part A, Section 3 - Budget) and do not count towards the page limit of the Scientific Proposal (Part B2). The justification of the project costs and description of time commitment (Resources and Time Commitment) can be a maximum of two pages, i.e. Section C. Resources may have a maximum length of 8000 characters, including spaces. Please note that 4000 characters, font size 11, single line spacing, correspond to one A4 text page. The budget table itself does not count towards the page limit.

Yes, a Principal Investigator (PI) whose proposal was not funded in the 2024 or 2025 Starting Grant (StG), Consolidator Grant (CoG) or Advanced Grant (AdG) calls, may submit a proposal to the ERC 2026 Synergy Grant call (ERC-2026-SyG). In other words, regardless of the score received in an individual main frontier research call prior to the ERC 2026 Synergy Grant call, you are eligible to apply. Further details in ERC Work Programme 2026PDF, section "Restrictions on Applications".

To be eligible for ERC 2025 calls, host institutions –which can be public bodies,research organisations or higher education institutions (including private research organisations and private higher education institutions establishments) from an EU Member State or Associated Country– must have a gender equality plan (GEP) or an equivalent strategic document in place for the duration of the project. Please be aware that it is not necessary for the host institution to have already the GEP or equivalent strategic document in place at the time of the submission and the absence of a GEP will not affect the evaluation of the project. However, if the project is successful, it will be necessary before the signature of the grant agreement.

To be eligible for ERC calls, Host Institutions (HIs) – which can be public bodies, research organisations or higher education institutions (including private research organisations and private higher education institutions establishments) from an EU Member State or Associated CountryPDF – must have a gender equality plan (GEP) or an equivalent strategic document in place for the duration of the project.

Please be aware that it is not necessary for the Host Institution to have already the gender equality plan or equivalent strategic document in place at the time of the submission and the absence of a GEP will not affect the evaluation of the project. However, if the project is successful, it will be necessary before the signature of the grant agreement.

Under call ERC-2024-ADG, by accepting Declaration 10, applicants (the Principal Investigator and the host institution/applicant legal entity) confirm the accuracy of the costs that they budget for their project and request from the ERC under the lump sum model. This declaration is part of the administrative form of the electronic submission system (section on Declarations, point # 10). The declaration is made electronically by the applicant or by any main contact person having the necessary access rights to the online proposal.

Yes, a Principal Investigator (PI) whose proposal was evaluated as category B or C at Step 1 or as category A or B at Step 2 in the 2023 or 2024 Starting Grant (StG), Consolidator Grant (CoG) or Advanced Grant (AdG) calls (e.g., ERC-2023-STG, ERC-2023-COG, ERC-2023-ADG or ERC-2024-STG, ERC-2024-COG, ERC-2024-ADG) may submit a proposal to the ERC 2025 Synergy Grant SyG call (ERC-2025-SyG). In other words, regardless of the score received in an individual main frontier research call prior to the ERC 2025 Synergy Grant call, you are eligible to apply. Further details in ERC Work Programme 2025PDF, section "Restrictions on submission of proposals".

Yes, a Principal Investigator (PI) whose proposal was evaluated as category B or C at Step 1 or as category A or B at Step 2 in the 2022 or 2023 Starting Grant (StG), Consolidator Grant (CoG) or Advanced Grant (AdG) calls (e.g., ERC-2022-STG, ERC-2022-COG, ERC-2022-ADG or ERC-2023-STG, ERC-2023-COG, ERC-2023-ADG) may submit a proposal to the ERC 2024 Synergy Grant (SyG) call. In other words, regardless of the score received in an individual main frontier research call prior to the ERC 2024 Synergy Grant call, you are eligible to apply. Further details in the ERC Work Programme2024PDF, section "Restrictions on submission of proposals".

In Horizon Europe,all interactions with ERCEA will take place online via the EU Funding & Tender Portal, under "My Area" (after EU Login). The handling of documents will be fully electronic as there is no need any more to exchange any paper document. The grants for the successful proposals submitted to the ERC 2025 calls (ERC-2025-STG, ERC-2025-COG, ERC-2025-ADG, ERC-2025-SyG, ERC-2025-PoC) will be prepared and then signed electronically. Requests of amendments will be prepared, submitted and either accepted or rejected electronically. All reports will have to be submitted for review via the EU Funding & Tender Portal. According to the various phases of the project lifecycle, the correct actors (HIs and/or PIs) will be informed via email that certain tasks must be performed in the EU Funding & Tender Portal. In case of the Synergy grants, the corresponding HI and PI are the main contacts with the Agency. Notwithstanding the above and in an effort to keep on offering a high level service, we strongly encourage both the HIs and the PIs to contact the respective Agency staff for discussion in an informal way about any changes in their respective action. This is of utmost importance in order to avoid cancellation of documents or requests that are incomplete or incorrect. The name and surname of the ERC officer responsible for the PI's grant can be found in the EU Funding & Tender Portal. The officer can be easily contacted via the messaging tool embedded in the EU Funding & Tender Portal, allowing the PI (corresponding PI for the Synergy grants) to communicate directly with the officer without having to use emails, and providing Principal Investigators with assistance and guidance throughout the lifetime of the project.

Under the lump sum funding model for the call ERC-2025-ADG, the requirements regarding the Principal Investigator time commitments are identical to actual costs grants. Advanced grantees must devote at least 30% of their total working time to the project and spend at least 50% of their total working time in a Member State or Associated Country. These obligations are to be met over the overall duration of the project. Principal investigators will be requested to report their commitment in a simple declaration to be co-signed by their host institution and to be submitted at the time of the submission of their scientific reports. No time sheets are needed to support these declarations.

Yes, under call ERC-2025-AdG, team members can be hosted by other research organisation(s). The research organisation(s) should be referred to as additional legal entities in the research proposal, and their details should be given in the administrative proposal submission form (Part A) that is accessible through the Funding & Tenders Portal.

Yes, Principal Investigators submitting a proposal to any ERC call must have, at the time of submission, the written consent of all participants on their involvement and on the content of the proposal, as well as of any researcher mentioned in the proposal as participating in the project (either as team member, collaborator, other PI or member of the advisory board), should the proposal be funded. The ERC Executive Agency may request PIs to provide proof of the written consent (email, letter) at any time. See also the ERC Rules of submission and evaluation under Horizon Europe.

Yes, Principal Investigators submitting a proposal to any ERC call (e.g. for ERC-2025-STG; ERC-2025-COG; ERC-2025-ADG; ERC-2025-SYG; ERC-2025-POC) must have, at the time of submission, the written consent of all participants on their involvement and on the content of the proposal, as well as of any researcher mentioned in the proposal as participating in the project (either as team member, collaborator, other PI or member of the advisory board), should the proposal be funded. The ERC Executive Agency may request PIs to provide proof of the written consent (email, letter) at any time. See also the ERC Rules of submission and evaluation under Horizon EuropePDF.

In Horizon Europe,all interactions with ERCEA will take place online via the EU Funding & Tender Portal, under "My Area" (after EU Login).The handling of documents will be fully electronic as there is no need any more to exchange any paper document. The grants for the successful proposals submitted to the ERC 2024 calls (ERC-2024-STG, ERC-2024-COG, ERC-2024-ADG, ERC-2024-SyG, ERC-2024-PoC) will be prepared and then signed electronically. Requests of amendments will be prepared, submitted and either accepted or rejected electronically. All reports will have to be submitted for review via theEU Funding & Tender Portal. According to the various phases of the project lifecycle, the correct actors (HIs and/or PIs) will be informed via email that certain tasks must be performed in the EU Funding & Tender Portal. In case of the Synergy grants, the corresponding HI and PI are the main contacts with the Agency. Notwithstanding the above and in an effort to keep on offering a high level service, we strongly encourage both the HIs and the PIs to contact the respective Agency staff for discussion in an informal way about any changes in their respective action. This is of utmost importance in order to avoid cancellation of documents or requests that are incomplete or incorrect. The name and surname of the ERC officer responsible for the PI's grant can be found in the EU Funding & Tender Portal. The officer can be easily contacted via the messaging tool embedded in the EU Funding & Tender Portal, allowing the PI (corresponding PI for the Synergy grants) to communicate directly with the officer without having to use emails, and providing Principal Investigators with assistance and guidance throughout the lifetime of the project.

In Horizon Europe, all interactions with ERCEA will take place online via the EU Funding & Tender Opportunities Portal, under "My Area" (after EU Login). The handling of documents will be fully electronic as there is no need any more to exchange any paper document. The grants for the successful proposals submitted to the ERC 2024 calls (ERC-2024-STG, ERC-2024-COG, ERC-2024-ADG, ERC-2024-SYG, ERC-2024-PoC) will be prepared and then signed electronically. Requests of amendments will be prepared, submitted and either accepted or rejected electronically. All reports will have to be submitted for review via the EU Funding & Tender Opportunities Portal. According to the various phases of the project lifecycle, the correct actors (HIs and/or PIs) will be informed via email that certain tasks must be performed in the EU Funding & Tender Opportunities Portal. In the case of Synergy grants, the corresponding HI and PI are the main contacts with the Agency. Notwithstanding the above and in an effort to keep on offering a high level service, we strongly encourage both the HIs and the PIs to contact the respective Agency staff for discussion in an informal way about any changes in their respective action. This is of utmost importance in order to avoid cancellation of documents or requests that are incomplete or incorrect. The name and surname of the ERC officer responsible for the PI's grant can be found in the EU Funding & Tender Opportunities Portal. The officer can be easily contacted via the messaging tool embedded in the EU Funding & Tender Opportunities Portal, allowing the PI (corresponding PI for the Synergy grants) to communicate directly with the officer without having to use emails, and providing Principal Investigators with assistance and guidance throughout the lifetime of the project.

Under the lump sum funding model for the call ERC-2024-ADG, the requirements regarding the Principal Investigator time commitments are identical to actual costs grants. Advanced grantees must devote at least 30% of their total working time to the project and spend at least 50% of their total working time in a Member State or Associated Country. These obligations are to be met over the overall duration of the project. Principal investigators will be requested to report their commitment in a simple declaration to be co-signed by their host institution and to be submitted at the time of the submission of their scientific reports. No time sheets are needed to support these declarations.

Yes, under call ERC-2024-AdG, team members can be hosted by other research organisation(s). The research organisation(s) should be referred to as additional legal entities in the research proposal, and their details should be given in the administrative proposal submission form (Part A) in the Funding & Tenders Portal.

Yes, under call ERC-2023-ADG, team members can be hosted by other research organisation(s). The research organisation(s) should be referred to as (an) additional partner(s) in the research proposal and their details should be given in the administrative proposal submission form (Part A) in the Funding & Tenders Portal.

Yes, Principal Investigators submitting a proposal to any ERC call must have, at the time of submission, the written consent of all participants on their involvement and on the content of the proposal, as well as of any researcher mentioned in the proposal as participating in the project (either as team member, collaborator, other PI or member of the advisory board), should the proposal be funded. The ERC Executive Agency may request PIs to provide proof of the written consent (email, letter) at any time.

Applicant PIs returning to active research following a period in another profession or sabbatical leave, can apply to the ERC Advanced Grant 2023 (ERC-2023-ADG) call. They should clearly describe their unconventional careers, professional gaps and any career break in the CV section of Part B1 of their ERC proposal. The reviewers are asked to take such circumstances into consideration. Principal Investigators applying to the ERC Advanced Grant 2023 (ERC-2023-ADG) call are expected to be active researchers and to have a track record of significant research achievements in the last 10 years which must be presented in the application. A competitive Advanced Grant Principal Investigator must have already shown a record which identifies them as an exceptional leader in terms of originality and significance of their research contributions and should be able to demonstrate their established role in the chosen field by meeting at least one of the benchmarks listed in the ERC Work Programme 2023PDF or the Information for Applicants to the Advanced Grant 2023 callPDF, in the last ten years or longer period in case of career breaks.

Yes, as specified in the ERC Work Programme 2026, a PI whose proposal was evaluated as category A or category B at step 2 in an ERC 2025 Starting (StG), Consolidator (CoG) or Advanced (AdG) call, can submit a proposal to the ERC Plus Grant 2026 (ERC-2026-PLUS) call.

No, under call ERC-2025-AdG, a Principal Investigator (PI) whose proposal was evaluated as category C in the step 1 of Starting (StG), Consolidator (CoG), or Advanced (AdG) Grant calls for proposals under ERC Work Programme 2023 and 2024, may not submit a proposal to the AdG call under Work Programme 2025. For more information, please refer to the restrictions on submission of proposals in the ERC Work Programme 2025

Applicants to the call ERC-2025-ADG should propose personnel costs in line with the needs of the project and with what they expect to incur based on the host institution’s usual cost accounting practice. The historical ERC personnel cost data are available to applicants via a link on the Advanced Grant ERC webpage: ERC personnel costs data for lump sum evaluations | ERC (europa.eu). Applicants can consult this data, so that they can identify when a justification in their proposal is useful to explain any planned personnel costs that deviate unusually from the historical data. Personnel costs can be expected to be higher than in past years due to inflation and pay rises. There could be significant variation in the personnel cost of a specific staff category between host institutions in the same country, and even within the same host institution. High personnel costs may be accepted by the panel if they are justified for the project (e.g. by the nature of the tasks, by the need for senior or highly qualified staff, or by significant increases in personnel costs).

No, under call ERC-2025-AdG, a Principal Investigator (PI) whose proposal was evaluated as category B in the step 1 of Starting (StG), Consolidator (CoG), or Advanced (AdG) Grant calls for proposals under ERC Work Programme 2024, may not submit a proposal to the AdG call under Work Programme 2025. For more information, please refer to the restrictions on submission of proposals in the ERC Work Programme 2025.

Yes, as specified in the ERC Work Programme 2025, a PI whose proposal was evaluated as category A or category B at step 2 in an ERC 2024 Starting (StG), Consolidator (CoG) or Advanced (AdG) call, can submit a proposal to the ERC Advanced Grant 2025 (ERC-2025-ADG) call.

Under call ERC-2025-AdG, there is no change to the evaluation criteria that will be applied by the panel when assessing proposals under the lump sum model. Scientific excellence remains the sole evaluation criterion. The focus of the evaluation continues to be on the scientific merits of the proposal. The financing model should have no impact on the outcome of the evaluation. Similar to the actual cost model, the panel will also check the budget estimates for the project and assess whether the resources proposed are in line with the activities proposed, reasonable and non-excessive. Under the lump sum model, the assessment by the panel includes the estimated personnel costs, while under the actual cost model, the panel assessed only the resources, i.e. the number of planned staff. Historical ERC personnel cost data will be available to the panel as a benchmark to help them assess personnel costs. The historical ERC personnel cost data is publicly available on the ERC web page. To help the panel assess the budget and to ensure sound financial management of EU funds, applicants are asked to provide structured information on certain components of the budget at submission stage. For example, personnel costs need to be specified in person-months for each staff category, and equipment costs will have to include information on the depreciation rules that have been applied.

Under call ERC-2025-AdG,, scientific excellence remains the sole evaluation criterion. The focus of the evaluation remains on the scientific merits of the proposal, and the decision to retain a proposal for funding is independent from the budget assessment for a project. Similarly to the actual cost model, the panel will check the budget estimates for the project and assess whether the resources proposed are in line with the activities planned, and whether they are reasonable and non-excessive. For resources that are considered unnecessary and cost items that are considered unreasonable or excessive, and where no convincing justification was provided, the panel may recommend a cut of the respective costs.

ERC-2025-ADG applicants should always estimate the costs in line with their own institution’s accounting practices and salary grids for the staff who will be involved in the project. The ERC personnel costs data for lump sum evaluations is a tool which may be used by applicants to assess the need to further justify their estimated personnel costs. In case their estimated personnel costs are significantly higher than ERC historical data, such justification can for example include reference to the nature of the tasks, the need for senior or highly qualified staff, or to significant increases in personnel costs. ERC-2025-ADG applicants are advised not to use the European Commission Horizon dashboard for lump sum evaluations, as ERC data are not included in this dashboard.

Under the ERC-2025-AdG call, only Section 3 - Budget of the administrative form (Part A) containing the budget table and description of resources, the time commitment (extracted from section 5 of Part A) and the equipment table (for depreciation and use) will be available to the experts evaluating the proposal. The evaluators will have no access to the rest of the administrative form.

For ERC 2025 calls under Horizon Europe (e.g. for ERC-2025-STG; ERC-2025-COG; ERC-2025-ADG; ERC-2025-SYG; ERC-2025-POC), the information requested in Part A on the career stage of the PI will not be provided to the reviewers of your proposal and will not be part of the evaluation. This data is gathered for statistical purposes and used to evaluate the Horizon Europe Programme as a whole. See also the ERC Work Programme 2025PDF.

To be eligible for calls with deadlines in 2025, legal entities from an EU Member State (MS) or Associated Country (AC) must have a gender equality plan (GEP) or an equivalent strategic document in place for the duration of the project. This information will not be provided to the reviewers, and it will not be evaluated. In the Part A online submission form, there is a ‘yes/no’ tick box question that the host institution’s contact person must fill in. Only public bodies,research organisations or higher education institutions (including private research organisations and private higher education institutions) must answer this question. This answer and the absence of GEP at submission stage will not affect the evaluation of the proposal.The GEP or equivalent must fulfil the mandatory requirements listed in Annex 5 to the ERC Work Programme 2025PDF and will be necessary before the signature of the grant agreement. See guidelines op.europa.eu.

Yes, as specified in the ERC Work Programme 2024PDF, a PI whose proposal was evaluated as category A or category B at step 2 in an ERC 2023 Starting (StG), Consolidator (CoG) or Advanced (AdG) call, can submit a proposal to the ERC Advanced Grant 2024 (ERC-2024-ADG) call.

Under call ERC-2024-AdG, there is no change to the evaluation criteria that will be applied by the panel when assessing proposals under the lump sum model. Scientific excellence remains the sole evaluation criterion. The focus of the evaluation remains on the scientific merits of the proposal. The change of financing model should have no impact on the outcome of the evaluation. Similar to the actual cost model, the panel will also check the budget estimates for the project and assess whether the resources proposed are in line with the activities proposed, reasonable and non-excessive. Under the lump sum model, the assessment by the panel includes the estimated personnel costs, while under the actual cost model, the panel assessed only the resources, i.e. the number of planned staff. Historical ERC personnel cost data will be available to the panel as a benchmark to help them assess personnel costs.The historical ERC personnel cost data is publicly available on the ERC Advanced Grant 2024 web page. To help the panel assess the budget and to ensure sound financial management of EU funds, applicants are asked to provide structured information on certain components of the budget at submission stage. For example, personnel costs will have to be specified in person-months in each staff category, and equipment costs will have to include information on the depreciation rules that have been applied. The panel should not start to micromanage the budget because of the change to the lump sum model.

Applicants to the call ERC-2024-ADG should propose personnel costs in line with the needs of the project and with what they expect to incur based on the host institution’s usual cost accounting practice. The historical ERC personnel cost data are available to applicants via a link on the Advanced Grant ERC webpage: ERC personnel costs data for lump sum evaluations | ERC (europa.eu). Applicants can consult the data, so that they can identify when a justification in their proposal is useful to explain any planned personnel costs that deviate unusually from the historical data. Personnel costs can be expected to be higher than in past years due to inflation and pay rises. There can be a large variation in the personnel cost of a specific cost category between host institutions in the same country, and even within the same host institution. High personnel costs may be accepted by the panel if they are justified for the project (e.g. by the nature of the tasks, by the need for senior or highly qualified staff, or by significant increases in personnel costs).

Under call ERC-2024-AdG, there is no change to the evaluation elements that will be applied by the panel when assessing proposals under the lump sum model. As explained under question no. 3 and no. 4 scientific excellence remains the sole evaluation criterion. The focus of the evaluation remains on the scientific merits of the proposal. The change of financing model should have no impact on the outcome of the evaluation and the decision to award the grant is independent from the budget assessment for a project. Similarly to the actual cost model, the panel will also check the budget estimates for the project and assess whether the resources proposed are in line with the activities proposed, reasonable and non-excessive. For resources that are considered unnecessary or cost items that are considered unreasonable or excessive and where no convincing justification was provided, the panel may recommend a cut of the cost item(s).

ERC-2024-ADG applicants should always estimate the costs in line with their own institution’s accounting practices and salary grids for the staff who will be involved in the project. The ERC personnel costs data for lump sum evaluations is a tool which may be used by applicants to assess the need to further justify their estimated personnel costs. In case their estimated personnel costs are significantly higher than ERC historical data, such justification can for example include reference to the nature of the tasks, the need for senior or highly qualified staff, or to significant increases in personnel costs. ERC-2024-ADG applicants are advised not to use the European Commission Horizon dashboard for lump sum evaluations, as ERC data are not included in this dashboard.

Under the ERC-2024-AdG call, only Section 3 - Budget of the administrative form (Part A) containing the budget table and description of resources; the time commitment (extracted from section 5 of Part A) and the equipment table (for depreciation and use ) will be available to the experts evaluating the proposal. The evaluators will have no access to the rest of the administrative form.

No, under call ERC-2024-AdG, a Principal Investigator (PI) whose proposal was evaluated as category C in the step 1 of Starting (StG), Consolidator (CoG), or Advanced (AdG) Grant calls for proposals under ERC Work Programme 2022 and 2023, may not submit a proposal to the AdG call under Work Programme 2024. For more information, please refer to the restrictions on submission of proposals in the ERC Work Programme 2024PDF.

No, under call ERC-2024-AdG, a Principal Investigator (PI) whose proposal was evaluated as category B in the step 1 of Starting (StG), Consolidator (CoG), or Advanced (AdG) Grant calls for proposals under ERC Work Programme 2023, may not submit a proposal to the AdG call under Work Programme 2024. For more information, please refer to the restrictions on submission of proposals in the ERC Work Programme 2024PDF.

To be eligible for calls with deadlines in 2024, legal entities from an EU Member State (MS) or Associated Country (AC) must have a gender equality plan (GEP) or an equivalent strategic document in place for the duration of the project.This information will not be provided to the reviewers and it will not be evaluated. In the Part A online submission form, there is a ‘yes/no’ tick box question that the Host Institution (HI)’s contact person must fill in. Only public bodies, research organisations or higher education institutions (including private research organisations and private higher education institutions) must answer this question. This answer and the absence of GEP at submission stage will not affect the evaluation of the proposal. The GEP or equivalent must fulfil the mandatory requirements listed in Annex 5 to the ERC Work Programme 2024PDF and will be necessary before the signature of the grant agreement. See guidelines op.europa.eu.

No, under call ERC-2023-ADG, a Principal Investigator (PI) whose proposal was evaluated as category C in the step 1 of Starting (StG), Consolidator (CoG), Advanced (AdG) or Synergy Grant (SyG) calls for proposals under ERC Work Programme 2021 and 2022 may not submit a proposal to the AdG call under Work Programme 2023. For more information, please refer to the restrictions on submission of proposals in the ERC Work Programme 2023PDF.

Yes, as specified in the ERC Work Programme 2023PDF, a PI whose proposal was evaluated as category A or category B at step 2 in an ERC 2022 Starting (StG), Consolidator (CoG) or Advanced (AdG) call, can submit a proposal to the ERC Advanced Grant 2023 (ERC-2023-ADG) call.

Under the ERC-2023-ADG call, only Section 3 - Budget of the administrative form (Part A) containing the budget table and description of resources, and the time commitment (extracted from section 5 of Part A) will be available to the experts evaluating the proposal. The evaluators will have no access to the rest of the administrative form.

For ERC calls under Horizon Europe (e.g. for ERC-2024-STG; ERC-2024-COG; ERC-2024-ADG; ERC-2024-SYG; ERC-2024-POC), the information requested in Part A on the career stage of the PI will not be provided to the reviewers of your proposal and will not be part of the evaluation. This data is gathered for statistical purposes and used to evaluate the Horizon Europe Programme as a whole. See also the ERC Work Programme 2024PDF.

To be eligible for calls with deadlines in 2022 and 2023, legal entities from an EU Member State (MS) or Associated Country (AC) must have a gender equality plan (GEP) or an equivalent strategic document in place for the duration of the project. This information will not be provided to the reviewers and it will not be evaluated. In the Part A online submission form, there is a ‘yes/no’ tick box question that the Host Institution (HI)’s contact person must fill in. Only public bodies, higher education institutions (including private research organisations and private higher education institutions) must answer this question. This answer will not affect the evaluation of the proposal. In case the proposal is selected for funding, the HI must have a GEP or an equivalent strategic document in place at granting stage. The GEP or equivalent must fulfil the mandatory requirements listed in Annex 5 of the ERC Work Programme 2023PDF and will be necessary before the signature of the grant agreement. See guidelines GEPs_in_HE_guidelines.pdfPDF.

For ERC calls under Horizon Europe, the information requested in Part A on the career stage of the PI will not be provided to the reviewers of your proposal and will not be part of the evaluation. This data is gathered for statistical purposes and used to evaluate the Horizon Europe Programme as a whole.

In specific circumstances indicated in the ERC Work Programme 2023PDF, the applicant Principal Investigator (PI) may present their achievements over a period longer than the past ten years. Those circumstances should be factual and clearly reported under the header ‘Career breaks’ in the CV section of Part B1 for the ERC-2023-AdG call. The following circumstances can lead to the extension of the track record beyond 10 years: maternity leave (18 months or, if longer, the amount of leave actually taken until the call deadline, for each child born before or during the last ten years), paternity leave (the actual amount of leave taken until the call deadline for each child born before or during the last ten years), long-term illness, clinical qualification or national service (actual amount of leave taken until the call deadline, during the last ten years).

The reporting requirements for ERC main frontier research projects granted under the Horizon Europe Programme (Starting Grant / Consolidator Grant / Advanced Grant or Synergy Grant: e.g., ERC-2025-STG, ERC-2025-COG, ERC-2025-ADG,ERC-2025-SyG) foresee two different reporting streams to cover the scientific aspects, on the one hand, and on the other hand, the financial aspects of the grant (except for the Advanced Grants 2024 and 2025 calls where, due to the introduction of the Lump Sum pilot, financial reporting is no longer required), as described in Article 21 of the Model Grant Agreement used for ERC actionsPDF.

Scientific reports are the sole responsibility of the Principal Investigator and are submitted via the Host Institution, usually twice during the lifetime of an individual PI project (at mid-term and at the end). In case of the Synergy grants running for 6 years, there are two intermediate and a final report. The financial reports are prepared by the Host Institution in consultation with the Principal Investigator and must usually be submitted 60 days after the end of each period; this report must include information on the use of resources and the general implementation of the project (see Article 21 of Model Grant Agreement used for ERC actions).

At the end of a project, the Host Institution will also have to submit a Certificate on Financial Statements for each beneficiary (and linked third party), depending on the amount of requested EU contribution to the costs claimed (if the entity requests a total contribution of EUR 430 000 or more – standard threshold).

Both types of reports (Scientific and Financial) are prepared and submitted online via the EU Funding & Tender Portal. In the case of Synergy Grants, the corresponding Principal Investigator assumes the primary responsibility for the scientific reporting and contribution to the financial reporting, while the other Principal Investigators must contribute to both the scientific and financial report (page 120 of Model Grant Agreement used for ERC actions).

Under call ERC-2025-AdG, at the start of the project, the ERC grant beneficiaries will receive 80% of the total grant as pre-financing to ensure the cash flow for the project, and the rest will be paid upon completion of the project. The lump sum will be fully paid when all the work has been carried out as described in the Description of Action, or if: i) all essential tasks have been completed, and/or ii) equivalent tasks have been carried out, and/or iii) deviations have been duly justified. If these conditions are met, irrespective of the results obtained or the objectives achieved, 100% completion can be declared and accepted (resulting in 100% payment of the lump sum).

Under the lump sum funding model for the call ERC-2025-ADG, the scientific reporting will be the same for the lump sum funded grants as for actual cost ERC grants. There will be a scientific mid-term report at month 30 and a final scientific report at the end of the project, to which the final payment is linked. The fulfilment of the PI time commitments on the project and in a Member State or Associated Country, will have to be documented by an additional declaration co-signed by the Principal Investigator and the host institution. The lump sum will be paid in line with the degree of completion of the proposed work declared by PI/HI and accepted by ERCEA. The lump sum will be fully paid when all the work has been carried out as described in the description of action (DoA) of the project, if all essential tasks have been completed, and/or equivalent tasks have been carried out, and/or deviations have been duly justified. This is irrespective of whether the expected results were obtained, or the project objectives were achieved. Ex-post technical reviews may be carried out only on proper project implementation and compliance with non-financial obligations (e.g. ethics, PI time commitments).

Under call ERC-2025-AdG, there will be no financial audits of invoices, personnel costs, time sheets, and no certificate of financial statements requested. However, technical reviews may still be conducted, as in the past, for instance in cases where issues with the implementation of the project arise, relating to compliance with ethics, procurement procedures, or time commitment of the Principal Investigator. The scientific and technical documentation required for lump sum grants is the same as for the non-financial technical reviews that can currently be performed under actual costs grants and for PoC grants (e.g. technical documents, publications, prototypes, documentation required by good research practice such as lab books etc).

Applicant legal entities will remain accountable for the information (including financial) provided with their application.

Under the lump sum funding model for the call ERC-2024-ADG, the scientific reporting will be the same for the lump sum funded grants as for actual cost ERC grants. There will be a scientific mid-term report at month 30 and a final scientific report at the end of the project, to which the final payment is linked. The fulfilment of the PI time commitments, on the project and in a Member State or Associated Country, will have to be documented by an additional declaration co-signed by the Principal Investigator and the host institution, see also FAQ 45600 and 45709. The lump sum will be paid in line with the degree of completion of the proposed work declared by PI/HI and accepted by ERCEA. The lump sum will be fully paid when all the work has been carried out as described in the description of action (DoA) of the project, if all essential tasks have been completed, and/or equivalent tasks have been carried out, and/or deviations have been duly justified. This is irrespective of whether the expected results were obtained, or the project objectives were achieved. Ex-post technical reviews may be carried out only on proper project implementation and compliance with non-financial obligations (e.g. ethics, PI time commitments).

Under call ERC-2024-AdG, at the start of the project, the ERC grant beneficiaries will receive 80% of the total grant as pre-financing to ensure the cash flow for the project, and the rest will be paid upon completion of the project. The lump sum will be fully paid when all the work has been carried out as described in the Description of Action, or if:

i) all essential tasks have been completed, and/or;

ii) equivalent tasks have been carried out, and/or; iii) deviations have been duly justified. If these conditions are met, irrespective of results obtained or objectives achieved, 100% completion can be declared and accepted (resulting in 100% payment of the lump sum).

Under call ERC-2024-AdG, there will be no financial audits of invoices, personnel costs, time sheets, and no certificate of financial statements requested. However, technical reviews may still be conducted, as in the past, for instance in cases where issues with the implementation of the project arise, relating to compliance with ethics, procurement procedures, or time commitment of the Principal Investigator. The scientific and technical documentation required for lump sum grants is the same as for the non-financial technical reviews that can currently be performed under actual costs grants and for PoC grants (e.g. technical documents, publications, prototypes, documentation required by good research practice such as lab books etc). Applicant legal entities will remain accountable for the information (including financial) provided with their application.

The reporting requirements for ERC main frontier research projects granted under the Horizon Europe Programme (Starting Grant / Consolidator Grant / Advanced Grant or Synergy Grant) foresee two different reporting streams to cover the scientific aspects, on the one hand, and the financial aspects of the grant, on the other hand, as described in Article 21 of the Model Grant Agreement used for ERC actionsPDF. Scientific reports are the sole responsibility of the Principal Investigator and are submitted via the Host Institution usually twice during the lifetime of an individual PI project (at mid-term and at the end). In case of the Synergy grants running for 6 years, there are two intermediate and a final report. The financial reports are prepared by the Host Institution in consultation with the Principal Investigator and must usually be submitted 60 days after the end of each period; this report must include information on the use of resources and the general implementation of the project (see Article 21 of Model Grant Agreement used for ERC actionsPDF). At the end of a project, the Host Institution will also have to submit a Certificate on Financial Statements for each beneficiary (and linked third party) depending on the amount of requested EU contribution to the costs claimed (if the entity requests a total contribution of EUR 430 000 or more – standard threshold). Both types of reports (Scientific and Financial) are prepared and submitted online via the EU Funding & Tender Opportunities Portal. In the case of Synergy Grants the corresponding Principal Investigator assumes the primary responsibility for the scientific reporting and contribution to the financial reporting, while the other Principal Investigators must contribute to both the scientific and financial report (page 120 of Model Grant Agreement used for ERC actionsPDF).