Three more Greeks among top researchers funded by the European Research Council (ERC)

Three Greeks are included in 408 talented early-career researchers who were selected to receive Starting Grants from the European Research Council (ERC ). The grants for the current year amount to 621 million euros and are covered by the EU programme for research and innovation ‘Horizon 2020’. It is estimated that this round of grants will contribute to the creation of 2,500 jobs for postdoctoral researchers, PhD students and scientific personnel. 

The Starting Grants help creative and excellent scientists to set up research teams to implement their projects. These grants can be applied for by researchers of any nationality, with experience from two to seven years after completion of their PhD and excellent scientific progress.

The Greek researchers who were selected to receive a prestigious ERC Starting Grant are:

Yiannis Spiropoulos for his project, JANET - Janissaries in Ottoman Port-Cities: Muslim Financial and Political Networks in the Early Modern Mediterranean.

Daphne Pefani, for the research work NUCDDR (Nucleolar Responses to DNA Damage: rDNA, an emerging hub of genome instability) on the response mechanisms and repair of DNA damage.

Antonis Papavasileiou, for the research project ICEBERG (Scalable Optimisation of Power Systems with Flexible Demand and Renewable Supply), concerning research on the optimisation of the operation of power systems. EKT is pleased to have supported two of the three at the stage of their preparation for the oral interview.

European Research Council

The European Research Council (ERC) was established by the EU in 2007. The ERC programme supports ‘frontier research’ solely on the basis of scientific excellence. Research may be conducted in any area of ​​science or technology. It encourages interdisciplinary and financed research which is at the ‘forefront’ of creating new knowledge necessary for future applications.

Since 2007 approximately 9,000 researchers have been selected for funding through open competitions and more than 110,000 articles that cite the support of ERC have been published in international journals. The ERC grant recipients have received prestigious awards, including six Nobel Prizes, four Fields Medals and 5 Wolf awards.

EKT supports excellence and innovation

The National Documentation Centre (EKT) acts as National Contact Point for 'Horizon 2020' providing the Greek research community with a range of integrated services. EKT supports Greek researchers to prepare their proposals and claim funding. Notably, regarding the ERC Starting Grants programme, the EKT team guides applicants in the writing of proposals, but also in the preparation for their oral presentation at the evaluation stage, and continues to support them in the implementation of the research project.

A few days ago, EKT published a report on Greek participation in the ERC programme during the period 2014-2018.

The next round

Researchers who wish to compete in the next ‘Starting Grants’ round can apply up until 16 October 2019. More information about the process here.