Synergy Grants to be reintroduced in 2018
19 Jan 2017 by Evoluted New Media
The European Research Council plans to reinstate the Synergy Grant funding scheme next year.
The decision was made after an assessment of projects funded through pilot calls in 2012 and 2013. These grants aim to bring together researchers with complementary skills to address research problems in an unconventional way, hopefully leading to major breakthroughs.
Professor Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, President of the European Research Council (ERC), said: "The Synergy Grants awarded so far have shown that this funding fosters interdisciplinary research and can trigger unconventional collaborations, allowing for the emergence of new fields of study. These grants help to put European science at the global forefront. They will contribute significantly to fill a gap in the EU funding for frontier research."
When the ERC opened two competitions for Synergy Grants in 2012 and 2013, 24 projects were funded as a result, for five to six years, across a multitude of different research disciplines. In 2014, an assessment group set up by the ERC’s Scientific Council, recommended reinstatement of the scheme with an annual allocation of at least €250m.
In October 2016, at a plenary session in Dublin, Ireland, the Scientific Council agreed to reintroduce the scheme, but it was not officially confirmed until early December. The future Synergy Grant Call for proposals, including budget, dates and eligibility criteria will be published in the 2018 ERC Work Programme in 2017.
