The European Research Council La strategia scientifica dell ERC Prof. Barbara Ensoli Membro del Consiglio scientifico dell ERC Settembre 2015
ERC mission and strategy The ERC supports excellence in frontier research through a bottom-up, individual-based, pan-european competition Legislation Scientific governance: independent Scientific Council with 22 members including the ERC President; full authority over funding strategy Support by the ERC Executive Agency (autonomous) Excellence as the only criterion Strategy Support for the individual scientist no networks! Global peer-review No predetermined subjects (bottom-up) Support of frontier research in all fields of science and humanities
ERC Structure The ERC Scientific Council Up to 22 prominent researchers proposed by an independent identification committee Appointed by the Commission (4 years, renewable once) Establishes overall scientific strategy; annual work programmes (incl. calls for proposals, evaluation criteria); peer review methodology; selection and accreditation of experts Controls quality of operations and management Ensures communication with the scientific community The ERC Executive Agency Executes annual work programme as established by the Scientific Council Implements calls for proposals Organises peer review evaluation Establishes and manages grant agreements Administers scientific and financial aspects Carries out communications activities The European Commission Provides financing through the EU framework programmes Guarantees autonomy of the ERC Assures the integrity and accountability of the ERC Adopts annual work programmes as established by the Scientific Council Programme Committee 3
ERC in H2020 Changes and continuity Essential features maintained: Same schemes, same principles, same selection procedures/criteria Independent Scientific Council with full authority over funding strategy Executive Agency with autonomous operation Increased budget (13.1 Bio in current prices for 2014-2020): More opportunities than ever for top research talents Strengthening the Scientific Governance of the European Research Council: Strengthening the links between the Scientific Council and Executive Agency Merging positions of President of ERC and Secretary General Full-time President based in Brussels 3 Vice-Chairs elected from amongst the Scientific Council members
ERC Scientific Council Members ERC President: Prof. Jean-Pierre BOURGUIGNON (Mathematics) ERC Vice-Presidents: Prof. Sierd A.P.L. CLOETINGH (Earth Sciences) Prof. Mart SAARMA (Biology) Prof. Nuria SEBASTIAN GALLES (Psychology) ScC members: Prof. Margaret BUCKINGHAM (Biology) Prof. Klaus BOCK (Chemistry) Prof. Nicholas CANNY (History) Prof. Athene DONALD (Biological Physics) Dr. Barbara ENSOLI (Medicine) Prof. Tomas JUNGWIRTH (Physics) Prof. Matthias KLEINER (Engineering) Prof. Eva KONDOROSI (Biology) Prof. Michael KRAMER (Astrophysics) Prof. Nils Christian STENSETH (Ecology & Evolution) Prof. Martin STOKHOF (Philosophy) Prof. Janet THORNTON (Bioinformatics) Prof. Reinhilde VEUGELERS (Economics) Prof. Michel WIEVIORKA (Sociology) Prof. Isabelle VERNOS (Molecular and Cell Biology) Prof. Fabio ZWIRNER (Theoretical Physics)
Creative Freedom to Individual Grantee ERC offers independence, recognition & visibility to work on a research topic of own choice, with a team of own choice to gain true financial autonomy for 5 years to negotiate with the host institution the best conditions of work to attract top team members (EU and non-eu) and collaborators to move with the grant to any place in Europe if necessary (portability of grants) to attract additional funding and gain recognition; ERC is a quality label 6
ERC Grant Schemes Starting Grants starters (2-7 years after PhD) up to 2.0 Mio for 5 years Consolidator Grants consolidators (7-12 years after PhD) up to 2.75 Mio for 5 years Advanced Grants track-record of significant research achievements in the last 10 years up to 3.5 Mio for 5 years Proof of Concept bridging gap between research - earliest stage of marketable innovation up to 150,000 for ERC grant holders 7
After 8 Years of Existence A Success Story Highly recognised by the research community Over 4 300 top researchers funded during FP7 (2007-2013) 65% are at an early-career stage Other 375 Starting and 372 Consolidator grantees selected under H2020 2014 calls 66 nationalities represented Highly competitive (overall success rate tending to 10%) Working in almost 600 different institutions in 32 countries 50% of grantees in 50 institutions : Excellence attracts excellence Benchmarking effect: impact on national programmes and agencies; national funding for best "runners-up" Efficient and fast grant management 8
The role of the Scientific Council Horizon 2020 SP - Article 7 Scientific Council 2. The Scientific Council shall establish: a) the overall strategy for the ERC; b) the work programme for the implementation of the ERC activities; c) the methods and procedures for peer review and proposal evaluation on the basis of which the proposals to be funded are determined; d) its position on any matter which from a scientific perspective may enhance achievements and impact of the ERC and the quality of the research carried out; e) a code of conduct addressing, inter alia, the avoidance of conflict of interests.
ERC Scientific Council Standing Committees & Working groups Standing committees: the 2009 Mid-Term Review Report on the ERC's Structures and Mechanisms recommended the setting up of two subcommittees to deal with conflict of interest issues and to steer and control the selection of reviewers and panellists. Working groups: non-permanent structures created ad-hoc to address specific tasks of strategic importance with the involvement of the Scientific Council members who are more interested and competent on the particular issue. Both Working groups and Standing committees report to the Scientific Council plenary meetings 10
ERC Scientific Council Standing Committees & Working groups CoIME (Conflict of Interest & Research integrity) CoP (Committee on Panels) Gender balance Open Access Strengtening Internationalisation Widening Participation Innovation and relations with industry Key Performance Indicators
ERC Standing Committee on Conflict of interest & Research integrity (CoIME) ERC Strategy on Scientific Misconduct (October 2012) Formulate guidelines on conflict of interest, fraud and ethical matters related to any facet of the ERC's competences, clarifying criteria and considering any particular instance or situation where ethical concerns may arise important consultative role in cases of scientific misconduct within ERC promote culture of research integrity Presumption: for any breaches of research integrity, HIs have primary responsibility for detection of scientific misconduct investigation adjudication ERC Recommendation: all ERC HIs (actual or potential) will have structures in place to: uphold scientific integrity deal with all cases coming to ERC attention report to the ERC on actions taken 12
ERC Standing Committee on Committee on Panels (CoP) Formulate policies & procedures for selecting ERC evaluators under the responsibility of the ScC Development of norms and rules for the functioning of the ERC peer evaluation system and of panels Steer the setting up and monitoring of a data base of experts Prepare and approve specific proposals for panel composition Panel Members by Country of HI and Gender
Gender Balance Working Group Ensure that male and female excellent researchers are well aware of what ERC grants offer and promote gender mainstreaming by: informing and raising awareness among both male and female excellent researchers of the opportunities of the ERC grants; giving equal opportunities and treatment to men and women applying in all ERC grant competitions; monitoring gender distribution within the ERC s peer review system; taking into account the gender dimension in all ERC grants; Identifying and removing potential gender bias. Gender Equality Plan 2007 2013 Gender Equality Plan 2014-2020 14
Open Access Working Group Support the implementation of the principle of open access to the results from ERC funded research (publications and research data) ERC Open Access Guidelines (latest revision: Oct 2013) Workshops with stakeholders (OA in the SH domain, Research data management and sharing, OA to monographs, ) Initiation of support mechanisms for OA infrastructures (Europe PubMed Central, OAPEN, arxiv) Direct interaction with relevant communities through participation in events The ERC considers that providing free online access to these materials is the most effective way of ensuring that the fruits of the research it funds can be accessed, read and used as the basis for further research. 15
Strengthening Internationalisation Working Group Increase the participation in ERC calls of researchers from countries outside of the EU by: Monitoring the number of applications from third country nationals Monitoring ERC teams compositions "ERC goes Global" international awareness-raising campaign (launched in 2012) ERC implementing arrangements with third countries 16
Widening European Participation Working Group Contribute to a truly inclusive European culture of competitiveness in science Increase participation in ERC calls of researchers from the EU s less researchperforming regions Facilitate systematic debate and interactions among ERC grantees and young promising scientists from EU s less researchperforming regions 17
Innovation & relations with industry Working group Support the ERC in its relationship with business sector in terms of: demonstration of the ERC's contribution to innovation and European socio-economic growth conduct of frontier research (e.g. industrial organisations as HIs for ERC-funded projects) very active in establishing good relations with industry design, development, implementation and followup of the Proof-of-Concept (PoC) scheme ERC Proof of Concept call scheme launched in 2011 Helping ERC grant-holder to bridge the gap between research and earliest stage of innovation Supporting grant-holders during the pre-demonstration Up to 150.000 Euro per grant 18
Key performance indicators (KPIs) Working Group Develop a roadmap for monitoring and evaluating ERC s accomplishment of its mission beyond indicators and targets, to support ScC' short-, medium- and long-term policies: Define a methodology for the ERC main indicator "top-1% highly cited publications" Develop other headline indicators to assess frontier research Design a methodology for the ex-post assessment with the proper counterfactual Improve the ex-ante selection of frontier research ERC Monitoring and Evaluation Strategy endorsed by the Scientific Council in June 2009 and focusing on: direct impact, structural impact, socio-economic impact, operational performance 19
ERC in the H2020 Structure The HORIZON 2020 main components: Excellent Science World class science is foundation of technologies, jobs, well-being Europe needs to develop, attract, retain research talent Researchers need access to the best infrastructures Industrial leadership Societal challenges Excellent Science: European Research Council (budget under H2020: 13 billion) Future and Emerging Technologies Marie Skłodoswka Curie Actions Research Infrastructures 20
ERC H2020 Budget ERC Budget 13 billion 21
The European Research Council More information: erc.europa.eu National Contact Point: erc.europa.eu/national-contactpoints Sign up for news alerts: erc.europa.eu/keep-updated-erc Follow us on www.facebook.com/europeanresearchcouncil twitter.com/erc_research www.linkedin.com/company/european-research-council 22