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Training Excellent Researchers
The ERC funds also play a significant role in training graduates and the next generation of excellent re-
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searchers in frontier research including novel research methods, advanced instrumentation and ground-
breaking techniques. On average, 70% of an ERC Grant is dedicated to personnel costs. In this sense, each
ERC grantee has on average a team of 6 members, 5 of which are PhD and postdoctoral researchers. By
the end of FP7, around 5000 ERC Grants will have been awarded and the ERC will therefore have supported
and trained more than 25.000 doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers in teams led by outstanding
emerging and established researchers. This will contribute to the strengthening of Europe’s knowledge
base in emerging areas undergoing rapid development, and to increasing European research competitive-
ness and leadership in key innovation sectors.
Structural Impact:
Attractiveness of Europe for Best Researchers
Researchers: Career & Mobility
ERC competitions are key instruments in improving researchers’ career prospects. They are open to any
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researcher anywhere in the world who wants to conduct research in an EU Member State or FP7 Associated
Country. ERC efforts in this context have focused on retaining top talents and repatriating and attracting
outstanding researchers (European and non-European) located in non-ERA countries in order to transform
Europe into a world-leading knowledge society. To meet this objective the Scientific Council has delineated
a strategy based on the reduction of mobility barriers as well as on the empowerment of researchers by
offering attractive funding conditions, the possibility of grant portability and by supporting the early indepen-
dence of emerging top scientists and scholars.
A glance at the
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provides a good example of how ERC funding
schemes attract top researchers. Many ERC grantees have received prestigious international scientific priz-
es and awards. To date, the ERC accounts for four Nobel Prize winners and three Field Medallists amongst
its grantees, as well as the winners of 30 other internationally recognised prizes. One recent example is the
Nobel Prize awarded to Konstantin Novoselov for his work on the production and isolation of grapheme.
After five years of the ERC, there has been a real but modest success in attracting researchers from third
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countries. However, this has mainly involved the repatriation, rather than attraction, of non-ERA nationals
to the European research system. In addition, the number of applications and ERC grantees from non-ERA
countries is still quite limited. To redress this situation, the ERC Scientific Council has established a working
group to delineate new strategies to attract more top researchers from third countries and the ERC Execu-
tive Agency (ERCEA) has significantly increased the promotion of ERC funding opportunities in countries
outside the European Research Area.
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the
case of
GREECE
5
years of
Excellence in
the European
Research Area
2007-2011