Ten Years of the European Research Council

I was honoured to be listed among Leicester's ERC grant holders in a recent press release coinciding with the tenth anniversary of the European Research Council.  A copy of the text can be found below, or via Leicester's website:
https://www2.le.ac.uk/staff/announcements/uk-continues-to-dominate-erc-innovation-funding

More details of this anniversary can be found here:
https://erc.europa.eu/ERC10yrs/home

Researchers based at UK institutions won the largest share of mid-career and proof-of-concept grants handed out by the European Research Council in the latest awards rounds.

The news comes in the week that the European Research Council – a success story of the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme – marks its tenth anniversary with ‘ERC week’ (13-17 March) and celebrates its impact on strengthening Europe as a global centre of excellence in research.

The University of Leicester is a part of that success story having secured almost €10 million of ERC funding since 2011 – highly prestigious awards given only to ‘frontier’ research projects. ERC grant holders are in good company with some previous grant holders going on to win a Nobel Prize or to be awarded the Fields Medal.

UK-based researchers received a total of 58 grants in the latest Consolidator Grant round, equivalent to 18% of the awards handed out. This was followed by 48 for researchers located in Germany, 43 in France and 29 in the Netherlands.

Ten of the 44 Proof-of-Concept grants awarded by the ERC on 31 January went to researchers who will work at UK universities. Germany and Spain will host the second and third most grantees with six and five recipients respectively. This is the third time that the UK has topped the Proof-of-Concept awards recipient list since it voted to leave the EU in June 2016.

Leicester’s ERC grant holders include: Leigh Fletcher- Physics Consolidator Grant (2016) c. E €2 million.; Richard Alexander - Physics Consolidator Grant (2015) c. €2 million; Clare Anderson - History Starting Grant  (2013) – c. €1.5 million; Laura Morales - Politics Starting Grant  (2011) – c. €1.5 million; and David Mattingly - Archaeology Advanced Grant (2011) – c. €2.5 million. You can find out a bit more about their groundbreaking research on the Research and Enterprise funding pages.

Professor Iain Gillespie, Pro Vice Chancellor for Research and Enterprise commented: “We are very pleased to celebrate the achievements of our European Research Council (ERC) grant holders on the ten-year anniversary of the European Research Council scheme.

“These researchers epitomise leadership in world-class research, and we are proud that they also represent Leicester’s continuing, strong engagement with the European research community.”

Academic and research staff are reminded that the Treasury is continuing to financially underwrite UK participation in EU projects submitted before any official Brexit takes place. Funding will be guaranteed for UK organisations submitting projects before an official exit, even if the project will continue beyond the UK's membership of the European Union.