ERC runner-up-projects

The European Research Council (ERC) aims at supporting high quality frontier research in Europe through an open competition between the very best, creative researchers.

Being aware of the high number of excellent proposals ERC receives that remain unfunded due to budgetary constraints, FWO provides alternative funding to the five best of the unsuccessful ERC Starting and Consolidator Grant applicants, with the aim to strengthen the next ERC application.

• Period: 4 years, not renewable
• Only one application for a runner-up project can be granted per type of ERC Grant (either Starting Grant or Consolidator Grant)
• Staff and consumables:
• Starting Grant runner-up project: 1 full-time equivalent (FTE) scientific staff member for 4 years and € 10,000 consumables per year (€ 77,000 in total)
• Consolidator Grant runner-up project: minimum 1 full-time equivalent (FTE) scientific staff member for 4 years and the balance to be spent on consumables per year (€ 100,000 in total)
• Deadline Starting Grant runner-up project: 6 January 2025 at 5 p.m.
• Deadline Consolidator Grant runner-up project: 31 March  2025 at 5 p.m.
• Indicative announcement of results: after 26 February 2025 (Starting Grant runner-up project) or after 21 May 2025 (Consolidator Grant runner-up project)
• Indicative start of project: 1 March 2025 (Starting Grant runner-up project) or 1 July 2025 (Consolidator Grant runner-up project)

• For an ERC runner-up project only candidates who have applied for an ERC Starting Grant or ERC Consolidator Grant are eligible.
• The ERC Starting Grant or Consolidator Grant application has to be submitted with a Flemish main host institution that is eligible for the FWO, as referred to in § 2 of article 7 of the regulations governing fundamental research projects.
• You must hold at least one of the appointments or research fellowships mentioned in article 10, §1-3 of the regulations.
• Your research will be carried out at an eligible Flemish main host institution referred to in article 7, §2.
• You have reached the end of step 2 of the evaluation process of the ERC Starting Grant or Consolidator grant 2024 call and have received an 'A' score, but have not received European funding due to budgetary constraints.
• You agree with the Research Integrity Clause

• The ERCEA sends a notification to the candidates.
• After notification of the ERCEA the FWO invites the candidates (expected end of September for Starting Grant and end of January for Consolidator Grant) to submit an application for an FWO runner-up project. If the candidate declines the offer, the next candidate on the ranking list, determined according to the ERCEA evaluation procedure, will be invited.
• If the candidates do not yet have an e-portal account yet, they must register in the e-portal.
• The FWO-application must include:
  1. full ERC-Starting or Consolidator Grant proposal that was submitted for the ERC call,
  2. the ERCEA Evaluation Summary Report,
  3. the application form with a description (maximum 2 pages) of the research that you wish to carry out with the FWO funding.

• The board of trustees of February 2025 (Starting Grant runner-up project) and of May 2025 (Consolidator Grant runner-up project) assesses the submitted applications and decides on the granting.
• The ERC Starting and Consolidator Grant (European) ranking is followed, so the FWO does not conduct anymore an internal and external peer review.

Contact ncp_fwo@fwo.be for additional information and specific questions.

In case of technical problems with the e-window and the application modules, you can contact the IT helpdesk at FWOhelpdesk@fwo.be