European Research Council

The FP7 Revolution

The European Research Council (ERC) is probably the main innovation of the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7) for the period 2007-2013. Its purpose: stimulate basic research in Europe.

A European research agency capable of competing on a level playing field with the American National Science Foundation–that is what European scientists have been seeking for years now, especially within the field of biology. Now, they can rejoice: Establishing the European Research Council (ERC) is among the priorities of the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7), which comes into effect in January 2007. This means that Europe is determined to confront head-on the US capacity for innovation by giving a boost to upstream research, or “frontier research,” as it is called in the official documents.

 

PRIORITY FOR YOUNG RESEARCHERS

The first stage involved setting up a Scientific Council with the task of building the foundations of the ERC. The Council is composed of 22 members (including several Nobel prize-winners) appointed in July 2005 by a committee. Among the appointees are two French researchers working in facilities associated with CNRS: physicist Daniel Estève¹ and linguist Alain Peyraube.²

The Council held its first meeting in October 2005. The same year, it appointed the chair, Fotis Kafatos, from Greece, and two vice-chairs, Helga Nowotny (Austria) and Daniel Estève (France). Since then, the Scientific Council has met on half a dozen occasions to determine how the ERC is to be organized. Its major hallmark is the priority given to “young” researchers. The first scheme to be put in place–the “Starting Independent Research Grant Scheme” (SIRGS)–does indeed provide for research-project funding earmarked for researchers with less than eight years of postdoctoral experience. Projects submitted for financing may be in any scientific discipline. They will be subject to peer review, and successful applications will be funded to 100% of total eligible and direct costs.

As for the actual funding terms, the projects selected each year will be allocated funding for five years in amounts ranging from €100,000 to €400,000 per year, per project. The cumulative annual total of €300 million in 2007 will be increased to €1.7 billion in 2013.

Calls for projects were launched on December 22, 2006, and, according to Daniel Estève and Alain Peyraube, the Scientific Council of the ERC is expecting to receive some 4000 applications for 2007, from which 200 to 300 will be selected.

The summer of 2007 will see the launch of the “Advanced Investigator Research Grant Scheme” (AIRGS) targeted at experienced researchers. The precise arrangements for this second type of funding have not yet been specified but details will be available in the next few months.

 

A BILLION A YEAR FOR SEVEN YEARS

In the meantime, the specific IDEAS programme sets the overall  budget for the ERC at €7.51 billion for the period 2007-2013. “It will be the second biggest FP7 budget after the specific programme Cooperation (€32.413 billion for ten thematic priorities)” explains Franc Pattus, head of the CNRS office in Brussels. As for the total FP7 budget, this stands at some €50 billion.

Regarding the organization of the ERC, this is being put into place over the course of the Scientific Council's regular meetings. Among its priorities are finalization of the scientific domains concerned and composition of corresponding evaluation groups. Daniel Estève confirms that “Twenty domains were identified at our meeting in early July 2006 in Helsinki, Finland: seven in the life sciences, eight in physics, chemistry and universe sciences, plus five in the humanities and social sciences.” Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker, professor of biochemistry at Munich University, was chosen as secretary general on August 30, 2006, a position he should hold until June 2009.

The official status of the ERC remains to be determined. At the outset, it will be an executive agency answering to the European Commission, but in the long term, it will be necessary to safeguard its independence from the national political powers in the Member States.

 

Bruno de la Perrière

 

To find out more:

> The website for the Scientific Council of the ERC:

ec.europa.eu/erc/index_en.cfm

> The FP7 website:

ec.europa.eu/research/fp7/home_en.html

> The CNRS European relations website:

www.drei.cnrs.fr/rub2/Communautaires/;view