EUTOPIA Alliance Secures 10 ERC Starting Grants as Part of €780m in New Research Funding

06 September 2024—The European Research Council (ERC) announced that it had awarded nearly €780 million in Starting Grants to 494 European early-career researchers. The prestigious grants aim to support innovative research in a range of fields, from life sciences and physical sciences to social sciences and humanities.

EUTOPIA universities have secured ten highly competitive grants, further solidifying their reputation for research excellence. The funding will enable young scientists within the alliance to launch ambitious projects, form research teams, and push the boundaries of current knowledge.

These ERC Starting Grants, part of the EU's Horizon Europe programme, provide up to €1.5 million per project for five years. They also offer additional funding for relocation, major equipment purchases, and experimental work. This year, 44% of the grants were awarded to female researchers—a record high—reflecting the ERC’s commitment to fostering diversity in science.

Iliana Ivanova, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education, and Youth, expressed her excitement about the awards, stating:

"The European Commission is proud to support the curiosity and passion of our early-career talent under our Horizon Europe programme. The new ERC Starting Grants winners aim to deepen our understanding of the world. Their creativity is vital to finding solutions to some of the most pressing societal challenges. In this call, I am happy to see one of the highest shares of female grantees to date, a trend that I hope will continue. Congratulations to all!"

ERC President Professor Maria Leptin also welcomed the grants and celebrated the return of UK researchers to the programme. She said: "Empowering researchers early on in their careers is at the heart of the mission of the ERC. I am particularly pleased to welcome UK researchers back to the ERC. They have been sorely missed over the past years. With fifty grants awarded to researchers based in the UK, this influx is good for the research community overall."

The ERC's Starting Grants are designed to support emerging scientific talent. Each grant is worth up to €1.5 million over five years. In some cases, additional funding is available to cover relocation expenses, major equipment purchases, or fieldwork costs. Since the ERC's inception in 2007, nearly 62,000 applications have been received for the Starting Grants scheme, with a steady increase in applications from women. This year’s awards are expected to create over 3,000 jobs, further enhancing Europe's research landscape.

Established in 2007, the ERC is the leading European organisation for funding frontier research. It supports researchers of any nationality and age in undertaking projects at institutions across Europe. The ERC operates several grant schemes, including Starting Grants, Consolidator Grants, Advanced Grants, and Synergy Grants, alongside the Proof of Concept Grants, which help to commercialise pioneering research.

View the EC's announcement

Discover the ten new 2024 EUTOPIA universities ERCs: 
 

Last Name	First Name	Host Institution	Host institution local name	Country	Acronym	Title
VANDEPUTTE	Doris	Free University of Brussels (VUB)	Vrije Universiteit Brussel	BE	CoRe Defense	CoRe Defense: fortifying the resident gut microbiota’s colonization resistance to combat intestinal bacterial infections.
HUMBLET	Diete	Free University of Brussels (VUB)	Vrije Universiteit Brussel	BE	CAGED	Ageing in the Carceral Environment: The Existential Dimensions
VAN DIJCK	Cedric	Free University of Brussels (VUB)	Vrije Universiteit Brussel	BE	AFROPRESS	Recovering Global Exchanges from Sub-Saharan Africa's Cultural and Political Magazines in the Age of Black Internationalism, 1918-68
GOLZE	Dorothea	Technical University of Dresden	Technische Universität Dresden	DE	PhotoMat	Accurate simulations of photochemical and photophysical processes at materials interfaces
ANTCZAK	Konrad	Pompeu Fabra University	Universitat Pompeu Fabra	ES	IslandLives	Alternative Modernities and Everyday Life in the Pre- emancipation Southern Caribbean (c. 1634–1863)
CHIARAMONTE	Xenia	Ca' Foscari University of Venice	Universita Ca' Foscari Venezia	IT	P-AGE	Social Defence. Uncovering the Transnational Epistemology of the Punitive Age
ZOFFMANN RODRIGUEZ	Arturo	NOVA University of Lisbon	Universidade NOVA de Lisboa	PT	STEXEU	The Constitutional Road to Dictatorship: States of Exception and Authoritarianism in Europe, 1900-39
BERGMAN	Lina	University of Gothenburg	Göteborgs universitet	SE	INCENTIVE	Identification of persistent neurological complications after eclampsia and discovery of novel neuroprotective treatments to improve maternal outcomes
BERRETT	Thomas	University of Warwick	University of Warwick	UK	HeDiStat	Statistical theory and methodology for the combination of heterogeneous and distributed data
PANDYA	Raj	University of Warwick	University of Warwick	UK	FemtoCharge	Probing and controlling ultrafast electron and ion dynamics in operating battery electrodes and interfaces