Erc Synergy Grants

The conditions specific to ERC grants are described in the ERC Work Programme 2026 under the heading 'Admissibility, Eligibility, Resubmission Restrictions ' and in the ERC Rules of Submission and evaluation under Horizon Europe -  An overview is provided below:

Admissible and eligible proposals: All proposals must be complete and submitted by eligible Principal Investigators before the relevant call deadline. A complete proposal needs to include all parts or sections (further details below under 'Proposals page limits and layout' and in the ERC Work Programme 2026 section 'Proposal submission and description'). Incomplete proposals may be declared inadmissible. The content of the proposal must relate to the objectives and to the grant type set out in the call, as defined in the ERC Work Programme 2026. If a proposal is considered not to relate to the objectives of the grant and/or call for proposals, it will be declared ineligible. 

Eligible Principal Investigators: Principal Investigators may be of any age and nationality and may reside in any country in the world at the time of the application. A Synergy Grant Group must be composed of a minimum of two and a maximum of four innovative and active Principal Investigators and, as necessary, their teams. 

No specific eligibility criteria regarding the academic training are required for PIs applying for ERC Synergy Grants. Each PI has to present their profile, consisting of a CV and track record, using a single template available for all career stages. The PIs are requested to use the template in part I available for download from the submission system. 

Principal Investigators funded through an ERC Synergy grant shall spend a minimum of 30% of their working time on the ERC project and a minimum of 50% of their working time in the European Union or Associated Country except for a Principal Investigator hosted or engaged by an Institution outside the European Union or Associated Country (see Annex 3 of the ERC Work Programme 2026).

The ERC expects the composition of a Synergy Grant Group to remain unchanged throughout the lifetime of the grant. If a Principal Investigator leaves a Synergy Grant Group, the grant may be continued only exceptionally, contingent on scientific evaluation and provided that all eligibility criteria will continue to be met.

Restrictions on submission of proposals: The restrictions on submissions are related to the outcome of the evaluation in previous calls and are designed to maintain the quality and integrity of ERC’s evaluation process. For further details please consult the section 'Restrictions on submissions of proposals' of the ERC Work Programme 2026 or the Frequently Asked Questions (ERC - FAQs).

Eligible host institution: The host institution(s) (Applicant Legal Entity/ies) – up to four host institutions – must engage and host the Principal Investigators for at least the duration of the project, as defined in the grant agreement. It must either be established in the European Union or an Associated Country (see Annex 3 of the ERC Work Programme 2026) as a legal entity created under national law, or it may be an international European research organisation (such as CERN, EMBL, etc.), or any other entity created under EU law. Any type of legal entity, public or private, including universities, research organisations and undertakings can host Principal Investigators and their teams. One of these host institutions, with the exception the corresponding host institution, at any one time, may be a legal entity established outside the European Union or Associated Countries or an international organisation.

Where they bring scientific added value to the project, additional team members may also be hosted by additional legal entities which will be eligible for funding, and which may be legal entities established anywhere, including outside the European Union or Associated Countries, or international organisations. Legal entities established outside the European Union or Associated Countries are eligible for funding when they are one of the host institutions in a Synergy Grant at any one time, or they host additional team members bringing scientific added value to the project, or their participation is deemed essential for carrying out the action, provided that they are not excluded from participation or covered by restrictive measures set out in Annex 3 to the ERC Work Programme 2026.

Proposal page limits and layout

For each call, an Information for Applicants is published on the ERC website and on the EU Funding & Tenders opportunities Portal; it describes in detail how the electronic forms should be completed.

A complete proposal is composed of:

a) Administrative proposal forms (including Ethics Review Table): available on this page below and online via the submission tool - EU Funding & Tenders opportunities Portal - registration to the EU Funding & Tenders opportunities Portal is required first.

b) Research Proposal (Parts I and II), available in the submission tool below, should be uploaded in the submission tool as PDF files.

Proposal Part I

Max. 5 pages (references do not count towards the page limit).

Curriculum Vitae and Track Record: up to 4 pages for each Principal Investigator

Proposal Part II

Max. 10 pages (references do not count towards the page limit).

The Resources and Time commitment section: it includes a separate Budget table annex listing the costs for each PI and their teams. In part II the resources needed have to be detailed for each PI. This section is not limited to 2 pages and will not count towards the page limit.

Appendix – Funding ID: no page limits

c) Host institution(s) binding statement(s) of support template is/are available in the submission tool below and should be uploaded in the submission tool as PDF files.

In the case of Synergy Grants, where the different Principal Investigators may be hosted by more than one host institution, each of the host institutions shall offer their support to the Principal Investigator(s) hosted by them for the duration of the grant. The host institutions must engage the Principal Investigators for at least the duration of the grant. Each host institution letter has to be uploaded at the time of submission.

d) Ethics review self-assessment (if applicable) and supporting documentation.

The Ethics Issues Table can be found in the administrative form in addition to this, where relevant, an ethics self-assessment, as a separate annex, needs to be attached to the proposal. 

Complete proposals must be submitted via the submission tool available through the EC Funding & Tenders opportunities Portal. Further detailed guidance in the 'IT HOW TO' wiki site.

Described in the ERC Work Programme 2026 under the heading 'Admissibility and eligibility criteria' and in Annex 3. An overview is provided below:

The Host Institution that engages and hosts a Principal Investigator must be established in an EU Member State or Associated Country, although the team members of any Principal Investigator, as well as one of the Principal Investigators in a Synergy Grant Group may be based outside of the EU or an Associated Country (see section 'Eligible host institution').

Principal Investigators may reside in any country in the world at the time of the application. ERC Principal Investigators do not have to be based full-time in Europe but if selected for funding, shall spend a minimum percentage of their working time in the European Union or Associated Countries, with the exception of the Principal Investigator – if the case – hosted or engaged by an institution outside the EU or Associated Countries. Further information in the ‘Admissibility and eligibility criteria’ section of the ERC Work Programme 2026. 

Financial capacity: Please refer to the  ERC Rules of Submission and evaluation under Horizon Europe section 4, Award Decision and Preparation of Grant Agreements.

Security: Please refer to the ERC Work Programme 2026, Annex 4. 

The conditions specific for ERC are described in the ERC Work Programme 2026 under the heading 'Evaluation criterion and procedure' and in the ERC Rules of Submission and evaluation under Horizon Europe. An overview is provided below:

Evaluation procedure

A single submission of the full proposal will be followed by a three-step evaluation, including interviews of all the Principal Investigators. The evaluation will be conducted by means of a structure of dedicated panels. The panels may be assisted by independent external experts working remotely. The composition of the panels at each step is not predefined but will be decided dynamically in relation to the proposals received.

The applicant Corresponding Principal Investigator can request on behalf of the group during the electronic proposal submission that up to four specific persons should not act as an evaluator in the evaluation of their proposal.

At step 1: One panel is formed with approximately 90 panel members, including 5 chairs, who will assess the extended synopsis of the scientific proposal (only Part I - and not the full scientific proposal) and the Principal Investigators’ CVs and track records. 

Proposals will be retained for step 2 based on the outcome of the evaluation at step 1 and a budgetary cut-off level of up to seven times the panel's indicative budget.

At step 2: Panel members from step 1 will be divided in panels of comparable sizes. They will assess the complete version of the retained proposals (Parts I and II). 

Proposals will be retained for step 3 based on the outcome of the evaluation at step 2 and a budgetary cut-off level of up to three times the panel's indicative budget.

At step 3: The interview panels (that may be reconfigured to ensure the best expertise for the proposals) will assess the complete version of the most competitive of the retained proposals (Parts I and II) and all their Principal Investigators may be invited for an interview to present their project to a panel.

Evaluation criteria

For all ERC frontier research grants, scientific excellence is the sole criterion of evaluation. The panels will primarily evaluate:

• the ground-breaking nature and ambition of the research project.

At the same time, the panels will evaluate:

1. the intellectual capacity, creativity, and commitment of the Principal Investigators, with a focus on the extent to which the Principal Investigators have the required scientific expertise and capacity to successfully execute the project.

The peer reviewers will need to see that the collaborative working arrangements between the Principal Investigators described as part of the research methodology, can ensure scientific excellence. The detailed evaluation elements applying to the excellence of the research project and the group of Principal Investigators are set out in the ERC Work Programme 2026. 

Please refer to the ERC Work Programme 2026 under the heading 'Indicative summary of calls from the 2026 budget'.

Please refer to the MGA used for ERC actions under Horizon Europe-HE General MGA.

Open science is a core principle of the ERC. The ERC is committed to the principle of open access to the published output of research, including in particular, peer-reviewed articles and monographs. It also supports the basic principle of open access to research data and data related products. The ERC considers that providing free online access to all these materials can be the most effective way of ensuring that the results of the research it funds can be accessed, read and used as the basis for further advancement.

Under Horizon Europe, beneficiaries of ERC grants must ensure open access to all peer-reviewed scientific publications relating to their results as set out in the Model Grant Agreement used for ERC actions. Beneficiaries must ensure that they or the authors retain sufficient intellectual property rights to comply with their open access requirements.

In addition, beneficiaries of ERC grants funded under this work programme will be covered by the provisions on research data management as set out in the Model Grant Agreement used for ERC actions. For further details please refer to the ERC Work Programme 2026 under the heading ‘Open science’.