The European Research Council (ERC) has announced the award, within the Horizon Europe program, of 218 advanced grants to outstanding research projects; 16 of these have been allocated to leading projects being developed in Spanish centers.
Spain is the fifth country in terms of the number of researcher projects awarded grants, behind Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Israel. If we look at the nationality of the researchers, Spaniards would rank sixth with 15 Advanced Grant recipients. The grants, totaling 544 million euros, support cutting-edge research in a wide range of fields, such as medicine, physics, social sciences or humanities.
These ERC Advanced Grants are one of the most prestigious and competitive funding schemes in the EU and offer researchers the opportunity to pursue ambitious, curiosity-driven projects that could lead to major scientific breakthroughs. They are awarded to recognized researchers with a proven track record of significant research achievements over the past decade.
The funding will allow these researchers to explore their most innovative and ambitious ideas.
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An example of a Spanish project: Understanding the causes of domestic violence in the EU
Domestic violence is a serious social problem. In the European Union, one in three women over the age of 15 has suffered physical or sexual violence by a partner or ex-partner. The aim of this research project proposed by Núria Rodríguez-Planas is to understand how different factors, such as motherhood, gender norms and increased income for low-wage working women, affect a woman’s risk of domestic violence. The long-term goal is to improve the health and well-being of women and their children in Europe.
In addition, the project will explore how women’s experiences of gender discrimination, as well as attitudes towards male hegemonic norms, may influence their risk of victimization. Finally, it will examine whether increasing income for vulnerable women helps prevent domestic violence in high-income countries.
Their research team will use a new approach to address this question. They will combine large population-based data sources and advanced quantitative methods to analyze information on large groups of people, rather than studying only small groups of women at high risk of victimization.
Núria Rodríguez-Planas is currently working as a professor at the City University of New York (CUNY), Queens College, and will conduct this research from Spain. She specializes in labor economics, educational economics, cultural economics, European labor markets and gender issues.
The award winners will carry out their projects at universities and research centers in 20 European countries, with the largest number of projects in Germany (37), the United Kingdom (35), France (32) and Spain (16). The winners come from 27 different nationalities, with the highest number of Germans (36 researchers), French (32), Italians (21) and British (19).
More information: European Research Council
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