28 Spanish institutions host scientists awarded with grants by the European Research Council

The European Research Council (ERC) has selected 478 early-stage researchers from across Europe to receive this year’s ‘Starting Grants’, worth a total of €761 million, under the EU’s Horizon Europe programme. These grants will support excellence in research in various fields, such as physical sciences and engineering, life sciences, social sciences and humanities. Each researcher will receive up to €1.5 million over a maximum period of five years to launch their own projects, build research teams and pursue promising ideas.

In Spain, 28 institutions located in Aragon, Andalusia, the Canary Islands, Catalonia, Castile and Leon, Galicia, Madrid, Navarre and the Basque Country host scientists from countries participating in the programme. See details of beneficiaries.

Ekaterina Zaharieva, Commissioner for Emerging Companies, Research and Innovation, said: “Among the winners of the annual starting grants are researchers from 51 nationalities. They will advance knowledge in a wide range of fields, including cancer research, mental health and quantum science. We have seen outstanding scientists coming to Europe thanks to these new grants, and many choose to stay here because of this support. This demonstrates Europe’s potential to attract and retain the best scientific talent.”.

As part of the EU’s Horizon Europe programme, this round of grants is estimated to create around 3,000 jobs in the teams of the new grant recipients. Each of the selected candidates will carry out their projects at universities and research centres in 25 countries, including Germany (99 grants), the Netherlands (44) and France (41). The beneficiaries come from Europe and beyond, representing 51 different nationalities, including German (87 researchers), Italian (55), French (33) and British and Spanish researchers (32 of each nationality). This highly competitive selection process attracted 3,928 proposals, of which 12% were selected for funding.

More information: Representation of the European Commission in Spain