PLEASE NOTE: This group of grant projects is closed for the possibility of submitting new project proposals.
Type of grant projects “Support of ERC Grant Applicants” reflects the ERC initiative “Fellowship to visit ERC Grantee”. At the beginning of 2016, the European Research Council (ERC) stated in its report that certain countries of the European Union (EU) have considerably lower representation of scientists in ERC calls, which among others leads to an unused research potential. In particular, the Czech Republic submitted between 2007 –2014 three times fewer grant proposals and therefore had three times lower success rate than the EU average. On 19 January 2016, ERC announced the initiative “Fellowship to visit ERC Grantee”, inviting responsible national agencies to develop programs of national fellowships to visit current ERC principle investigators and their teams. The scheme should help chosen candidates to improve the quality of their research profile and also widen their perspective of a competitive environment of international research. Finally it should help the future applicants with activities leading to a successful application for ERC grants. Acquisition of ERC grant significantly improves international research reputation of the applicant, the team and the respective research institution.
Main principles:
• Project duration is 3-6 months.
• Project proposals can be submitted from all scientific fields of basic research.
• The topic of a project proposal is chosen by the applicant.
• Only one research organisation can be listed in the project proposal.
• An applicant of the “Support of ERC Grant Applicants” project has to be a Principal Investigator of a running GACR junior project or a Principal Investigator of a completed GACR junior project, which received an evaluation “Excellent” or “Fulfilled”.
• The call “Support of ERC Grant Applicants“ project is launched in consultation with ERC and is open continually in the period of 2016-2022..
• The project is carried out at a foreign institution.
• The project is evaluated at an international level.
• The main evaluation criteria are scientific excellence, innovation, originality, the applicant’s previous research and publication record, the applicant’s professional disposition to submit a grant application to one of the ERC calls (StG, CoG, AdG) in cooperation with respective Czech institution.
Submission and evaluation process of project proposals
Proposals may be submitted by applicants who meet all the conditions set by legal regulations and who meet the conditions set in the Guidelines for Support of international cooperation for acquisition of ERC grants „Support of ERC grant applicants“ announced for every calendar year (hereinafter “Guidelines”). The applicant is responsible for carrying out the project. The applicant of „Support of ERC grant applicants“ project has to be a Principal Investigator of a running GACR junior project or a Principal Investigator of a finalised GACR junior project, which received an evaluation ‘Excellent’ or ‘Fulfilled’. Principal Investigator of „Support of ERC Grant Applicants“ project is obliged to submit an application for ERC grant (StG, CoG, AdG) in cooperation with respective Czech institution in the next ERC call announced after the „Support of ERC Grant Applicants“ project is finalised. The application for ERC grant must be submitted no later than 700 days after the „Support of ERC Grant Applicants“ project is finalised. Maternity or parental leave do not count into the time limit. Project proposals may be submitted from all scientific disciplines in accordance with the GACR Statute.
The project is carried out at a foreign institution where the “Principal Investigator” of ERC grant (“Mentor”) carries out the ERC pro¬ject. A written declaration of the foreign host institution and of the ERC grantee agreeing the acceptance of the “Support of ERC grant applicants“ applicant is a compulsory part of the application.