European Research Council, with its Executive Agency (ERCEA), under Horizon Europe
ERC Starting Grants
An ERC Starting Grant gives a researcher who is building their first independent team up to 1.5 million euros for five years of frontier research, in any field and at any host in Europe. It is judged on excellence alone, and it is meant for researchers starting, or having recently started, their own independent team or programme. The 2027 call brings the biggest change in years: anyone who defended their PhD in the ten years before 1 January 2027 may apply.
- Level
- Postdoc, Researchers
- Study or work in
- Europe (EU member states and Horizon Europe associated countries)
- Who can apply
- Any nationality; PhD defended up to 10 years before 1 January 2027 (2027 call), with documented extensions
- What it covers
- Up to 1.5 million euros over five years, plus up to 1 million euros more for justified extra costs (up to 2 million for researchers moving to Europe from elsewhere)
- Length
- Up to five years
- Application window
- Opens in July, closes in October (ERC-2027-StG: 22 July to 14 October 2026)
Open now (2)
- ERC Starting GrantEuropean Commission · European Union · Closes 14 October 2026
- Post-doc assistant professor (in the research group) - Flood Adaptation under Climate Change with the European Socio Hydrological Model (EuroSoHo) Horizon Europe – ERC Starting Grant 101218797University of Szczecin
How to apply
Write the proposal as principal investigator with a host institution in the EU or an associated country, and submit it on the EU Funding and Tenders Portal before the call deadline, choosing the evaluation panel. Shortlisted applicants are interviewed at step 2.
Who can apply
Principal investigators of any nationality can apply, with a host institution in an EU member state or a country associated with Horizon Europe. For the 2027 call they must have successfully defended their first PhD, or an equivalent doctorate, between 1 January 2017 and 31 December 2026. The window is extended for documented events: 18 months per child for maternity leave, or longer where more leave was taken; the actual time taken for paternity or parental leave; and the documented time lost to long-term illness, national service, disability, clinical training (up to four years), major disasters, seeking asylum or violence.
A Starting Grant researcher should already show potential for independence, for example at least one important publication as main author or a publication without their PhD supervisor. A researcher can hold only one Starting Grant in a career, and anyone who has held one cannot apply again.
What a grant pays and requires
A Starting Grant is worth up to 1.5 million euros for up to five years and reimburses actual costs. Up to 1 million euros more can be requested for further eligible costs, if the proposal justifies it. Principal investigators moving to the EU or an associated country from elsewhere to take up the grant can request up to 2 million euros extra, provided they are based outside Europe at the call deadline. The maximum grant is reduced pro rata for shorter projects, but the additional funding is not.
The principal investigator must spend at least half of their working time on the project and at least half of their total working time in an EU member state or associated country. The grant goes to the host institution, which must support the researcher's independence.
Resubmission rules
Rejected applicants may have to wait. Under the 2027 rules, anyone whose Starting or Consolidator proposal in the 2026 calls scored B or C at step 1 cannot apply to any main ERC call in the 2027 Work Programme, and nor can anyone who scored C at step 1 in a 2025 call. Researchers who are already preparing a grant agreement from a 2025 or 2026 main call cannot apply either, and a researcher may hold only one ERC main grant at a time.
How selection works
- Submission. The principal investigator submits the proposal with the host institution on the EU Funding and Tenders Portal by the deadline (14 October 2026 for ERC-2027-StG), choosing the panel to evaluate it.
- Step 1. The panel assesses Part I of the scientific proposal (the extended synopsis) and the CV and track record. Up to 44 proposals per panel go to step 2; the rest are scored A not invited, B or C.
- Step 2. The panel, helped by external experts, assesses the complete proposal, and the principal investigator presents it at an interview with the panel.
- Ranking. Proposals scored A fully meet the excellence criterion and are funded in rank order as far as the budget allows. B means they meet only some elements and will not be funded.
- Grant agreement. For the 2027 call the ERC plans to inform applicants after step 1 on 11 May 2027 and after step 2 on 24 August 2027, and to sign grant agreements by 22 December 2027.
Questions
Do I need to be European?
No. Any nationality can apply, but the host must be in an EU member state or an associated country.
Does it cover the humanities?
Yes. The ERC funds all fields, with panels in the physical sciences and engineering, the life sciences, and the social sciences and humanities.
Is there an interview?
Yes, at step 2, where the principal investigator presents the proposal to the evaluation panel.
Can I apply to the Consolidator Grant instead?
In 2027 the windows overlap: PhD defences between five and ten years before 1 January 2027 fit both. You can hold only one of each kind of grant in a career.
Is it a fellowship or a grant?
It is a research grant to a principal investigator and their team, paid to the host institution, but it works as a career award: it funds the researcher's own independent programme for five years.
How many grants are there?
The 2027 call has a provisional budget of 594 million euros for about 373 grants.
Related programmes
Sources
Official pages last checked 27 September 2026.