Numerous outstanding academics at the University of Münster have been awarded grants by the European Research Council (ERC) in recognition of their cutting-edge research.
I have been extremely fortunate to have been supported by the European Research Council through ERC Starting (2013), Consolidator (2019) and Proof of Concept (2024) grants. This has provided my research group with a unique platform to develop innovative solutions to address societally important challenges.
With an ERC Advanced Grant, leading researchers, who are well-established in their field, are given the opportunity to carry out an ambitious and ground-breaking project.
With a Consolidator Grant, the ERC enables promising early career researchers (seven to twelve years into their post-doc phase) to consolidate their academic independence.
With funding from an ERC Starting Grant, excellent early career researchers (two to seven years into their post-doc phase) are given the opportunity to pursue an outstanding project idea as part of an independent junior research group.
The Proof of Concept Grant allows researchers who have already received an ERC grant to explore the commercial or societal potential of their pioneering research project.
With a Synergy Grant, the ERC distinguishes especially ambitious research projects which involve the overlap of various disciplines and thus require a research team of two to four promising researchers to carry them out collaboratively.