The ERC Starting Grant deadline for the 2027 competition is expected in mid-October 2026, following a call opening around July 2026 on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. Research offices supporting Horizon Europe applicants also need the Consolidator, Advanced and Synergy Grant cycles in view, since each scheme runs on its own annual timetable and eligibility window.
The European Research Council (ERC) is the European Union’s funding body for investigator-driven “frontier research,” awarding grants through four schemes — Starting, Consolidator, Advanced and Synergy — distinguished primarily by a principal investigator’s years of experience since their PhD, rather than by subject area or nationality.
- What are the four ERC grant schemes?
- Who is eligible for each ERC grant?
- When are the ERC grant deadlines?
- How does ERC panel evaluation work?
- Frequently asked questions
- What this means for research offices
What are the four ERC grant schemes?
The ERC funds individual researchers or small collaborative teams to pursue high-risk, high-gain research defined entirely by the investigator, not by a funder-set thematic priority. The four schemes sit along a career-stage continuum, with funding ceilings rising accordingly.
| Scheme | Career stage | Maximum funding | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Grant (StG) | Early-career, building an independent team | Up to €1.5 million | Up to 5 years |
| Consolidator Grant (CoG) | Consolidating an independent research programme | Up to €2 million | Up to 5 years |
| Advanced Grant (AdG) | Established leaders with a proven track record | Up to €2.5 million | Up to 5 years |
| Synergy Grant (SyG) | 2–4 principal investigators, joint proposal | Up to €10 million | Up to 6 years |
All four schemes can request additional funding for major equipment, large infrastructure access or field-specific needs. Grants are hosted by an eligible legal entity — typically a university, research institute or company — established in an EU member state or an associated country, which is why the host institution’s grants office is central to every application.
Who is eligible for each ERC grant?
Eligibility for Starting and Consolidator Grants is defined by the number of years elapsed since the PhD was defended. Advanced and Synergy Grants instead assess track record and, for Synergy, the complementarity of the investigator team.
Starting Grant eligibility
Applicants must demonstrate research independence — commonly a significant publication without their doctoral supervisor as co-author. Under the ERC’s April 2026 announcement on the 2027 competitions, the Starting Grant window has widened so a PhD defended no more than 10 years before 1 January 2027 qualifies, replacing the narrower 2–7 year band used previously. Documented career breaks — parental leave, illness, clinical training — extend this window further.
Consolidator Grant eligibility
The Consolidator Grant sits between Starting and Advanced. For the 2027 call, the ERC has set the window at a PhD defended between 5 and 15 years before 1 January 2027, up from the previous 7–12 year band. The ERC’s one-grant rule applies across both early-career schemes: a principal investigator may hold only one Starting Grant and one Consolidator Grant across their career, so grants offices should verify prior ERC awards before nominating a candidate.
Advanced Grant eligibility
There is no PhD-year window for the Advanced Grant. Applicants must instead show a track record of significant research achievements over the preceding decade, making this the natural route for senior academics whose profile no longer fits a fixed post-PhD calculation.
Synergy Grant eligibility
Synergy Grants require two to four principal investigators whose complementary expertise is genuinely necessary to address a question no single PI could tackle alone. There is no career-stage restriction, but each PI’s track record must match their own career stage, and the proposal must show a clear synergistic — not merely additive — effect.
When are the ERC grant deadlines?
Each scheme runs on its own annual cycle, and the call identifier (for example, ERC-2027-StG) refers to the year the budget is allocated, which is not always the calendar year of the submission deadline. Confirmed and currently expected dates for the 2026–2027 cycle are set out below; research offices should treat “expected” dates as planning markers until the ERC publishes the formal Horizon Europe work programme.
| Call | Status | Call opens | Submission deadline |
|---|---|---|---|
| ERC-2026-StG | Closed | 9 July 2025 | 14 October 2025 |
| ERC-2026-AdG | Open cycle, deadline approaching | c. May 2026 | c. 27 August 2026 |
| ERC-2027-StG | Expected | c. July 2026 | Mid-October 2026 |
| ERC-2027-CoG | Expected | c. September 2026 | c. January 2027 |
| ERC-2027-SyG | Expected, dates to be confirmed | To be confirmed | To be confirmed |
Deadlines cannot be extended once a call closes, and late submissions are not accepted under any circumstances — a rule the ERC states explicitly on its own call pages. Institutions should build in an internal deadline several working days ahead of the ERC’s own cut-off to allow for legal-entity validation, budget sign-off and final proposal checks by the host institution.
How does ERC panel evaluation work?
All ERC schemes use a peer-review evaluation process organised around 25 discipline panels grouped into three broad domains: Physical Sciences and Engineering (PE), Life Sciences (LS), and Social Sciences and Humanities (SH). Proposals are assigned to the panel that best matches their primary research field, with additional referees consulted for cross-panel or interdisciplinary work.
Starting, Consolidator and Advanced Grants are evaluated in two steps: Step 1 is a remote assessment of the extended synopsis and CV by panel members; applicants who pass Step 1 proceed to Step 2, an interview before the panel, which in most fields now takes place in person or via video conference. Synergy Grant proposals follow a comparable two-step model but are reviewed by panels convened specifically for multi-PI, often cross-disciplinary projects, reflecting the scheme’s collaborative design.
- Step 1 — remote assessment against excellence criteria only, resulting in a shortlist invited to interview.
- Step 2 — panel interview, typically 20–30 minutes, focused on the applicant’s ability to deliver the proposed research.
- Final ranking lists are published by the ERC, with reserve lists sometimes drawn on if budget allows.
Frequently asked questions
Who is eligible for the ERC Starting Grant?
Eligibility depends on years since PhD defence, not age or nationality. For the 2027 call, applicants qualify if their PhD was defended no more than 10 years before 1 January 2027, and they must show evidence of research independence from their doctoral supervisor.
What is the success rate of an ERC Starting Grant?
The 2025 Starting Grant call attracted 3,928 proposals, a 13% increase on the previous year, according to UKRO’s published results. Just over 12% of proposals were funded, making Starting Grants among the most competitive early-career awards in Europe.
Who is eligible for the ERC Consolidator Grant?
Consolidator Grant applicants must have defended their PhD between 5 and 15 years before 1 January 2027 under the updated 2027 call rules. A principal investigator may hold only one Starting Grant and one Consolidator Grant in total across their career.
Can UK-based researchers apply for ERC grants?
Yes. Following the UK’s association to Horizon Europe, effective 1 January 2024, UK-based researchers and eligible host institutions can apply for and hold ERC grants on the same terms as institutions in EU member states and other associated countries.
What this means for research offices
For institutional grants offices, the planning unit is not “the ERC deadline” but four separate deadlines, each with its own lead time. Starting and Consolidator applicants need early PhD-date verification given the widened 2027 windows, since borderline cases require a documented calculation against the 1 January 2027 reference date. Advanced candidates need track-record evidence gathered well before the August window, and Synergy proposals need co-investigator agreements in place earlier still, given multi-institution budget complexity.
The one-grant rule makes prior-award tracking a compliance task, not a courtesy — institutions nominating a returning applicant should confirm eligibility before committing proposal-development resources. Offices should monitor the ERC’s Horizon Europe work programme publication each spring, since exact dates, panel structures and resubmission rules are confirmed there, not on third-party calendars.
The widened post-PhD windows for the 2027 Starting and Consolidator calls signal an ERC response to career-path diversity, including breaks and non-linear routes into research leadership; eligibility guidance should keep evolving as the Horizon Europe successor programme is negotiated. Institutions that treat research administration as a year-round function, rather than a pre-deadline scramble, consistently see stronger application quality across all four schemes.
