ERC: Six Advanced Grants for Helmholtz

“In the tenth anniversary year of the European Research Council its funding continues to be as attractive as it has always been. I am pleased that six of our scientists were successful in this European competition and my heartfelt congratulations go out to all of them,” comments Otmar D. Wiestler, the President of the Helmholtz Association. “What makes us even prouder is that Helmholtz has now landed its 100th ERC grant.”

The ERC bestows Advanced Grants upon outstanding scientists who are already established in their fields. Six Helmholtz Association researchers achieved this acclaim in the current call.

Two grants were awarded to each the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) and the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT); one grant was awarded to each the Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) and Helmholtz Association affiliate Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP). The monetary value of each grant totals up to EUR 3.5 million for terms of up to five years.

In the 2016 call round, Helmholtz scientists also received eight Starting Grants (number updated after one grant was awarded retroactively – two each grants for HMGU and MDC as well as one each grant for DESY, HZI, KIT and UFZ) as well as six Consolidator Grants (one each grant for DESY, DKFZ, DZNE, FZ Jülich, HZI and KIT).

“This record number of 20 grants, which is distributed equally to all funding lines, is evidence of the immense amount of talent within the Helmholtz Association and also of how much potential we possess on all career levels,” observes Wiestler.

The ERC Starting Grants target junior scientists who acquired their doctorates two to seven years ago. They receive up to EUR 2 million in funding. Consolidator Grants are provided to scientists who already have seven to twelve years of research experience after obtaining their doctorates. Based on this experience, they are expected to further solidify their concepts and ideas.

In these funding line, researchers receive up to EUR 2.75 million for their projects. In the current EU framework program for research and innovation – Horizon 2020 – the ERC budget has been doubled compared to the preceding 7th EU framework program – to a total of EUR 13 billion (for the 2014-2020 term).

Center name abbreviations (in the order they appear in the copy):
HMGU: Helmholtz Zentrum München – German Research Centre for Health and Environment
DESY: Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron – DESY
HZI: HelmholtzCentre for Infection Research
UFZ: HelmholtzCentre for Environmental Research – UFZ
DZNE: German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases
FZ Jülich: Forschungszentrum Jülich

The Helmholtz Association contributes to solving major challenges facing society, science and the economy with top scientific achievements in six research fields: Energy, Earth and Environment, Health, Key Technologies, Matter, Aeronautics, Space and Transport. With approximately 38.000 employees in 18 research centres and an annual budget of four billion euros, the Helmholtz Association is Germany’s largest scientific organisation. Its work follows in the tradition of the great natural scientist Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894).

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