In order to consolidate its ambitions to become an internationally recognised player in engineering with the capacity to attract the best students and researchers, Centrale Lille intends to set up a new system to support and accompany the submission of projects to the European Research Council (ERC). This scheme will be proposed to the Scientific Board on Thursday 17 June.
The ERC is a component of the European framework programme for funding research and innovation, Horizon Europe. The ERC awards grants for a period of 5 years to projects led by junior or established researchers through an open competition. The only selection criterion is scientific excellence.
The ERC offers:
- The Starting Grant, which can be worth up to €1.5 million, and is aimed at young researchers with 2 to 7 years’ experience after completing their doctorate.
- The Consolidator Grant, which can be worth up to €2 million, and is aimed at young researchers with 7 to 12 years’ experience after completing their doctorate.
The ERC BOOSTER scheme will be based on the triple focus “encourage – identify – accompany” and will allow selected candidates to be accompanied in their application for the Starting Grant and Consolidator Grant.
In addition to the support provided by the institutions of the region and the other supervisory bodies of their laboratory, candidates selected for the BOOSTER ERC scheme will benefit from:
- methodological support for the preparation of the ERC grant application by a consultancy firm specialising in the ERC.
- preparation for the oral presentation for all projects that will be admitted into the second stage. The oral will be conducted by members of the Research Steering Committee and ERC experts.
- specific support such as a compensation of teaching hours and the funding of a post-doctorate.
The first call for applications should be published next week.