This occasion provided Vice-Presidents with an opportunity to learn first-hand Prof. Ferrari’s vision for the ERC, and the approach he will take to realise his ambitions. In the meeting, Vice Presidents reiterated The Guild’s strong support for the ERC as the world’s most successful funder of frontier-led research, and as a global beacon of excellence.
At the meeting, participants discussed the proposed budget for the ERC under Horizon Europe (currently of €16.6 billion) and the need to defend this proposal, and increase funding further. They also discussed the balance between research and innovation in the programme, and the importance of ensuring that frontier science is not jeopardised. Other topics raised included the independence of the ERC, the opportunities of interdisciplinarity and how to increase funding success for excellent proposals from EU-13 countries.
Between 2016 and 2019, The Guild’s member universities were awarded around 300 ERC grants across the domains of Physical Sciences and Engineering, Social Sciences and Humanities, and Life Sciences.
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