In this document ERC President Maria Leptin explains the changes, the reasoning behind them, and how they are designed to strengthen the ERC evaluation process. The changes are in the following three areas:

• the format of the scientific proposal, including the assessment of feasibility of the proposed work;
• measures to make the workload of the evaluation panels more manageable;
• a change in the eligibility windows for Starting and Consolidator Grants.

The changes are in force as of the ERC 2026 work programme, and in case of the third point as of the ERC 2027 work programme.