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Document on the Changes to the ERC evaluation procedures: Background and rationale (Sept 2025)

Published on | 3 months ago

Programmes ERC

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.

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INSPIRE - Centre of Excellence on inclusive gender equality in R&I

Funded by Horizon Europe, under call topic HORIZON-WIDERA-2021-ERA-01-80, INSPIRE is Europe's Centre of Excellence on inclusive gender equality in research and innovation. It relies on four Knowledge and Support Hubs to create knowledge in the areas of sustaining change, widening participation, intersectionality and innovation. Moreover, it supports stakeholders in their journey to become more inclusive through 12 Communities of Practice. In this way, INSPIRE aims to develop both cutting-edge knowledge and innovative strategies for gender equality in the European Research Area. INSPIRE brings together 14 partners. The Belgian partner in this project is UHasselt.