The ERC work programme 2021 was published yesterday and the announcement of the calls for proposals on the funding and tender portal is expected soon. In the work programme the following calls for proposals are taken up:

• The Starting grants call which opened on 25 February 2021 and closes on 8 April 2021
• The Consolidator grant call which will open on 11 March 2021 and closes on 20 April 2021
• The Advanced grant call which will open on 20 May 2021 with deadline on 31 August 2021

The call calendar differs from the calendar that was in place in the last years under Horizon 2020, and it is expected to return to the regular call opening and closing dates by mid-2022. Furthermore the Synergy grants call is not taken up, which will return in the 2022 work programme and the next call might still be launched in the summer of 2021. The Proof of Concept call is taken up neither, due to being revised currently, but will be included in the 2022 work programme and that call will most likely open in the second half of 2021. Other novelties compared to Horizon 2020 are the addition of two new evaluation panels: SH7 - Human Mobility Environment and Space, and PE11 – Materials Engineering. For the Advanced grant call an interview for proposals retained for step 2 is now also included in the evaluation procedure, as was already the case for the Starting and Consolidator grants calls. All proposals that pass the evaluation successfully and conclude the grant agreement, need to submit a research data management plan within the first six months after the start of the project. For applicants applying with host institutions in non-EU countries, in order to be eligible, an association agreement with the EU for Horizon Europe should be in place at the time of the signature of the grant agreements for the call to which they applied. Currently no countries are associated to Horizon Europe yet. More information on association to the European framework programme for research and innovation can be found here.

European Commission press release

ERC press release