The results of the 2025 European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant call (call deadline 15 October 2024) were published. Starting Grants are open to researchers with 2-7 years of experience since completion of PhD (extensions are possible under certain documented circumstances), a scientific track record showing great promise and an excellent research proposal.

Proposals are evaluated in 28 evaluation panels in three research domains (Physical Sciences and Engineering, Social Sciences and Humanities and Life Sciences) composed of top scientists and scholars coming from all over the world and in addition by remote referees with necessary specialised expertise (two to five per proposal).

Of the 3928 submitted proposals 478 researchers with 51 different nationalities received an ERC Starting Grant: 137 In Life Sciences, 197 in Physical Sciences and Engineering and 144 in Social Sciences and Humanities. In the ERCEA news articles more background on the evaluation results, call statistics and several project examples are highlighted.

Among the 478 selected researchers are twenty-two based at Flemish host institutions. The projects of these twenty-two Principal Investigators (PIs) are presented in the news articles of Universiteit Gent, KU Leuven, Universiteit Antwerpen and Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

Maristella ALESSIO, KU Leuven, SPINOCCHIO - A Quantum Chemical Approach to Spins on Surfaces, panel Physical Sciences and Engineering 4

Sebastiaan DE SCHEPPER, Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie, PRIME-PD - Breaking Barriers: Peripheral Immune Mechanisms in Early Parkinson's Disease, panel Life Sciences 5

Tom DENDOOVEN, Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie, CentRed - Centrosome Reduction: The elusive culprit behind unexplained male infertility?, panel Life Sciences 1

Ilaria ELIA, KU Leuven, SpaceMet - Spatial heterogeneity of tumor and CD8+ T cell metabolism in liver metastasis, panel Life Sciences 4

Lisa FRANKE, Universiteit Gent, HAIR - Hair, Identity, Beauty, and the Self in Muslim Contexts: Emotional Landscapes and Changing Femininities Beyond the Veil, panel Social Sciences and Humanities 8

Sander GOVAERTS, Universiteit Gent, ECOLENT - Ecological Entanglements and Biodiversity in Late Medieval Northern Europe, 1400-1600, panel Social Sciences and Humanities 6

Filomeen HAERYNCK, Universiteit Gent, LYNCID - Unravelling nucleolar dysfunction in lymphocytes: from novel mechanism to diagnosis of (severe) combined immune deficiency, panel Life Sciences 7

Alessandro IANIRO, KU Leuven, CHIMERA - Cell-inspired high-performance membranes, panel Physical Sciences and Engineering 11

Yun LIU, KU Leuven, SustainCARE - Climate-Conscious Conservation of Documentary Heritage: An Integrated Multiscale Modelling Approach, panel Social Sciences and Humanities 8

Marleen MARRA, KU Leuven, APCAP - New markets: Structural analysis and Mechanism design, with applications to airport capacity problems2, panel Social Sciences and Humanities 1

Sarah MARCHAL, Universiteit Antwerpen, VOLARE - Navigating volatility in different welfare state contexts, panel Social Sciences and Humanities 3

George MILOSHEVICH, KU Leuven, D-SURGE - Data-driven Simulations for Understanding Reconnection and Geomagnetism, panel Physical Sciences and Engineering 9

Yi OUYANG, Universiteit Gent, e-CAPTURE - Electrified CO₂ Capture using HiGee Vortex Reactors, panel Physical Sciences and Engineering 8

Possum PINCÉ, Universiteit Gent, FROST - Frozen in time – Unravelling Younger Dryas climate variability, environmental dynamics and their impact on human recolonization in Western Europe, panel Social Sciences and Humanities 6

Jan REMSIK, Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie, CSFcheck - Deconstructing the immunomodulatory checkpoints in metastasis to the cerebrospinal fluid, panel Life Sciences 4

Julie SEVENANS, Universiteit Antwerpen, TEMPER - How The Emotions of Politicians Explain their Representative Behavior, panel Social Sciences and Humanities 2

Juliana STACHURSKA, Universiteit Gent, NuMass - Large-Volume Electron Spectroscopy for Neutrino Mass Measurement, panel Physical Sciences and Engineering 2

Willem STAELS, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, IRON-BETA - Unraveling the iron metabolism of pancreatic β-cells, panel Life Sciences 4

Eva SWYNGEDOUW, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, EXPULSE - Urban Expulsion Regimes: Understanding the Lived Experiences of Housing Insecurity in European Cities, panel Social Sciences and Humanities 7

Marie VAN DE SANDE, Universiteit Gent, ASHES - Astrochemistry and chemistry emulation to simulate dust formation and growth around evolved stars2, panel Physical Sciences and Engineering 9

Miriam De Jesus VELASQUEZ HERNANDEZ, KU Leuven, IMMPACT - Integration of Multi-component MOF-based Photocatalyst in Liposome Nanoreactors, panel Physical Sciences and Engineering 5

Anna WIENHUES, KU Leuven, BIOTA - A Biocentric Ethic of Sustainable Agriculture, panel Social Sciences and Humanities 5