The European Research Council (ERC) announced on 6 December 2016 its plans to re-introduce its Synergy grant in 2018, enabling scientists from different fields to pair up to address particular challenges.
The objective of the Synergy Grant is to enable a small group of principal investigators and their teams to bring together complementary skills, knowledge and resources in new ways, in order to jointly address research problems. The funding scheme intends to promote substantial advances at the frontiers of knowledge, and to encourage new productive lines of enquiry and new methods and techniques, including unconventional approaches and investigations at the crossroads of established disciplines.
This decision comes after a thorough assessment of the ongoing projects funded through the pilot calls in 2012 and 2013. Synergy Grants can bring together top researchers with complementary skills and knowledge and enable them to jointly address a commonly chosen challenging research problem in unconventional ways, potentially leading to major breakthroughs that scientists would not be able to achieve working alone.
More information on the grant, including its budget, dates and eligibility criteria, will be published in the 2018 ERC work programme.
The Synergy scheme adds to the ERC’s three existing types of grant. Early-career researchers can apply for a starting grant; mid-career scientists for the ERC’s consolidator grants; and experienced researchers with proven track records compete for advanced grants.
Find out more about the initiative here.
