‘Only’ 14 of the 218 grants awarded went to the Netherlands; Germany (37), the United Kingdom (35), France (32), Israel and Spain (16) had greater success. Vastly different from the grant round in 2021. Then, the Netherlands gained 28 of the 253 advanced grants, with only Germany and the United Kingdom getting a larger number.

In 2022, almost 1,650 applications were received, nearly a quarter of which were from female researchers. Overall, 13.2 percent were approved.

The Dutch ended in equal seventh place in the nationality rankings with 10 awards, behind the Germans (36), French (32) Italians (21) British (19), Israelis (16) and Spanish (15).

Provisional

The awards are provisional; the grants for the United Kingdom have not yet been confirmed because the country is no longer a member of the European Union. There is a treaty in place that allows for UK participation in the European research programme, but it still needs to be worked out in more detail. The likelihood of this succeeding has increased since the UK made a deal with the EU at the end of February regarding the border controls in Northern Ireland.

If, however, no agreements are reached, the researchers have two options: they can turn down the advanced grant or take their grant with them to a research institute in a country that is a participant in the European research programme. Should they choose the first option, other researchers who initially missed out could be awarded an advanced grant after all.

ERC grants

Each year, the ERC distributes grants to young researchers (starting grants of 1.5 million euros), experienced researchers (consolidator grants of 2 million euros) and top researchers (advanced grants of 2.5 million euros).

The grants are similar to the Veni, Vidi and Vici funding instruments in the Dutch Research Council’s talent programme. Thanks to their experience in applying for national grants, Dutch institutions are usually very successful in applying for these European grants.