ERC Consolidator Grant call 2026 – trainer: Mette Skraastad – 11 September 2025 (session 1 and 2)

The ERC selection criteria applied by the panels use terms which have become familiar jargon, such as important challenge, novel concept, scientificapproach, and feasibility. Most of these terms are also used by other funding agencies but they are interpreted and applied differently. We will explain in detail not only what these terms mean and imply in the context of ERC, but also how the various ERC panel members use these terms to discuss, assess and select project proposals. We will also discuss finding the balance between ambitious objectives / innovative concepts and feasibility of the scientific approach and the panel specifics concerning the quality of the CVs and track-record of ERC grantees.

Our two-part webinar provides a roadmap to submission tackling various hurdles PIs may encounter in writing their ERC grant proposals: the first webinar will focus on creating the right mindset for submitting a proposal, covering the ERC objectives and evaluation criteria, what the panels expect, how to strategically approach the design of the project, and how to generate the convincing scientific argumentation that will allow the reviewers to understand the feasibility of your ambitious project; the second webinar will guide the participants systematically through the different parts of the proposal template, addressing the key elements for writing the grant proposal. We will also discuss profiles of competitive Principal Investigators and thenew ERC strategy to weigh the proposed research more than the PI track record as well as the announced changes for the ERC 2026 call.