ERC "Consolidator" Grants: the CNRS tops the EU institutions ranking
Institutional matters
The European Research Council (ERC) has announced the results of its call for proposals for the "ERC Consolidator Grant 2016," which rewards researchers noted for their excellence and who have 7 to 12 years of experience after their thesis. All disciplines combined, 314 projects were selected in total, of which 43 from France. With 25 recipients, the CNRS tops the ranking once again this year, followed by Oxford University, with 9 recipients.
2016 is the European Research Council's (ERC) third call for "Consolidator Grant" proposals, as part of the Horizon 2020 program. This year's edition finances exploratory research conducted by researchers who earned their PhD 7 to 12 years before January 1, 2016. The recipients will receive a grant of up to 2 million euros for a maximum period of 5 years. Scientific excellence at the European level is one of the primary selection criteria.
With 43 projects selected so far, France is in third place after the United Kingdom (58 financed projects) and Germany (48 financed projects). More than half (25) of French winning projects are hosted by the CNRS (17 in physics and engineering, 6 in the life sciences, and 2 in the humanities and social sciences). Moreover, ten projects will be developed in CNRS joint laboratories. With its 25 recipients, the organization is in first place, ahead of Oxford University (9 recipients), the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and Utrecht University (7 recipients), and the Max Planck Society, University of Copenhagen, and the Weizmann Institute of Science in Tel Aviv (6 recipients).
