50 percent fewer European advanced grants to the Netherlands

The Netherlands scored "only" 14 of the 218 grants awarded. Germany (37), the United Kingdom (35), France (32), Israel and Spain (16) were more successful. This was an entirely different story compared to last year's round, when the Netherlands got 28 of the 253 advanced grants awarded, only behind Germany and the United Kingdom. 

Almost 1,650 applications were received in 2022, nearly a quarter of which were from women. In total, 13.2 percent of the applications were successful. 

The Dutch shares the seventh place in the nationality rankings with 14 awards, behind the Germans (36), French (32) Italians (21) British (19), Israelis (16) and Spanish (15).

Winners from Utrecht
Two of the winners are researchers from Utrecht: Guido Bacciagaluppi, from the Freudenthal Institute, and the Cultural Anthropologist Rebecca Bryant. Bacciagaluppi is a philosopher specialised in kwantum mechanics, while Bryant specialises in Etnic conflicts, displacement, and unrecognised states. The study for which she has been awarded a grant delves into infrastructural imperialism, in particular the investments made by Turkey in countries in the Balkans, Caucasus and Central Asia.

Provisional
The awards are provisional: the grants for the United Kingdom have not been confirmed yet because the country is no longer a member of the European Union. There is a treaty in place that allows the UK to take part 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 border controls in Northern Ireland.

However, if no agreements are reached, UK-based researchers have two options: they can either turn down the advanced grant or take their grant with them to a research institute in a country that does participate in the European research programme. Should they choose the first option, other researchers who initially missed out on the grant could be awarded one after all.

ERC grants
Each year, the ERC distributes starting grants to young researchers, experienced researchers and top researchers. The first ones get starting grants of 1.5 million euros, while the second get consolidator grants worth 2 million euros, and the last ones get advanced grants of 2.5 million euros.

These grants are similar to the Veni, Vidi and Vici grants awarded by the Dutch Research Council. Thanks to their experience applying for national grants, Dutch institutions are usually very successful when applying for European grants.