International researchers bag EU grants for the Netherlands

The European Research Council (ERC) had 780 million euros to distribute in the form of Starting Grants this year. Only 494 out of nearly 3,500 applications (14.2 percent) were granted. With 51 grants, the Netherlands had another incredible year. The country is only behind Germany, which secured 87 grants. Big countries like the UK (50), France (49), Italy (41) and Spain (33) were less successful.

International researchers
33 of the grants going to the Netherlands were awarded to international researchers. The remaining 18 have Dutch citizenship, according to the ERC.

In total, there are 24 Dutch winners, because six of them are affiliated with a foreign knowledge institution. The Dutch came seventh in this year’s "nationalities ranking", behind the Germans (94), Italians (61), French (44), Spanish (36), Israelis (30) and British (27).

Just like last year, most "Dutch" grants were won by researchers currently attached to the universities of Leiden, Utrecht and Delft. However, grants are awarded to individuals, not institutions, which means that winners can still decide to take their budget to another institution, here or abroad.

According to the ERC overview, Utrecht University won ten grants. Four went to the Faculty of Science, two to Humanities, one to Geosciences, one to Veterinary Medicine and two to researchers from the University Medical Centre.

While the current government is wary of the internationalisation of higher education and research, knowledge institutions stress that the Netherlands owes a lot to foreign researchers.

3,000 new jobs
Starting Grants are intended for postdoctoral researchers at the beginning of their academic careers, allowing them to set up a team and spend five years doing research. The ERC expects the grants to create 3,000 new jobs.