The Netherlands wins 44 European starting grants

The starting grants are intended for researchers who are at the start of their academic careers and who completed their PhD two to seven years ago. Almost 2,700 proposals were submitted in this round, with a success rate of 14.8 percent. According to the ERC, around 2,600 jobs for postdocs, PhD candidates and other personnel will be created using the 400 grants.

Third place
The countries with the highest number of grants awarded in this round are Germany (87) and France (50). The Netherlands managed to secure 44 starting grants, comfortably beating bigger countries such as Italy and the United Kingdom (32).

Twenty-seven of them will be going to researchers with Dutch nationality who may be working at institutions abroad as well. Considering Dutch institutions only, Leiden University was the champion when it comes to the number of grants awarded.

Subject to change
The ERC warns that the list of grants awarded may still be changed because the United Kingdom is officially “non-associated” with Horizon Europe, the EU programme for research and innovation that finances these grants. If this remains the case, successful applicants from British institutions will only receive their grants on the condition that they use them to carry out research at an institution located in a country that can take part in Horizon Europe. Examples include Turkey, Israel and Switzerland.