The EU’s European Research Council has awarded €500 million in Synergy Grants to fund 48 ambitious research projects led by researchers in the EU and associated countries.
The grants will enable 172 leading researchers to work in separate teams and combine their expertise to tackle scientific challenges that could not be addressed by each of them individually.
The newly funded teams will explore a wide range of frontier research topics, including how to make infrastructure more sustainable and durable; whether quantum computers can be made powerful enough to solve highly complex problems; how migration influences the languages children learn in early childhood; and whether light-based therapies can help restore sight.
ERC Synergy Grants support small groups of two to four researchers with complementary expertise, giving them the freedom to pursue bold ideas and design the best way to investigate them. The grants are funded through the EU’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme.
“In today’s world, Europe cannot afford to look inwards when it comes to science”, said European Research Commissioner Eklaterina Zaharieva: “The Synergy Grants connect Europe’s scientists with leading talent, new ideas and cutting-edge facilities across the globe, allowing them to pursue discoveries that would otherwise be beyond their reach. This shows how Europe’s openness to the world strengthens our research capacity, helping us to remain a global leader in science.”
This year’s call attracted 957 proposals, with around one in twenty chosen. The selected projects will be hosted by universities and research centres in 26 countries across Europe and beyond. The largest numbers of projects will involve institutions in the United Kingdom (23), Germany (22), France (14) and the United States (12).
The global reach of the Synergy Grants is further reflected in the fact that around 35% of the funded projects involve researchers based outside the EU and Horizon Europe associated countries, most of them in the United States.
