Scientists from sixty-six research teams are to receive €684 million in European Research Council Synergy Grants, which supports small groups of researchers working together on ambitious, high-risk, high-gain projects.
A total of 712 proposals were submitted, with about one in ten selected. Each successful project will receive around €10.3 million.
The funded projects cover a broad range of disciplines. They include research on using microbes to correct genetic diseases; investigations into the first microseconds after the birth of the Universe; new approaches to modelling crowd behaviour by combining physical and social sciences; and studies of how mountain societies and ecosystems adapt to environmental and social change.
Research Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva said: “Twenty-eight of the 66 newly selected teams include a researcher based outside Europe, mainly in the United States, but also Canada, Australia, Brazil, Ghana, South Africa and Singapore. Europe’s frontier research has never been so international. This global collaboration strengthens European science, gives our researchers access to world-class expertise and infrastructure, and brings leading scientists from around the world closer to Europe.”
The selected projects will be carried out at universities and research centres in 26 countries across Europe and beyond. Twenty-eight projects will involve grantees based in Germany, 24 in the United Kingdom, and 21 in both France and the United States.
