{"id":2288,"date":"2026-04-22T12:27:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T12:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/?p=2288"},"modified":"2026-04-22T12:27:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T12:27:21","slug":"erc-eligibility-update-ahead-of-grants-opening-from-july-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/?p=2288","title":{"rendered":"ERC eligibility update ahead of grants opening from July 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"562\" height=\"145\" src=\"https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ERC-logo.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2289\" srcset=\"https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ERC-logo.png 562w, https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ERC-logo-300x77.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 562px) 100vw, 562px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The ERC plans to launch the grant competitions under its 2027 Work Programme between July 2026 and June 2027, with the calls for proposals introducing several changes to eligibility rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to eligibility changes, the opening of the <a href=\"https:\/\/erc.europa.eu\/apply-grant\/synergy-grant\">Synergy Grants<\/a> 2027 call has been rescheduled to February 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>New eligibility windows for Starting and Consolidator Grants<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To be eligible for an ERC <a href=\"https:\/\/erc.europa.eu\/apply-grant\/starting-grant\">Starting Grant<\/a>,&nbsp;the applicant must have defended their PhD no more than 10 years before 1 January 2027.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For a <a href=\"https:\/\/erc.europa.eu\/apply-grant\/consolidator-grant\">Consolidator Grant<\/a>, the thesis defence must have been between 5 and 15 years before 1 January 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>New application restrictions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Applicants may have only one proposal under evaluation at any given time (except for the <a href=\"https:\/\/erc.europa.eu\/apply-grant\/proof-concept\">Proof of Concept Grant<\/a> calls).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Applicants will be allowed to submit only one proposal under the ERC Work Programme 2027. They may submit another proposal if the first submission has been declared ineligible.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Applicants may not hold a Starting or Consolidator Grant more than once, so anyone who has held either a <a href=\"https:\/\/erc.europa.eu\/apply-grant\/starting-grant\">Starting<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/erc.europa.eu\/apply-grant\/consolidator-grant\">Consolidator Grant<\/a> in the past may not apply to the same grant scheme a second time.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Applicants who have submitted eligible proposals for the <a href=\"https:\/\/erc.europa.eu\/apply-grant\/advanced-grant\">Advanced<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/erc.europa.eu\/apply-grant\/erc-plus-grant\">Plus Grant<\/a> 2026 may not apply to <a href=\"https:\/\/erc.europa.eu\/apply-grant\/synergy-grant\">Synergy Grant<\/a> 2027.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Researchers will be awarded at most one <a href=\"https:\/\/erc.europa.eu\/apply-grant\/starting-grant\">Starting Grant<\/a> and one <a href=\"https:\/\/erc.europa.eu\/apply-grant\/consolidator-grant\">Consolidator Grant<\/a> during their career.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>For <a href=\"https:\/\/erc.europa.eu\/apply-grant\/synergy-grant\">Synergy Grants<\/a>, all principal investigators (PIs) must remain eligible throughout the evaluation process; otherwise, the proposal will be declared ineligible (previously, the group could continue in the evaluation without that PI and their contribution).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>New resubmission restrictions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Applicants who have received a C score at Step 1 in the 2024, 2025, or 2026 Synergy Grant calls or a B score at Step 1 in the 2025 or 2026 Synergy Grant calls cannot apply to Synergy Grant 2027.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Applicants who have not passed Step 1 of the 2026 ERC Plus Grant competition cannot apply to ERC Plus Grant 2027.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Applicants who have received a C score at Step 1 in the other three main grant calls of 2024, 2025, or 2026, or a B score at Step 1 of those calls in 2025 or 2026 cannot apply to any 2027 ERC main grant calls, including Synergy and ERC Plus.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Advanced Grant 2026 applicants cannot apply to Synergy Grant 2027 irrespective of their result.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Please note that this information is subject to the formal adoption of the 2027 Work Programme.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>These planned changes follow several adjustments introduced in the previous work programme (e.g. the structure and expected content of grant proposals and the working methods of the evaluation panels), the background and rationale for which is explained in the below letter.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div data-wp-interactive=\"core\/file\" class=\"wp-block-file\"><object data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!state.hasPdfPreview\" hidden class=\"wp-block-file__embed\" data=\"https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Changes_to_ERC_evaluation_procedures_background_rationale.pdf\" type=\"application\/pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" aria-label=\"Embed of Changes_to_ERC_evaluation_procedures_background_rationale.\"><\/object><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-ea973aa9-19a5-4c33-bf05-ae382fff9c87\" href=\"https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Changes_to_ERC_evaluation_procedures_background_rationale.pdf\">Changes_to_ERC_evaluation_procedures_background_rationale<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Changes_to_ERC_evaluation_procedures_background_rationale.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-ea973aa9-19a5-4c33-bf05-ae382fff9c87\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The ERC plans to launch the grant competitions under its 2027 Work Programme between July 2026 and June 2027, with the calls for proposals introducing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opportunities"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2288"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2288\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2293,"href":"https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2288\/revisions\/2293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}