New ERC head urged to ‘fight’ for funding as success rate falls

The next president of the European Research Council (ERC) has been urged to “fight” for more funding for early career researchers, given competition for its grant schemes has become “practically a lottery”.

The ERC’s 2027 starting grants for early career scientists have a projected success rate of 4.8 per cent following a 60 per cent surge in applications. A record 7,710 researchers competed for 373 awards.

The current ERC president, Maria Leptin, will step down from the role in September next year as she reaches the end of her two-term limit and the commission has launched a search for her successor. Research organisations are in the process of nominating candidates. 

Leptin’s successor will take the helm just months before the start of the next iteration of Horizon Europe, known as FP10. 

Francesco Maurelli, co-chair of the Global Young Academy, said the low odds of winning funding raised serious questions about the efficiency of the system.

“A 4.8 per cent success rate is practically a lottery. It’s not exactly the smartest way of defining Europe’s future. [It does not] encourage early to mid-career researchers to pursue a career in research and science,” he said.

“It means that nearly 95 per cent of applicants have invested months of work – taken out of their research – into something that will bring no results, not just to them but to European growth overall.”

Maurelli said the pressure to win grants that were “strongly influenced by luck” had taken a toll on the mental health of researchers. “With the rise in the number of applications the current system no longer works. More guided pathways could be [introduced] to reduce wasted time, which results in wasted opportunities for Europe,” he added.

Introducing an actual lottery, as has been done for other grant schemes, “would be quite similar in terms of fairness, but would save considerable resources”, he added, although he admitted this was a “provocative” suggestion.

Maurelli said the challenge extended beyond the ERC and called for more support from national governments for research funding. “It is important to gain support from member states to secure research funding – something many are unfortunately tempted to cut, undermining the future of Europe.”

Annapoorna Kuppuswamy, chair of the Young Academy of Europe, described the projected success rate as “alarming” and called for the next president to give younger researchers more of a say in the ERC’s future.

“Those most exposed to the ERC’s current pressures are people applying for their first independent grant, and they are largely absent from the rooms where decisions about the ERC are made,” she said. The next president would need both “scientific standing and the political skill to use it”, she added.

“We hope for someone who treats the starting grant as Europe’s talent pipeline and fights for it as such. They should defend the ERC’s independence through the coming budget negotiations and bring early career researchers into the conversation about how the ERC adapts.”

The appointment comes as the EU negotiates its next seven-year research budget. The commission has proposed €175 billion (£146 billion) for Horizon Europe between 2028 and 2034, but a proposal put forward by the Irish presidency of the Council of the European Union would reduce this to about €158 billion, a cut of nearly 10 per cent. Groups representing universities and research groups are calling for €200 billion. 

Kuppuswamy praised Leptin for advocating for an increase in research funding and said this should be a priority for her successor.

Karl Kilbo Edlund, vice-president of the European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers, said the selection committee should look for an accomplished researcher with significant leadership experience who could advocate for the ERC’s independence and budget.

“The rising number of applications and resulting decline in success rates reflect a wider European underinvestment in research at both European and member state level, rather than a problem that the ERC can resolve alone,” he said.

“The situation is, however, very concerning for both researchers and for the whole of Europe. It must be resolved in a way that continues to encourage high-risk high-reward science, fundamental research, and reduces research career precarity.”

seher.asaf@timeshighereducation.com