European Research Council (ERC)

Are you a researcher based in Africa interested in exploring funding opportunities for frontier research? EURAXESS Africa and the ERC organise two webinars on ERC grants: - 3 June 2026 at 10:00 a.m. CEST in French - 5 June 2026 at 10:00 a.m. CEST in English The webinars will provide key information about the different ERC funding schemes, application procedures, evaluation criteria, as well as practical tips for preparing a strong and competitive proposal. Register here: FR session - https://bit.ly/4nEcVqR EN session - https://bit.ly/4fCNyUa #FrontierResearch #AfricaEU #EURAXESS #HorizonEurope

Word Ladders is a free mobile app developed by EU-funded proj @Abstraction_ERC. Download Word Ladders and play now: Android 👉 shorturl.at/kqAOS Apple 👉 shorturl.at/buIS2 Join more than 4000 players & help us study the role of language in Abstraction mechanisms! European Research Council (ERC) #Abstraction_ERC ERC-2021-STG-101039777

🌍 On the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, we celebrate the richness of languages, cultures, and knowledge across the world. Have a look at Justyna Olko, Ambassador for the ERC from Poland 🇵🇱, and learn about her research where she explores multilingualism, linguistic diversity, and the revitalisation of Indigenous and minority languages. As Professor at the Uniwersytet Warszawski and Director of the Centre for Research and Practice in Cultural Continuity, her work connects research with communities, helping preserve cultural heritage while fostering inclusion and social change. Through ERC-funded projects such as Multilingual worlds – neglected histories, she shows how frontier research in the humanities can help address some of today’s most pressing societal challenges. Want to hear Justyna at the Copernicus Festival? Don’t miss her ERC Talks on 24 May! 🔗 Discover more about her research and projects: https://bit.ly/4tvJ0Cv #Amb4ERC #CulturalDiversity #EUresearch #FrontierResearch Association of ERC Grantees

Academic freedom is not optional — it is the foundation of democracy, innovation, and independent thought. Europe stands firm in defending researchers, universities, and open science against censorship, intimidation, and political interference. https://lnkd.in/eAXZthv7

What happens when science is free to ask any question? Today, International Academic Freedom Day, we're sharing three examples of what that freedom looks like in practice. An ERC grant means no predetermined outcomes and no required practical applications. Researchers choose their own questions, projects are assessed on scientific excellence alone, and the science is free to go in unexpected directions. ERC grantees have used that freedom to question how AI is reshaping warfare, to recover climate records from the stomach oil of seabirds, and to untangle what happens when policies accumulate. None of these questions began with an obvious application. All of them produced knowledge that matters. Explore the research: 👉 How AI is reshaping the rules of war: https://bit.ly/4mN9wpr 👉 Climate stories from frozen archives: https://bit.ly/42PVr0W 👉 When policies pile up: https://bit.ly/4loWm1b #AcademicFreedom #FrontierResearch #ProtectWhatMatters Syddansk Universitet - University of Southern Denmark, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Durham University, EU Science, Research and Innovation, European Commission, Academics For Academic Freedom

Did you know your favourite song might be doing more than lifting your mood? 🎵 The work of ERC grantee Elaine Chew at King's College London uses mathematics and AI to reveal how music influences heart rate and stress levels, opening doors to new ways of diagnosing and treating heart disease. Using a 3D mathematical model of musical harmony (inspired by 18th-century theory), Chew maps how sound shapes our heartbeats. Her research suggests that people with hypertension show weaker cardiovascular responses to music. With adaptive AI, her team is now exploring personalised “music medicine” to complement traditional care. This is a reminder that some of the most exciting breakthroughs happen where disciplines meet: music, maths, and medicine. Read here the full story 🔗 https://bit.ly/4tNCjf3 #FrontierResearch

🎉The wait is over! The #CopernicusFestival begins today in 🇪🇺🇵🇱 Kraków! Don’t miss Prof. Michał Tomza and many other speakers at the “ERC Stage” sessions taking place 🗓️ 19–20 May! The two-day programme is designed for researchers interested in applying for ERC grants, as well as for festival participants curious to learn more about frontier research: how groundbreaking ideas emerge, how to build a project around a strong scientific question, and how CVs and scientific track records are assessed during the evaluation process. Check out the programme 🔗 https://lnkd.in/di8ANDpK With the kind support of Narodowe Centrum Badań i Rozwoju and Copernicus Center for Interdisciplinary Studies

🌿 Plants may look passive – but they have remarkable ways of defending themselves. From chemical signals to sophisticated defence strategies, plants constantly respond to threats in their environment. Understanding these mechanisms can help scientists develop more resilient crops and deepen our knowledge of ecosystems. For decades, plant antiviral defence was thought to rely on a single RNA interference (RNAi) system. But ERC-funded research led by Peter Brodersen at Københavns Universitet - University of Copenhagen points to something far more nuanced: two distinct layers of defence. 🧬 One is a silent, near-perfect system that eliminates viruses without disrupting growth. 🛡️ The other is a costly emergency response: a cellular “war economy” that halts development and redirects resources to survival when the first layer of defence fails. Together, these layers suggest a deeper principle: organisms may repurpose precise antiviral mechanisms to trigger broader immune activation – a fundamental solution to a universal biological problem. On Fascination of Plants Day, discover how ERC-funded research is revealing the hidden strategies plants use to survive and adapt. Read the science story 👉 https://bit.ly/3OhV6QS #FrontierResearch

Meet Prof. Kath Browne, whose work explores lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans exclusions and, more recently, groups and organisations that resist sexual and gender equality. Her research examines new ways of understanding difference and the social effects of changing attitudes towards sex and gender in the 21st century. Watch the video to hear more about the project’s findings. 🎥 Watch the video #IDAHOT

On the International Day of Light, we celebrate how frontier research helps turn light into solutions for society ☀️ Inspired by the way green leaves capture sunlight during photosynthesis, ERC grantee Michael Graetzel, at the EPFL, pioneered new generations of solar technologies that are more efficient, reliable and adaptable – from solar-powered electronics to next-generation photovoltaic cells. Some of these technologies are already powering so-called “eternal electronics”, such as e-readers, headphones, smartphones and other devices that harvest ambient light, reducing the need for battery replacement and charging. From everyday electronics to future large-scale solar deployment, this work shows how light-based technologies are helping push the boundaries of the green transition. Read more about this here 👉 https://bit.ly/3OYMnDZ #lightday2026 #GreenTransition #FrontierResearch