Within the Scientific Council position paper on the CSFRI, a planned new ERC grant scheme called ERC Synergy Grants has been briefly described. The new scheme is planned to be piloted within the 2012 ERC Work Programme (expected to be published in July 2011), with the first call to be published in October 2011 and the deadline in January 2012.With an indicative budget of EUR 150 million for the first call, the scheme will allow a group of between two to four excellent Principal Investigators (PIs), including one designated 'lead PI', to apply for a maximum of EUR 15 million to pursue a large-scale frontier research project for up to six years. For the first call, the ERC expects to fund between 10 and 12 projects.
A Synergy Grant project "crucially depends on the PIs‟ mutual (and typically complementary) knowledge, expertise and excellence, combined in a way that includes novel ways of working together". The added-value of the group will therefore be important. Please note that these details are yet to be confirmed, and more information on the ERC Synergy Grants scheme will be available upon publication of the 2012 ERC Work Programme.
