Proposals by two Bernese researchers receive positive evaluation for EU funding

Matthias Erb Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern © Severin Nowacki - Proposals by plant scientist Matthias Erb and astrophysicist Brice-Olivier Demory for the coveted "Consolidator Grants" with the European Research Council ERC have received positive evaluation. As they will carry out their research projects at the University of Bern, they will not be funded by the EU but by the State Secretariat for Education, Research, and Innovation, SERI. An ERC Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) provides funding to outstanding researchers to establish or maintain a research team at a public or private research institution within the EU or an associated country. The grants, which are part of the EU research framework program "Horizon Europe", are each endowed with approximately 2 million euros and awarded for a period of five years. Currently in the program, the European Commission (EC) treats Switzerland as a non-associated country. In principle, it is not possible for researchers from non-associated, non-EU countries to participate in European Commission projects. However, there was an exception made for the ERC Starting and Consolidator Grants in 2021.