ERC consulting can be a very helpful service during the process of writing your ERC grant proposal. Since ERC is an extremely competitive grant, the process of preparing the proposal requires time, knowledge, and resources. How can you determine if our ERC consulting service can help you meet your goals? The following questions and answers are a great place to start.

Why do I need consulting when applying to ERC?

The ERC's unwritten rules - the hypothesis- and investigator-driven, high-risk, high-gain and non-incremental attributes - contribute to the complexity of ERC proposals. The single criterion of 'Excellence' is not defined and can be perceived as vague and elusive.  Many find that writing an ERC application is counter-intuitive as they are used to writing other grants.

The uniqueness of ERC and the elusiveness of its selection criteria, make it hard to know what the ERC actually expects, to assess whether or not your proposal is in line with the high demands of ERC, and to crystallise and present your project to the ERC accordingly.

Enspire Science's ERC specialised consultants can help you settle these concerns and guide you in the process, based on their wide perspective, stemming from many years of experience with ERC.

Do all ERC applicants use consulting?

Not everybody needs ERC consulting when drafting their applications. Writing an ERC application requires deep understanding of this unique grant. The challenge is to realise if you need such consulting or not.  Taking advantage of the "ERC Standard package" is an efficient way to answer this question.

Which ERC categories do you support?

We support the full range of ERC categories: Starting Grant (StG), Consolidator Grant (CoG), Advanced Grant (AdG), Proof of Concept (PoC) and Synergy (SyG) grants.

What is unique about ERC Advanced Grant (AdG)?

Although many ERC Advanced Grant (AdG) applicants are distinguished and excellent researchers, proposing excellent science, there are a few critical points which are often more challenging when it comes to AdG applications compared to ERC Consolidator Grant (CoG) and Starting Grant (StG) applications. Read here about what is unique about ERC Advanced Grant (AdG).

Which scientific disciplines do you support?

We support the three available ERC scientific disciplines: PE (Physical Sciences and Engineering), LS (Life Sciences) and SH (Social Sciences and Humanities), with a proven track record in all of them.

Do you consult on panel selection?

Yes, we do. This service is included in the "ERC Deep Dive package" as part of the preparation of the proposal. This is highly relevant in multi-disciplinary proposals, when the panel selection is not straight forward.

Will you provide in-depth consulting on the scientific aspects of my grant proposal?

We understand how the scientific community thinks and acts and the ecosystem that researchers are working in. We learn your science in order to provide better, more targeted support. Our personnel is equipped with the right scientific background for that, and we have unique methodology that enables us to rapidly learn your specific scientific area and project, so we can speak the same language – the language of your science. Having that said, our efforts at learning your science are for the purpose of providing quality feedback that is relevant to your specific grant. Still - we do not know your science as well as you, nor can we aspire to. This means we cannot provide feedback on the scientific data itself, and for this we strongly advise to work with peers that can work with you on your scientific data.

What is the blocking period in ERC?

ERC applicants whose application was rejected in the first stage of the evaluation process with a final score of "B" or "C", will be blocked, and will not be able to re-apply in consecutive deadline(s): "B" means blocking for a single upcoming deadline (normally one year), and "C" means blocking for the next two consecutive deadlines (normally two years). The blocking is personal and not project-related.  Applicants that were rejected in the second stage of the evaluation process will not be blocked and could re-apply in the consecutive deadline. For more information please refer to this article.

What is the "ERC Go-No-Go Package"?

Realising that the ERC proposal does not conform to the requirements of the ERC after considerable work has been invested can be very frustrating and discouraging.  In order to prevent this, the "ERC Go-No-Go Package" provides you an initial feedback about the suitability of your basic project idea and profile to the ERC expectations, before you start writing the ERC grant application.

What is the difference between the "ERC Standard package" and the "ERC Deep Dive package"?

In both packages we will review your application and provide our feedback about the conceptual as well as technical aspects. The difference is in the extent of our support. The "ERC Standard package" provides you with a detailed report based on a single round of review of an an advanced version of the proposal draft. The "ERC Deep Dive package" goes way beyond that and provides a full support process from idea to submission.

If you decide to apply to an ERC grant, and think that you can benefit from our ERC consulting services, we invite you to reach out to us for assistance.