ERC Consolidator Grants 2026
Pays researchers consolidating their own independent lab up to EUR 2 million over five years for frontier research.
This is a single-stage Horizon Europe ERC call with an indicative 2026 budget of EUR 673 million, expected to fund around 341 grants, chosen on a single criterion: scientific excellence. Evaluation runs in two steps, each ending in a letter grade; only proposals graded A-invited at Step 1 go on to a Step 2 interview, and only a Step 2 grade of A is recommended for funding, subject to the budget av…
This call is for Principal Investigators who successfully defended their first PhD between 7 and 12 years before 1 January 2026, and who are consolidating their own independent research team after showing evidence of research independence. It's open to any field of science and any nationality, with the host institution — any public or private legal entity — based in an EU Member State or Associated Country.
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Guides for this application
All guides →Horizon Europe Grants for Startups: A Founder Guide
A practical guide to Horizon Europe grants for startups, including EIC, consortia, eligibility, Funding & Tenders, TRL, budgets, and EU strategy.
Write proposalHow to Write a Grant Proposal Reviewers Can Score
Learn how to write a grant proposal around reviewer criteria, evidence, work packages, budget logic, and commercialization for deeptech and R&D funding.
DocumentsGrant Work Plan Template: Work Packages, Gantt, Milestones, and Risks
Use this grant work plan template to structure work packages, tasks, owners, deliverables, Gantt timing, dependencies, and risk registers.
DocumentsLetter of Support for Grant Applications: Template and Examples
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