ERC Starting Grants 2026
Pays early-career researchers up to EUR 1.5 million over five years to launch their own independent research team.
This is a single-stage Horizon Europe ERC call with an indicative 2026 budget of EUR 705.1 million, expected to fund around 450 grants, the largest of the main ERC schemes by grant count. Starting Grants are awarded as a lump sum of up to EUR 1.5 million over five years, reduced pro rata for shorter durations, with up to an extra EUR 1 million for start-up costs, major equipment or large facilitie…
This call is for Principal Investigators who successfully defended their first PhD between 2 and 7 years before 1 January 2026, and who are starting or have recently started their own independent research team. 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
Learn how to write and request a letter of support for a grant, with template structure, examples, reviewer logic, and common mistakes.
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🇪🇺ERC · European Union
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