European Research Council Grants (via ISERD) — Horizon Europe

ERC Advanced Grant

Funds frontier research by established researchers in Europe-backed programmes across any discipline with high-risk, high-impact ambitions.

Eligibility · EU member states

The ERC Advanced Grant 2026 is the European Research Council's flagship funding instrument for established research leaders who wish to pursue ambitious, high-risk, high-gain frontier research in any scientific or humanities domain. The 2026 call deadline is 27 August 2026, with Step 1 results communicated on 29 January 2027 and Step 2 results on 11 June 2027. The grant funds a single Principal Investigator and their team at a host institution in an EU Member State or Horizon Europe associated country — Israel qualifies as an associated country. The PI must commit at least 30% of their working time to the ERC project.

Funding is up to €2.5 million over five years, with the possibility of up to €1 million in additional funds for specific cost categories such as equipment or interdisciplinary training. Unlike ERC Starting or Consolidator Grants, the Advanced Grant has no PhD-year window restriction — the eligibility criterion is that the PI is an established research leader with a substantial track record of significant research achievements over the past decade. Excellence is the sole scoring criterion; commercial relevance, technology readiness, or industry co-funding are not considered.

Applications are submitted through the EU SWEET portal and must be hosted at an eligible beneficiary institution. Israeli researchers at Israeli universities and research organisations apply with their Israeli institution as the beneficiary. The two-step evaluation involves an expert panel review of the scientific proposal in Step 1 and a full application assessment in Step 2. ISERD, Israel's National Contact Point, provides guidance and proposal review services — draft applications should be submitted to ISERD at least one month before the August deadline. The ERC Advanced Grant is among the most prestigious individual research grants in Europe, with acceptance rates typically below 10% across all domains.