The ERC Starting Grants provide early career researchers, meaning those who have earned their PhD less than seven years ago, the opportunity to start an independent line of research and their own research group. The grants have a five-year term. In this latest round, 3474 proposals were submitted of which 494 were granted. According to the European Research Council (ERC), this financial impulse will create almost 3200 new (temporary) positions within the laureates’ research teams. 

Among the laureates are: 

KNCV-member Marta Artola Pérez de Azanza, Leiden University

SWEET DEGRADATION: Targeted degradation of Golgi apparatus-residing carbohydrate processing enzymes 

NVBMB-member Agathe Chaigne, Utrecht University 

CYTO-BRIDGES: Roles of cytoplasmic bridges in cell-cell cohesion and communication 

NBV- and NVBMB-member Nico Claassens, Wageningen University 

FASTFIX: Systematic analyses and rational engineering of fast CO₂ fixation pathways in living cells 

NVBMB-member Kristin Grussmayer, Delft University of Technology

QScope: Deciphering neurodegenerative disease with fast 3D imaging & functional nanoscopy 

NVBMB-member Rik Lindeboom, Netherlands Cancer Instituut

TF-KINETIX: Why do transcription factors bind what they bind when they bind?  

KNCV-member Ina Vollmer, Utrecht University

IMPACT: In-situ mechano-catalysis for polymer activation and controlled conversion  

 The ERC website offers a complete list of all the granted proposals.