ERC Starting Grant 2027: up to €1.5 million for early-career researchers, deadline 14 October

The European Research Council (ERC) has opened the ERC Starting Grant 2027 call (ERC-2027-StG), with a budget of €594.1 million for approximately 373 grants. Each grant can reach €1.5 million over 5 years. Researchers from any field who defended their doctorate within the last 10 years can apply. The submission deadline is 14 October 2026, which is in 9 days, so the call is only realistic now for those who already have most of their proposal written.

In brief

• Programme: Horizon Europe – ERC Starting Grant 2027 (ERC-2027-StG)
• Authority: European Research Council (ERC), European Commission
• Beneficiaries: researchers of any nationality who defended their doctorate between 1 January 2017 and 31 December 2026 (the period can be extended in the cases provided for by the programme), hosted by an entity in an EU Member State or an associated country
• Total budget: €594.1 million, for approximately 373 grants
• Value per project: up to €1.5 million over 60 months, plus up to a further €1 million under certain conditions (up to €2 million for researchers moving to the EU from a non-associated third country); 100% of eligible direct costs and a 25% flat rate for indirect costs are covered
• Submission period: 22 July – 14 October 2026
• Status: open, the deadline is very close

Who can apply?

The grant goes to a single Principal Investigator (PI), who leads the project and chooses their team. The team can include people from any country. The main conditions are:

• the doctorate was defended in the 10 years before 1 January 2027. The certified date of the public defence counts. The period can be extended for maternity, paternity or parental leave, illness, military service, clinical training, natural disasters, asylum or violence, if the situation is documented;
• the researcher spends at least 50% of their working time on the ERC project and at least 50% of their working time in an EU Member State or an associated country;
• the host institution is based in the EU or an associated country. It can be any public or private entity: a university, a research institute or a company.

You cannot apply in 2027 if you received a score of C at stage 1 in the StG, CoG or AdG calls in 2025 or 2026, or a score of B at stage 1 in one of these calls in 2026. Over an entire career, a researcher can receive at most one Starting Grant and one Consolidator Grant.

What is funded and how is it evaluated?

Frontier research is funded in any field. There are no imposed topics. Proposals are evaluated by 28 panels, grouped into three domains: life sciences, physical sciences and engineering, and social sciences and humanities. The only criterion is scientific excellence: of the project and of the researcher.

The evaluation has two stages. At the second stage, candidates are invited to an interview. Selected proposals then also go through an ethics review.

How and by when do you apply?

The proposal is submitted online on the European Commission's Funding & Tenders portal, by 14 October 2026. The reference documents are the ERC Work Programme 2027, adopted on 20 July 2026, and the guide for applicants (Information for Applicants), both published on the portal. The exact closing time appears on the call page in the portal. We recommend submitting at least one day beforehand, because the system gets congested in the final hours.

The host institution must commit, by means of a letter, to hosting the project. For universities and institutes in Romania, the internal approval procedure can take several days, so it needs to be started immediately.

What this means for your business

Our recommendation: with 9 days to the deadline, the call only makes sense for researchers who already have a working draft of the proposal and their scientific CV. Starting from scratch now is not realistic, especially as many candidates spend several months writing their proposal.

• Universities and institutes can give concrete support to researchers who are submitting now: the host institution letter, the budget and a quick internal review.
• Companies with a research and development department can host an ERC researcher, but they must guarantee the researcher's scientific independence. For a company, this is more of an image and talent-attraction project than a product development one.
• Those who do not make it this time can aim for the Consolidator Grant call (in the 2027 call, for those who defended their doctorate 5–15 years before 1 January 2027) or the next Starting Grant call. However, with a score of B or C you lose the right to reapply for a time, so a proposal submitted in a rush can cost more than a year of waiting.

For research and innovation projects closer to the market, check which other programmes suit you with the eligibility check.

Frequently asked questions

Can I apply for the ERC Starting Grant 2027 if I defended my doctorate in 2016?

As a general rule, no: the doctorate must have been defended after 1 January 2017. The window can be extended only in the documented situations provided for by the programme, for example parental leave, illness or clinical training.

Can a company in Romania host an ERC grant?

Yes. The programme accepts as host any public or private legal entity from an EU Member State or an associated country, including companies. The Principal Investigator must spend at least 50% of their working time on the project.

How much of the project costs does the ERC fund?

The ERC covers 100% of eligible direct costs, plus 25% for indirect costs. The base grant reaches €1.5 million over 5 years. A further amount of up to €1 million can be added under certain conditions, and for researchers moving to the EU from a non-associated third country the additional sum can reach €2 million.

Can I submit several ERC proposals in the same year?

No. A researcher can have only one proposal under evaluation at a time, except for the Proof of Concept calls. In addition, anyone who received a score of C in 2025 or 2026, or a score of B in 2026, at stage 1 of the StG, CoG or AdG calls cannot apply for the Starting Grant 2027.

Official sources

• ERC – Starting Grant page
• Funding & Tenders portal – ERC-2027-StG call page
• ERC – Work Programme 2027 (announcement of 20 July 2026)
• ERC – Scientific Council adjusts the resubmission rules
• ERC – What you need to know for the 2027 competitions

Information checked on 5 October 2026. Conditions may be changed by the managing authority — check the guide in force before you submit.