This online event hosted by the Young Academy of Europe (YAE) on 21st September 2020 welcomed researchers from EU13 and Associated Countries who were interested in applying for a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant. With this event we wished to provide guidance and support to young applicants from under-represented nations by connecting them with mentors who have successfully navigated through the process.

The event started with a plenary information session for potential applicants and a short Q&A with a representative from the European Research Council Executive Agency (ERCEA), Jana Siftova – you can find Jana’s presentation here. This was followed up by a talk by Prof. Nedjeljka Zagar on the equality of opportunies in Europe, and her presentation is found here.

The main part of the event were three parallel sessions focusing on each ERC research domain: Physical Sciences & Engineering (PE), Life Sciences (LS), and Social Sciences & Humanities (SH). These sessions were moderated by YAE members holding ERC grants who gave an overview of the domains, answered questions, and got to know the participants looking for mentors.

Recordings of the Domain sessions can be found on the YAE YouTube channel, and also embedded below for your convenience.

Domain LS

Domain PE

Domain SH

Domain LS

Programme

Plenary session

14:00-14:05 Opening (Mangala Srinivas, YAE Chair)
14:05-14:30 Information session, The European Research Council: Funding opportunities and application and evaluation process (Jana Siftova, ERCEA)
14:30-14:45 Q&A
14:45-15:00 Equality of opportunities for next generation researchers in Europe, Prof. Nedjeljka Zagar

Breakout sessions

15:00-16:00 Domain PE (Toma Susi and Zeila Zanolli, YAE)
15:00-16:00 Domain LS (Valeria Gazzola and Mangala Srinivas, YAE)
15:00-16:00 Domain SH (Kaius Sinnemäki and Lydia Schumacher, YAE)

The Young Academy of Europe would like to thank the European Research Council for their support and participation.