[EU] Horizon Insights – Ghent University is the rising star in ERC
In the most recently evaluated ERC calls, Ghent University obtained 10 new ERC Starting Grants and 6 new Consolidator Grants (one of which will be conducted at the VIB as Host Institution). With these high numbers of acquired grants, our university positions itself in the top 3 of 360 institutions having acquired ERC funding from the 2022 Work Programme.
Ghent University amazes the European science community
Obtaining 10 ERC grants in the Starting Grant (StG) 2022 call (and even having two more on the reserve list), Ghent University outperformed all European universities, and only had to let CNRS and Max Planck, both giant institutions, go ahead, with 15 and 13 grants respectively.
In the ERC Consolidator Grant (CoG) 2022 call, we obtained 5th place on the list, with 5 new grants, and one more at the VIB with a Ghent University Principal Investigator. Here, also CNRS and Max Planck filled the absolute top, with 18 and 10 grants respectively, immediately followed by the University of Cambridge (8 grants) and the Weizmann Institute for Science (6 grants). Our success rates doubled the European average, being 26% in the Starting Grant and even 33% in the Consolidator Grant call.
The ERC Advanced Grant (AdG) 2022 call results are not yet known; of ten UGent applicants, 3 were invited to Step 2 in the evaluation. In the Synergy Grant (SyG) call 2022, UGent obtained no grants; moreover, we still are hopefully awaiting our first successful ERC Synergy application.
In conclusion: based on the StG, CoG and SyG results of call 2022, Ghent University is ranked third and is even the most successful university. This is an overwhelming success!
Looking back from 2007
In the complete history of the ERC, which was founded in 2007, UGent has always been one of the sub top institutions, being mostly around position 30 to 40 of the total ERC ranking.
As a result from all calls from 2007 to 2020 (under FP7 and Horizon 2020), and when only taking into account the main grants (Starting Grants, Consolidator Grants, Advanced Grants and Synergy Grants), Ghent University took place 31 in the ERC ranking (see “Annual Report on the ERC activities and achievements in 2021”; https://erc.europa.eu/news-events/erc-publications).
Ghent University has since the start in 2011 been very successful in the ERC Proof-of-Concept scheme, funding follow-up projects to main ERC grants bringing the results closer to use outside academia. Based on the total number of Proof-of-Concept grants, we are at position 10, which is much higher than our overall ERC ranking. Our success rate of around 50% is also higher than the European average of 37%.
These European figures only take into account the projects with Ghent University as Host Institution, and do not include the ERC projects with an UGent PI at the VIB as Host Institution. However, these projects are included on Flemish level, when calculating the total amount of European funding obtained for our share of the BOF and IOF division keys.
In total, Ghent University (incl. VIB-UGent) is or has been hosting 113 grantees since the start of the ERC, having in total 149 projects (incl. PoC grants). It is striking that our percentual share of Advanced Grants (10 %) is much lower than for all other institutions in the top 30 (on average 28 %), and only one institution in the top 100 has a lower percentage of Advanced Grants than Ghent University. This difference is not due to a lower-than-average success rate (10,2% at Ghent University vs 10,6% as European average) but to a much lower participation rate (81 proposals since 2007, compared to 130 CoG proposals and 267 StG proposals).
As a warm research community, we are very proud of all ERC applicants for their courage to apply!
Ghent University is the greatest rising star
As from the Horizon 2020 programme period, Ghent University has been rising to the annual top 20 (in call years 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2021) or top 10 (in call year 2020), and even top 3 in call 2022. With these improving results UGent is the strongest climber in this champions league of highly performing institutions. This could bring us to the overall ERC top 20 in the ranking based on all cumulative results from 2007 until 2022.
Read more on Ghent University is the rising star in ERC (sharepoint.com) (staff only)
Considering to apply for an ERC grant?
If you have an idea for a future project and wonder if the ERC would be an appropriate channel for this, contact our advisors at EU-team@UGent.be. They will make an appointment to discuss your idea and the fit with the ERC’s purpose. They can also provide some examples of approved ERC projects in your field to help you positioning the central research question.
Our advisors are available at all times to help you, and their guidance has proven to be beneficial for your chances of success.
Consult our ERC (sharepoint.com) website for an overview of services and support documents.
More information
About Horizon Insights
Horizon Insights is a specific feature in the BOZI newsletter where the EU team wishes to share own insights, going beyond information.
8 februari 2023 10:27