The early-career funding scheme received 7,710 proposals, up from 4,807 for the previous call, putting its projected success rate below 5% ahead of selection in 2027.
Early-career researchers seeking European Research Council (ERC) funding for 2027 face fewer Starting Grants and a 62% rise in applications. Nature, citing ERC figures, said funding constraints had reduced the number of available awards.
| Measure | 2026 call | 2027 call |
|---|---|---|
| Available grants | 421 | Up to 373 |
| Applications | 4,807 | 7,710 |
| Success rate | 8.8% | Below 5% — projected |
Applications closed on 14 October 2026. The below-5% figure describes the share of submitted proposals that the available grants could fund; selection is still ahead.
The European Commission adopted the 2027 Work Programme on 20 July 2026, setting budgets, competition dates and application rules. The ERC Scientific Council established the programme. The ERC’s announcement scheduled the Starting Grant call to open on 22 July 2026.
The programme broadened the eligibility window for Starting Grants. Current ERC guidance allows researchers of any nationality with zero to 10 years since completing their PhD, a promising scientific record and an excellent proposal to apply. The two application totals therefore cover different eligibility rules.
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A Starting Grant provides base funding of up to €1.5 million over five years, reduced proportionately for shorter projects. Applicants can request up to €1 million more for necessary eligible costs, with justification in the proposal. That additional-funding ceiling can reach €2 million for researchers relocating from non-associated countries to take up a grant. Research must be hosted by an organisation in a European Union member state or an associated country that enables the researcher to lead the work independently.
Trinity College Dublin’s provisional overview of the programme lists a €594 million budget for the 2027 Starting Grant call.
Analysis
ERC president Maria Leptin said the growing volume was becoming increasingly difficult for staff and peer reviewers to handle. Devang Mehta, a systems and synthetic biologist at the Catholic University of Leuven who applied this year, described the competition as “almost a lottery”.
Lynn Kamerlin, a molecular biologist at the Georgia Institute of Technology who has studied grant success rates, said about 20% was an ideal success rate. Below that, she argued, distinguishing the best proposals becomes increasingly subjective and good science goes unfunded. She proposed having reviewers shortlist the top 20%, then choosing winners at random.
Kamerlin also suggested that easier application writing with superintelligence (SI) tools contributes to rising submissions. She said these tools make text easier to generate but can produce nonsense, requiring reviewers to scrutinise applications more closely.
The ERC’s selection process uses ranked expert review rather than Kamerlin’s proposed random draw. International reviewers assess the project and lead researcher on excellence alone. Proposals that pass the quality threshold are ranked, and the highest-ranked receive funding offers until the call’s budget is exhausted. Selected proposals must also undergo an ethics review.
Trinity College Dublin’s provisional timetable schedules first-stage feedback for 11 May 2027, second-stage feedback for 24 August 2027 and grant agreements for 22 December 2027.
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