We go far beyond the ERC guide to applicants
ERC is extremely competitive and requires significant time and resources to successfully craft a winning proposal.
At Enspire Science, we strongly believe that what sets apart less competitive ERC grant proposals from the highly competitive ones is a firm grasp of the programme’s elusive and unwritten conceptual rules. Therefore, the emphasis during this workshop is focused exactly on everything that is beyond the ERC work program and guide for applicants, based on our ongoing work with countless ERC proposals.
Note: To achieve a competitive proposal, it is imperative to acquire a firm grasp at the funding scheme’s basic requirements and rules, as well as its more conceptual and “unwritten” expectations. To ensure this, we offer our “ERC Basics” workshop (which we recommend for first-time ERC applicants), as an important prerequisite to this complementary “ERC Beyond” workshop.
The objective and added value of our “ERC Beyond” training:
The overall objective of our “ERC Beyond” workshop is to convey to the participants that which cannot be found in the ERC official documentation. During the workshop, we focus on the more elusive and conceptual parts of the ERC grant proposal. For a thorough review and understanding of the “ERC Basics” – consider our dedicated workshop.
If you read the work program carefully you will surely notice the sole criterion is excellence.
This is exactly where we come in. We decipher “excellence” for you, which is considered by many as ‘counter-intuitive’, based on our hands-on experience working with thousands of projects in the last decade.
Such aspects are not officially written anywhere, but ongoing experience has allowed us to develop a unique methodology for success, which includes the very elements we uncover.
The workshop content – How to write a competitive ERC proposal?
This workshop presents the ERC to top researchers that are interested in applying to ERC funding (and already have the “ERC Basics” knowledge). This workshop can be customized to StG, CoG, AdG and SyG applicants as needed. It can also be customized to accommodate the needs of research managers and funding advisers.
The topics of the workshop include:
- Screening ERC candidates – What constitutes the “ERC Material” and when to say “No”.
- What constitutes the required Scientific Excellence?
- The unique nature of ERC: High risk, high gain, non-incremental work
- Hypothesis for ERC – how to do it right
- How to write a convincing methodology chapter
- Review Panel selection
- The panel-application reciprocal effect
- The open-ended nature of ERC
- Fragmented projects in ERC
- Understanding when collaborations in ERC are acceptable
- ERC Synergy grant – addressing its unique characteristics
- Feeding the reviewer in ERC
- Ethical issues
- And more…
The aspect which leads the “ERC Beyond” Workshop in its entirety, which is also the most important aspect of grant writing, is the point of view of the reviewers. We know how they work, how they think, and what they are looking for. Because of this, we know exactly what you should avoid and, better yet – what you should focus on. During the workshop we uncover all of these incredibly important points with you.
The who, what, where, and when of our “ERC Beyond” workshop:
Who participates in our “ERC Beyond” workshop?
Potential ERC candidates (Starting, Consolidator, Advanced, and Synergy) and Research managers & Funding Advisers who wish to deepen their understanding about the unique nature of the highly competitive ERC grant. Additionally, applicants that have submitted an ERC grant proposal in the past and are considering to re-apply are also encouraged to participate.
What ERC calls does this workshop apply to?
This workshop targets all ERC calls: Starting, Consolidator, Advanced and Synergy.
Where does our “ERC Beyond” workshop take place? Two available options:
- NEW! We now offer open ERC workshops at changing locations. This is ideal for single participants or small groups (up to 15 participants). For upcoming dates, locations, and to sign up go here.
- Our training sessions are on-site booked by our institutional clients. We bring our experts all the way to you. Write to us below for this option.
When is the best time to attend this workshop?
We recommend giving considerable time (typically 3-6 months before the relevant ERC deadline) for training before researchers start to draft their proposals.
Would you like to receive more information about our training workshop? Write to us below and we’ll take it from there.
See what past participants have said about our training:
Raffaella Di CagnoIn general I am quite satisfied with the event. Certainly for those who have no knowledge of this type of call the meeting goal has been centered, vice versa for those who are already familiar with or for those who have already applied (with failure), the expectation is higher. The… Read more “Raffaella Di Cagno” I very much appreciated the suggestions we received on how to write the grants (ie in which order), and how to conceptualize it (replace certain words by others to grasp what was the real point of the paragraph to write). I also liked how it was subdivided in the “what”… Read more “” Elisabeth TauberYes very satisfied. Beyond, in defining the “risk” concept and in introducing the “structural logic” of an ERC application. It helped a lot in thinking how to structure the research idea. That as good as a proposal can be, there are the risk factors of human reviewers liking or not… Read more “Elisabeth Tauber” Martin Miles“Great seminar. Very satisfied. Definitely insightful. Beyond – and different from – the information that is already out there. Well-organized, comprehensive, and well-paced presentation. Useful and insightful information. Both representatives are are very knowledgeable, excellent communicators and interact well when questioned. It was also very good to receive a copy… Read more “Martin Miles” University of Bergen (UiB) Erwin RauchVery clear and structured presentation, competence of consultant. Experience with proposals that cannot be found in the internet. Yes, definitely satisfied. Difficult issues were explained in an easy yet comprehensive way. “The presentation was very good in helping me to see how I should structure my application to fit in ERC.” University of Bergen (UiB) FrancescoIt went beyond the already available information that is out there by modeling the scientific method that should be followed by a successful research project proposal. |
***It is understood and agreed that provided information must be kept confidential. Enspire Science does not disclose the confidential information obtained.