Achieving a highly competitive grant proposal

The objective and added value of our ERC workshop:

The “ERC Beyond” workshop conveys to participants information that is beyond the ERC guide for applicants. From experience, we have come to understand and 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, during this workshop we accelerate to the counterintuitive, elusive and conceptual parts of the ERC grant.

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.

Having worked with thousands of ERC applicants, we know how to decipher the counterintuitive “excellence” essence (the sole criterion within the ERC work program), as well as additional “unwritten” rules for success. 

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 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
• Application and submission process
• The evaluation process
• Ethical issues
• And more…

As we discuss the above, we always keep in mind the most important grant writing aspect – the point of view of the reviewers. Since we know what reviewers are looking for, we know exactly what researchers should focus on and what they should avoid, and make sure to focus on such tips and insights throughout the entire workshop.

The who, what, where, and when of our ERC workshop:

• Who participates in our ERC workshop? Participants are first-time ERC candidates, applicants who have submitted to ERC in the past, and Research managers & Funding Advisers who wish to deepen their understanding about the ERC grant. The workshop can also be customized to accommodate the needs of research managers and funding advisers. Learn more here.
• What ERC calls does this workshop apply to? This workshop has two flavours: one targets Starting and Consolidator researchers, and the other targets Advanced researchers. If needed, we can also accommodate all researcher groups in the same workshop.
• Where does our ERC workshop take place?
  • Online – Our workshop is provided online through a live web conferencing platform. Write to us below for this option.
  • On-site – 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.
  • Open workshops –  We 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.
• When should you schedule the workshop?We recommend attending a workshop as soon as possible, and no later than 3 months before the relevant ERC deadline to allow considerable time for the proposal preparation phase.

See what past participants have said about our workshop:

Would you like to receive more information about our workshop?

*It is understood and agreed that provided information must be kept confidential. Enspire Science does not disclose confidential information obtained.

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