Vienna (OTS) – The European Research Council (ERC) has announced that a total of 218 projects in 20 European countries will be funded in the 2022 Advanced Grant call. With the open-topic Advanced Grants, the ERC supports established top researchers in order to be able to pursue ambitious and potentially groundbreaking research projects. Four of these prestigious awards, each with a funding volume of around 2.5 million euros, go to researchers at Austrian scientific institutions. The Federal Minister of Education, Science and Research Martin Polaschek congratulates the successful applicants on this great success.
For Elly Tanaka from the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), this year’s award is already the third ERC Advanced Grant. Her research focuses on axolotls, which have the remarkable ability to rebuild their limbs and organs. Using these highly regenerative organisms, Elly Tanaka explores the regeneration of neurons and types of plasticity and their limitations.
Quantum physicist Jörg Schmiedmayer from the Vienna University of Technology is also a multiple ERC grantee, having received his first ERC Advanced Grant in 2012. His second ERC research project is regarding emergence in quantum physics, i.e. the question of how a seemingly unlimited variety emerged from a small number of simple components. The main concern is the experimental study of emergence in the quantum world in all details, from the microscopic physics of the elementary (atomic) components to a hierarchy of effective models at large.
Another ERC Advanced Grant this year goes to the experimental physicist Leonard Grill from the University of Graz. He investigates how individual molecules can be moved on a surface. The findings from his research project might, for example, contribute to the development of tiny electronic components or molecular machines.
The fourth ERC Advanced Grant goes to the cultural and social anthropologist Manuela Ciotti from the University of Vienna, who will work on the topic of anthropology of the future. Her specific field of research will be the world of art, an area that is characterized by a high degree of experimentation, future orientation and risk-taking and which during the pandemic had to quickly develop innovative digital solutions to replace physical events. The focus of her work will be on the new, fully integrated physical and digital system of the post-pandemic art world, with a particular focus on developments in the Global South, exemplified by India and Pakistan.
A total of 1650 applications were evaluated by the ERC in this round of calls, of which 13.2% are now being funded with a total budget of 544 million euros. 23% of the funded projects were submitted this time by women. This corresponds to the highest quota of women in an advanced grant application to date.
If you are interested in the various calls for proposals of the ERC, the FFG, as the National Contact Point (NCP), offers a wide range of support, which includes information events and training on submitting applications, as well as feedback on project applications and interview training. Horizon Europe:
https://www.ffg.at/europa/heu/erc
Questions & contact:
Andreas Jilly
Press Spokesman of the Federal Minister
Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research
Minoritenplatz 5, 1010 Vienna
Tel.: +43 1 53120 – 5025
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