12 ERC Advanced Grants 2021 for the CNRS

The European Research Council (ERC) will fund 253 researchers this year through the "Advanced" grants scheme, for a total amount of €624 million, as part of the latest call under the Horizon Europe programme.

These grants enable scientists, recognised in their field at the national and international level, to carry out innovative, high-risk projects that open up new avenues in their discipline or in other fields. Each project has a duration of 5 years and a maximum budget of €2.5 million. Aimed at established researchers, these grants require a higher level of experience than the "Starting" (up to €1.5 million and aimed at European project leaders who obtained their phD 2 to 7 years earlier) and "Consolidator" (up to €2 million and 7 to 12 years after their phD) grants.

"By following their scientific curiosity, these senior researchers are pushing the frontiers of our knowledge in a wide range of fields. It’s essential to fund this type of cutting-edge research to keep Europe at the scientific forefront," says Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth.

This year, 25% of these grants were awarded to female researchers. In total, 14% of the 1735 projects submitted in 2021 were funded. The grantees will carry out their projects in universities, research centres and companies in 21 European countries, including Germany (61 grants), the UK (45), the Netherlands (27) and France (26).

The final list of successful applicants funded by Horizon Europe remains provisional while the agreements for the association of the UK and Switzerland to that programme are under discussion. As these protocols have not yet been adopted, the UK and Switzerland are still considered "non-associated" to Horizon Europe and, as such, their applicants will only be eligible for funding if the association agreement applies at the time of signing the ERC Advanced grant agreement. Both countries have also offered the possibility to fund their laureates themselves.

List of the 12 grantees whose projects are hosted by the CNRS:   

ANAPOLIS (Analog Polariton Simulators) - Jacqueline BLOCH (Centre de Nanosciences et de NanotechnologiesCNRS/Université Paris-Saclay) (INP-INSIS)

GOAT (Groups Of Algebraic Transformations) - Serge CANTAT (Institut de recherche mathématique de RennesCNRS/Ecole Normale Supérieure de Rennes/Université Rennes 1/Université Rennes 2) (INSMI)

ALTER e-GROW (Strategies of 3-D growth in brown algae) - Bénédicte CHARRIER (Laboratoire de Biologie Intégrative des Modèles MarinsCNRS/Sorbonne Université) (INSB)

n-Dame_Heritage (n-Dimensional analysis and memorisation ecosystem for building cathedrals of knowledge in Heritage Science) - Livio DE LUCA (Modèles et simulations pour l'Architecture et le PatrimoineCNRS/Ministère de la Culture) (INSHS)

SOFA (Spontaneous interfacial oxidant formation as a key driver for aerosol oxidation) - Christian GEORGE (Institut de Recherches sur la Catalyse et l'Environnement de LyonCNRS/Université Claude Bernard) (INC)

Dust2Planets (From Dust to Planets: A Novel Approach to Constrain Dust Growth and the Planet Forming Zone in Disks) - François MENARD (Institut de planétologie et d'astrophysique de GrenobleCNRS/Université Grenoble Alpes) (INSU)

ZEOLIghT (Dual challenges in the discovery and sustainability of nanozeolites: controlling defect sites and structural flexibility) - Svetlana MINTOVA (Laboratoire de catalyse et spectrochimieCNRS/Ecole nationale supérieure d'ingénieurs de Caen/université de Caen Normandie) (INC)

LATEUROPE (Why late earliest occupation of Western Europe?) - Marie- Hélène MONCEL (Histoire naturelle de l'Homme préhistoriqueCNRS/Museum national d'histoire naturelle/Université de Perpignan via Domitia) (INEE)

SpeckleCARS (Vibrational speckle tomography microscopy for fast intra-operative cancer tissue histopathology) - Hervé RIGNEAULT (Institut FresnelAix Marseille Université/CNRS/Ecole Centrale de Marseille) (INSIS)

HUMANFACE (Human Face Identity Categorization: Bridging the Gap between Vision and Social Semantics) - Bruno ROSSION (Centre de recherche en automatique de NancyCNRS/Université de Lorraine) (INS2I)

DOC-PAST (Deciphering the Oxidizing Capacity of the PAST atmosphere) - Joel SAVARINO (Institut des géosciences de l'environnementCNRS/IRD/Université Grenoble Alpes) (INSU)

NoStaHo (Non-Stationary Non- Homogeneous Turbulence) - John- Christos VASSILICOS (Laboratoire de Mécanique des Fluides de Lille, Kampé de FérietCentrale Lille Institut/CNRS/Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Arts et Métiers/Office National des Études et Recherches Aérospatiales ) (INSIS)