In publica commoda

Horizon Europe - Excellent Science


On this website, our team offers you an overview of the programme part Excellent Science. It primarily promotes investigator-driven or bottom-up frontier research and comprises the following funding instruments:

The ERC (EN) funds excellent researchers of any nationality and their groundbreaking project ideas. The basic principles of ERC funding are:

  • The sole criterion for selection is the scientific excellence of the project as well as of the Principal Investigator (PI).
  • A host institution is located in one of the EU member states or associated countries and guarantees to fulfil all preconditions necessary for conducting the research project.
  • If the PI decides to change the host institution, the PI takes the ERC grant to the new host institution provided it meets the requirements above.

The ERC publishes annual calls for proposals. ERC grants operate on a bottom-up basis without predetermined priorities. Applications can be made in any field of research. The ERC welcomes interdisciplinary project proposals, the exploration of new scientific fields and the application of innovative methodologies.

The ERC offers a video series under the name "ERC Classes (EN)". This series will give you specific information about the ERC application and the evaluation process, including tips to prepare for the interviews.

In addition, the National Contact Point (NCP) ERC provides several offers for support of the applicants. You will find e.g. proposal templates and related documents of current and closed calls, guidelines and background documents as well as information on project management on the website of the NCP ERC (DE). Moreover, the website contains links to the respective members of the ERC Peer Review Panels of closed calls. The reviewer (DE) are usually published by the ERC after the evaluation process was completed.

Moreover, the EU Office supports applicants from the University of Göttingen (excluding UMG). Further information on how to apply can be found on the ERC application page (EN) of the EU Office.

Please note the following ERC announcement (EN): To be eligible for an ERC Starting Grant in the 2027 call for proposals, the applicant must have defended their PhD no more than 10 years before 1 January 2027. For a Consolidator Grant in the 2027 call, the thesis defence must have been between 5 and 15 years before 1 January 2027. The eligibility period may be extended in duly documented cases, such as parental leave or clinical training. The changes are subject to the pending formal adoption of the 2027 ERC work programme in summer 2026.

The ERC offers the following funding schemes:

ERC Starting Grants (ERC StG) fund Principal Investigators (PIs) who already produced excellent supervised work and are ready to work independently showing potential to be a research leader. ERC StG may be awarded up to 1.5 million Euro for a period of five years. However, an additional 1 million Euro can be made available to cover eligible start-up costs. A one-stage submission procedure and a two-stage selection procedure is applied.
Further information of the ERC (EN)
Further information of the NCP ERC (DE)

ERC Consolidator Grants (ERC CoG) fund Principal Investigators (PIs) who want to consolidate their independence by establishing a research team. ERC CoG may be awarded up to 2.0 million Euro for a period of five years. However, an additional 1 million Euro can be made available to cover eligible start-up costs. A one-stage submission procedure and a two-stage selection procedure is applied.
Further information of the ERC (EN)
Further information of the NCP ERC (DE)

Applicants for the ERC Advanced Grants (ERC AdG) are expected to be active Principal Investigators (PIs) who have an outstanding scientific track record and wish to explore new areas of research. For the evaluation of the scientific performance, the emphasis is on more recent achievements prior to the application. ERC AdG may be awarded up to 2.5 million Euro for a period of five years. However, an additional 1 million Euro can be made available to cover eligible start-up costs. A one-stage submission procedure and a two-stage selection procedure is applied.
Further information of the ERC (EN)
Further information of the NCP ERC (DE)

The ERC Plus Grant supports outstanding Principal Investigators (PI) who are tackling major scientific challenges. Funding is provided for projects that could not be realised with a regular ERC project - for example, because they have the potential to fundamentally change a discipline or open up a new field of research.

Applicants should be aware that only around 30 ERC Plus Grants can be awarded each year for all scientific disciplines and all career stages, compared to around 1,000 ERC Starting, ERC Consolidator and ERC Advanced Grants. Researchers can only receive one ERC Plus Grant in their lifetime.

Researchers at all career stages can apply for an ERC Plus Grant. Their intellectual leadership will be assessed according to their career stage.

ERC Plus Grants support projects carried out by a single researcher who may employ other researchers as team members. It is also possible for one or more team members to be based in a non-European country.

ERC Plus Grants fund projects with up to 7.0 million euros over a period of at least four to a maximum of seven years. A one-stage submission procedure and a two-stage evaluation procedure is applied.
Weitere Informationen des ERC (EN)
Weitere Informationen der NKS ERC (DE)

Applications for an ERC Synergy Grant (ERC SyG) must be submitted by a minimum of two to a maximum of four Principal Investigators (PIs) and must include an outstanding intrinsic synergetic effect. PIs have to present an early achievement track-record or a ten-year track-record, whichever is most appropriate.

ERC SyG seek to bring together complementary expertise, skills and resources in order to conduct research, which cannot be carried out by a single PI working alone. The group of PIs has to explain in the proposal why the research questions can best be tackled in this constellation. PIs can apply within the same or different host institutions established in one of the EU Member States or Associated Countries. One of the PI’s host institution can also be located in a third country. This host institution is eligible for funding too. ERC SyG can be up to a maximum of 10 million Euro for a period of six years. However an addition 4 million Euro can be requested in the proposal. A three-step evaluation procedure is applied.
Further information of the ERC (EN)
Further information of the NCP ERC (DE)

ERC Proof of Concept Grants (ERC PoC) award 150 000 Euro for a period of 18 months to those ERC Grantees who want to examine the commercial or societal potential of ideas from ERC projects. The ERC project must either be ongoing or must have ended less than 12 months ago. The activities to be funded shall draw substantially on the scientifically excellent ERC-funded research. However, the additional funding is not aimed at extending the original research. The funding will cover activities at the very early stage of turning research outputs into a commercial or socially valuable proposition, i.e. the initial steps of pre-competitive development. The funding can be used to e.g.:

  • conduct market research,
  • validate technical issues,
  • carry out feasibility studies,
  • clarify intellectual property issues,
  • analyse business opportunities or
  • set up a business plan.

ERC PoC can also support innovative ideas in the public and non-profit domain, for example, contributions to social improvements or environmental objectives. Proposals in this area must clearly address a societal or economic benefit. The calls are published once a year with three cut-off dates. An ERC Grantee may submit only one eligible application per call. A single-step evaluation procedure is applied.
Further information of the ERC (EN)
Further information of the NCP ERC (DE)


In order to support all applicants in structuring the timeline up to the application deadline, the EU Office publishes internal deadlines that serve as a recommendation:

The MSCA promote the mobility and career development of early-career researchers. They follow a bottom-up approach; consequently, the calls for proposals are open to all academic disciplines and applicants are free to choose their own research topics. Furthermore, the MSCA are based on the principles of ‘excellence’, ‘international, interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral mobility’, ‘fair recruitment and employment conditions and inclusivity’, ‘effective supervision’ and ‘Open Science’.

A distinction is made between the following funding streams:

Doctoral Networks (DN) provide funding for transnational doctoral training programmes set up by consortia comprised of organisations from the academic and non-academic sectors including universities, research institutions and businesses (incl. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs)) from Europe and beyond. Their aim is to train highly skilled doctoral candidates and to improve their career opportunities by engaging in excellent research and international, interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral mobility. At the organisational level, Doctoral Networks aim at facilitating knowledge exchange between participating organisations and increasing the overall quality of doctoral programmes.

The programme is divided into Doctoral Networks, Industrial Doctorates, and Joint Doctorates. Projects have a duration of 48 months and are financed through institutional funding covering research, training and networking costs, management and indirect costs as well as researcher costs. For doctoral candidates, contractual employment is offered on a full-time basis for a maximum of 36 months.
Further information of the EU Commission (EN)
Further information of the National Contact Point MSC (DE)

Postdoctoral Fellowships (PF) provide funding for individual research projects by postdoctoral researchers with the aim of supporting the researcher’s career development while promoting excellent research. Applications are prepared by the researcher together with a supervisor (professor) from the host institution of choice, i.e. the University of Göttingen.

PF are available either as European Postdoctoral Fellowships with a duration of 12 to 24 months or as Global Postdoctoral Fellowships with a duration of 24 to 36 months. In terms of mobility, European Fellowships provide optional secondments to other institutions from the academic or non-academic sector, while Global Fellowships include a mandatory outgoing-phase (12 to 24 months) to a second host institution in a non-European and non-associated country as well as a return phase of 12 months at the European host institution.

PF are financed through institutional funding covering research, training and networking costs, management and indirect costs as well as researcher costs. For researchers, PF offer contractual employment on a full-time basis for the duration of the fellowship that can be extended by a follow-up non-academic placement of up to 6 months.
Further information of the EU Commission (EN)
Further information of the National Contact Point MSC (DE)

Staff Exchanges (SE) provide funding for international, interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral exchange of scientific personnel starting with doctoral candidates as well as administrative, technical or managerial staff of international consortia. These are composed of organisations from the academic and non-academic sectors including universities, research institutions and businesses (incl. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs)). SE support joint research and innovation activities for a duration of up to four years with the aim of enabling international collaboration. Thereby, they increase the research and innovation capacity and knowledge base of the participating organisations while providing comprehensive training and career development opportunities to participating staff.

SE are financed through institutional funding covering research, training and network costs, management and indirect costs as well as researcher costs. From the latter, seconded staff will receive a top-up to their regular salary to cover all costs during the secondment phase, which can range from 30 days to 12 months.
Further information of the EU Commission (EN)
Further information of the National Contact Point MSC (DE)

COFUND provides co-funding for new or existing training and career development programmes for doctoral and post-doctoral researchers. These must be offered by organisations from EU Member States and states associated to the Horizon Europe programme with a maximum duration of 60 months. Co-funding will be provided for either Doctoral Programmes that offer research training activities as well as mobility opportunities to doctoral candidates and lead to the awarding of a doctoral degree or for Postdoctoral Programmes offering individual training and career developing opportunities to researchers who already obtained a doctoral degree with the aim of increasing the researchers’ skill sets and overall employability.

Co-funding is provided in form of a fixed contribution which can be used flexibly to support any cost items of the programme (personnel costs, research, training and networking costs as well as management and indirect costs). However, the overall EU contribution to an institution is limited to 10 million EUR per call. For the individual researcher, the programme offers employment against contract for a full-time position for a maximum of 36 months.
Further information of the EU Commission (EN)
Further information of the National Contact Point MSC (DE)

The aim of the MSCA and Citizens action is to raise public awareness of the importance of science and to increase public recognition of science and research education. This is being done by funding Europe-wide science communication and promotion events in the form of the European Researchers' Night, aimed at the general public and in particular at families, pupils and students. Eligible applicants must be legal entities established in an EU Member State or in a country associated with Horizon Europe.

An application may be submitted by a single organisation or by several organisations forming a regional, national or international consortium. Projects have a duration of 2 years and funding is provided in the form of a lump sum.
Further information of the EU Commission (EN)
Further information of the National Contact Point MSC (DE)


Research infrastructures - both physical and virtual - are often a precondition for conducting research and gaining new scientific knowledge. At the same time, the life cycle of research infrastructures ties up enormous quantities of resources - from establishment to closure. Hence, the EU Commission and the EU member states seek to pool available resources. This can be achieved, for example, by opening up research infrastructures to scientists at other higher education institutions, research organisations, countries and the private sector. The funding instrument RI supports, among other things, the following measures:

ESFRI was established to pursue a consistent policy for research infrastructures. Since 2006, it has regularly carried out a roadmap process. The ESFRI Roadmap (EN) summarises the most important initiatives on European research infrastructures. There are two different categories in the roadmap:

  • ESFRI Projects: This concerns infrastructures currently being set up. The focus of the integration process into the roadmap is on networking activities, standardisation measures and establishing a common access procedure.
  • ESFRI Landmarks: They are infrastructures that have already been established. The focus here is on expanding transnational and virtual access as well as the question over how the infrastructures can be used in an innovative way.

The ESFRI roadmap encourages EU member states to develop national roadmaps for their research infrastructures. For example, the BMFTR published a roadmap for German infrastructures (DE).

The EOSC (EN) creates a virtual environment in which scientists in particular can use data across scientific disciplines and national borders. The services of the EOSC are based on the "FAIR-Principles". The data must be "Findable“, "Accessible", "Interoperable" and "Reusable”. The EOSC is complemented by national initiatives, for example, in Germany, there is the "National Research Data Infrastructure" (NFDI (DE)). Moreover, the EOSC can be funded as one of approximately 50 partnerships in the Horizon Europe programme part "Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness".


In addition to the infrastructures, the RI funding instrument in Horizon Europe also supports the staff who builds, operates and uses them. For example, training activities can be funded.
Further information of the EU Commission (EN)
Further information of BMFTR (DE)