As in previous transitions between consecutive EU research and innovation framework programmes, the calendar of the calls in the initial year of Horizon Europe may differ from the calendar of 2020 calls for proposals.
All mono-beneficiary ERC calls (Starting, Consolidator and Advanced Grants) are expected to be launched in 2021 and 2022, but their opening and closing dates will be shifted so that the first calls will be launched only in January 2021. The Scientific Council expects the call schedule to be back to the usual opening and closing timeframes by mid-2022.
The modified planning will likely not include a Synergy Grant call in the ERC Work Programme 2021. This call will probably be included again in the Work Programme 2022. The Scientific Council’s intention is to launch this call in the summer of 2021 with a deadline in November of the same year.
Any shift in the calls timetable is not expected to affect the eligibility periods of candidates applying for ERC Starting and Consolidator Grants. These eligibility periods are based on the time elapsed between the date of the first PhD of the applicant and the 1st of January of the budget year to which the Work Programme refers. The possibility to extend these eligibility periods in individual cases for specific reasons, as established in previous work programmes, is expected to be retained.
The Scientific Council has decided to align the ERC Advanced Grant evaluation process with the processes used for the Starting and Consolidator Grant calls by introducing interviews of applicants in Step 2 of the evaluation.