ERC Grants
The European Research Council (ERC) was founded by the European Commission to sponsor basic research. It provides funding to outstanding researchers conducting pioneering work in their fields. The ERC gives four different grants:
- Advanced Grants
- Consolidator Grants
- Starting Grants
- Synergy Grants
Advanced Grants
The European Research Council uses Advanced Grants to support established, active researchers with an outstanding academic record. Advanced Grants can go to innovative projects in any discipline. Each project sponsored receives up to 2.5 million euros for up to five years.
Funded
- Professor Dr. Harald Baayen, Department of Linguistics
Project: Subliminal Learning in the Mandarin Lexicon (SUBLIMINAL)
Duration: 2022 – 2027 - Professor Dr. Klaus Corcilius, Department of Philosophy
Project: Text and Idea of Aristotle's Science of Living Things (TIDA)
Duration: 2022 – 2027 - Professor Dr. Katerina Harvati-Papatheodorou, Geoscience Department - Paleoanthropology
Project: Our First Steps to Europe: Pleistocene Homo sapiens Dispersals, Adaptations and Interactions in South-East Europe (FIRSTSTEPS)
Duration: 2022 - 2027 - Professor Dr. Jan Born, Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioural Neurobiology
Project: Sleep Balancing Abstraction and Forgetting of Memory (SleepBalance)
Duration: 2020 - 2025 - Professor Dr. Gerhard Jäger, Institute of Linguistics
Project: Cross-linguistic Statistical Inference Using Hierarchical Bayesian Models (CrossLingference)
Duration: 2019 - 2024 - Professor Dr. Klaus Scheffler, University Department of Radiology and Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics
Project: Ultra-Fast, Spread-Spectrum Magnetic Resonance Imaging (SpreadMRI)
Duration: 2019 - 2024 - Professor Dr. Harald Baayen, Institute of Linguistics
Project: Wide Incremental learning with Discrimination Networks (WIDE)
Duration: 2017 - 2022 - Professor Dr. Hans-Georg Rammensee, Interfaculty Institute for Cell Biology
Project: Mutation-driven Immunoediting of Human Cancer? (Mutaediting)
Duration: 2013 - 2018 - Professor Dr. Gerhard Jäger, Institute of Linguistics
Project: Language Evolution: The Empirical Turn (EVOLAEMP)
Duration: 2013 - 2018 - Professor Dr. Bernd Pichler, Department of Radiology
Project: Multiparametric Tumor Imaging and beyond: Towards Understanding in vivo Signals (IMAGELINK)
Duration: 2013 - 2018 - Professor Ernst Pernicka, Institute of Prehistory and Medieval Archaeology
Project: Tin Isotopes and the Sources of Bronze Age Tin in the Old World (BRONZEAGETIN)
Duration: 2013 - 2018 - Professor Reinhold Kleiner, Institute of Physics
Project: Solid State/Cold Atom Hybrid Quantum Devices (SOCATHES)
Duration: 2009 - 2013 - Professor Wolfgang Rosenstiel, Department of Informatics (Wilhelm-Schickard-Institut)
Project: Bidirectional Cortical Communication Interface (BCCI)
Duration: 2009 - 2012
Consolidator Grants
The ERC Consolidator Grant supports experienced junior researchers in building a research team and establishing an independent career. Each project sponsored receives up to 2 million euros for up to five years.
Funded
- Professor Dr. Philipp Hennig, Department of Computer Science
Projekt: Advanced Numerics for Uncertainty and Bayesian Inference in Science (ANUBIS)
Duration: 2024-2029 - Professor Dr. Christoph Stein-Thoeringer, Medical Clinic, Internal Medicine
Project: Leveraging the Impact of Gut Microbes to Advance the Efficacy of CAR-T Cell Immunotherapy (PowerMiT)
Duration: 2024-2029 - Professor Dr. Jakob Macke, Department of Computer Science
Project: Using Deep Learning to Understand Computations in Neural Circuits with Connectome-constrained Mechanistic Models (DeepCoMechTome)
Duration: 2023 - 2028 - Professor Dr. Tobias Kaufmann, General psychiatry and psychotherapy
Project: Modelling and Maintaining Maternal Mental Health (HealthyMom)
Duration: 2023 - 2028 - Professor Dr. Georg Martius, Department of Computer Science
Project: Model-based Reinforcement Learning for Versatile Robots in the Real World (REAL-RL)
Duration: 2023 - 2027 - Professor Dr. Rosa Lozano Durán, Center for Plant Molecular Biology
Project: Emerging Multifactorial Complexity at the Geminivirus-host Interface (GemOmics)
Duration: 2022 - 2027 - Dr. Sireen El Zaatari, Institute for Archaeological Sciences
Project: Tracing Hominin Occupations of and Migrations through the Levant: Reviving Paleolithic Research in Lebanon (REVIVE)
Duration: 2021 - 2026 - Professor Dr. Claudia Lengerke, Department of Internal Medicine II
Project: Targeting Leukaemia by Modulating Hematopoetic Stem Cell Competitiveness (Hemstem)
Duration: 2021 - 2025 - Professor Dr. Michael Butter, Institute of English Languages and Literatures
Project: Populism and Conspiracy Theory (PACT)
Duration: 2020 - 2025 - Professor Dr. Markus Siegel, Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research
Project: Neuronal Information through Neuronal Interactions (NINI)
Duration: 2020 - 2025 - Professor Dr. Holger Zellentin, Religious Studies and Jewish Studies
Project: The Qur'an as a Source for Late Antiquity (QaSLA)
Duration: 2020 - 2025 - Professor Dr. Eric Kemen, Center for Plant Molecular Biology and Interfaculty Institute of Microbiology and Infection Medicine
Project: Knowledge based Design of Complex Synthetic Microbial Communities for Plant Protection (DeCoCt)
Duration: 2019 - 2024 - Professor Dr. Ana Jesus García-Sáez, Interfaculty Institute of Biochemistry
Project: Apoptotic Foci: Composition, Structure and Dynamics (APOSITE)
Duration: 2019 - 2024 - Professor Dr. Katerina Harvati-Papatheodorou, Geoscience Department - Paleoanthropology
Project: Human Evolution at the Crossroads (CROSSROADS)
Duration: 2017 - 2022 - Professor Dr. Lars Zender, Department of Medicine, Translational Gastrointestinal Oncology
Project: Functional in vivo Analysis of Cholangiocarcinoma Development, Progression and Metastasis (CholangioConcept)
Duration: 2015 - 2020 - Professor Dr. Thorsten Stafforst, Interfaculty Institute of Biochemistry
Project: Site-directed RNA Editing to Manipulate RNA and Protein Function (RNArepair)
Duration: 2015 - 2020 - Professor Dr. Todd Ehlers, Geoscience Department – Geodynamics
Project: Extreme Tectonics and Rapid Erosion in Mountain Environments (EXTREME)
Duration: 2014 - 2019
Starting Grants
ERC starting grants enable promising junior researchers to establish their own research units. Each project sponsored receives up to 1.5 million euros for up to five years.
Funded
- Junior Professor Dr. Josef Leibold, Internal Medicine VIII
Project: Harnessing Senescence to Improve Cell-based Therapies against Cancer (EXPLOITsen) - Professor Dr. Marius Lemm, Department of Mathematics
Project: The Mathematics of Quantum Propagation (MathQuantProp) - Junior Professor Dr. Isabel Monte, Center for Plant Molecular Biology
Project: When your Enemy becomes your Friend: Evolution of the Interaction between Fungi and Land plants (FRIENEMIES) - Dr. Claire Vernade, Cluster of Excellence 'Machine Learning: New Perspectives for Science'
Project: Continual and Sequential Learning for Artificial Intelligence (ConSequentIA) - Dr. Florian Wimmers, Interfaculty Institute of Biochemistry
Project: Organoid- and AI-based Identification of Oncology Drug-Vaccine Interactiones (OrAIOn) - Dr. Christian Bentz, Department of General and Computational Linguistics
Project: The Evolution of Visual Information Encoding (EVINE)
Duration: 2024 - 2028 - Dr. Katrin Franke, Research Institute of Ophthalmology
Project: Tracing Visual Computations from the Retina to Behavior (Eye to Action)
Duration: 2025 - 2029 - Professor Dr. Ralph Lütticke, School of Business and Economics, Macroeconomics
Project: Aggregate and Idiosyncratic Risk in Macroeconomics (AIRMAC)
Duration: 2024 - 2028 - Dr. Lukas Mager, Institute of Internal Medicine I
Project: Systematic Triangulation of Pathobiont-Host-Interactions (SOAR)
Duration: 2024 - 2028 - Professor Dr. Lisa Maier, Institute for Medical Microbiology and Hygiene
Projekc: Gut Microbiome-mediated Activities of Psychotropic Drugs (gutMAP)
Duration: 2024 – 2028 - Professor Dr. Christian Schürch, Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Pathology and Neuropathology
Project: Drivers and Brakes of CAR T Cell Efficiency Determined by the Tumor Immune Microenvironment (CAR-TIME)
Duration: 2024 - 2028 - Dr. Maria Spyrou, Institute for Archaeological Sciences
Project: Infectious Disease Outbreaks as Contributors to Socio-cultural Transformations in the 2nd Millenium BCE (PROTOPEST)
Duration: 2024 - 2028 - Professor Dr. Anna Gumpert, School of Business and Economics - International Economics and European Integration
Project: Firm Organization and the Adoption of Information and Communication Technologies (ORGANDICT)
Duration: 2023 - 2028 - Professor Dr. Philipp Berens, Institute for Ophthalmic Research
Project: Next Generation Mechanistic Models of Retinal Interneurons (NextMechMod)
Duration: 2023 - 2027 - Professor Dr. Tobias Hauser, General Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
Project: Understanding the Impact of Brain Fluctuations on Decision Making (NeuroFlux)
Duration: 2022 - 2027 - Professor Dr. Michael Filarsky, Interfaculty Institute of Biochemistry
Project: Uncovering the Mechanisms Behind Adaptive Gene Expression Switching in Malaria Parasites (MALSWITCH)
Duration: 2022 – 2026 - Dr. Judith Feucht, Cluster of Excellence iFIT and Children's Hospital
Project: Senolytic CAR T Cells as Novel Therapeutic Concept for Solid Tumors and Senescence-associated Diseases (CARsen)
Duration: 2022 - 2026 - Dr. Christoph Ratzke, Cluster of Excellence CMFI and Interfaculty Institute of Microbiology and Infection Medicine
Project: Bugs as Drugs: Understanding Microbial Interaction Networks to Prevent and Treat Infections (BugDrug)
Duration: 2021 - 2025 - Dr. Suayb Üstün, Center for Plant Molecular Biology
Project: Utilizing Diversity to Decipher the Role of Autophagy in Plant-Microbe Interactions (DIVERSIPHAGY)
Duration: 2021 - 2026 - Professor Dr. Esther Kühn, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research
Project: How Does our Brain Store Bodily Experiences? (BodyMemory)
Duration: 2021 - 2026 - Dr. Christina Schwarz, Institute for Ophthalmic Research
Project: Exploring Visual Processes with Two-Photon Ophthalmoscopy (TrackCycle.2P)
Duration: 2020 - 2025 - Professor Dr. Jan Christian Jansen, Institute of Modern History
Project: Refugees and Revolution in the Atlantic World, 1770s-1820s (AtlanticExiles
Duration: 2020 - 2025 - Professor Dr. Andreas Geiger, Department of Computer Science
Project: Learning Generative 3D Scene Models for Training and Validating Intelligent Systems (LEGO-3D)
Duration: 2020 - 2025 - Professor Dr. Zeynep Akata, Department of Computer Science
Project: Deeply Explainable Intelligent Machines (DEXIM)
Duration: 2019 - 2024 - Dr. Marcus Scheele, Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
Project: Coupled Organic Inorganic Nanostructures for Fast, Light-Induced Data Processing (COINFLIP)
Duration: 2019 - 2024 - Professor Dr. Marcello Porta, Department of Mathematics
Project: Macroscopic Behavior of Many-Body Quantum Systems (MaMBoQ)
Duration: 2019 - 2024 - Professor Dr. Philipp Hennig, Department of Computer Science
Project: Probabilistic Automated Numerical Analysis in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence (PANAMA)
Duration: 2018 - 2023 - PD Dr. Surjo Soekadar, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Institute for Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology
Project: Building Next-Generation Brain/Neural-Machine Interfaces for Restoration of Brain Functions (NGBMI)
Duration: 2018 - 2023 - Professor Dr. Hannes Link, Interfaculty Institute of Microbiology and Infection Medicine
Project: Mapping Metabolic Regulators at a Genome-scale to Switch Bacteria from Growth to Overproduction of Chemicals (MapMe)
Duration: 2017 - 2022 - Dr. Radu Iovita, Institute for Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology
Project: A Silk Road in the Palaeolithic: Reconstructing Late Pleistocene Hominin Dispersals and Adaptations in Central Asia (PALAEOSILKROAD)
Duration: 2017 - 2022 - Dr. Chang Liu, Center for Plant Molecular Biology
Project: Chromatin Packing and Architectural Proteins in Plants“ (CHROMATADS)
Duration: 2017 - 2022 - Dr. Claudio Tennie, Institute of Prehistory and Medieval Archaeology
Project: Do Early Stone Tools indicate a Hominin Ability to accumulate Culture? (STONECULT)
Duration: 2017 - 2022 - Dr. Stephan König, Geoscience Department – Isotope Geochemistry
Project: From the Origin of Earth‘s Volatiles to Atmospheric Oxygenation (O2RIGIN)
Duration: 2015 - 2020 - Professor Dr. Michael Kormann, University Children’s Hospital - Department of Paediatrics
Project: Biochemically Modified messenger RNA Encoding Nucleases for in vivo Gene Correction of Severe Inherited Lung Diseases (BREATHE)
Duration: 2015 - 2020 - Dr. Markus Siegel, Werner Reichardt Center for Integrative Neuroscience
Project: Spectral Fingerprints of Neuronal Interactions (SPECFIN)
Duration: 2014 - 2019 - Professor Ana García-Sáez, Interfaculty Institute of Biochemistry
Project: The Quantitative Bcl-2 Interactome in Apoptosis: Decoding How Cancer Cells Escape Death (APOQUANT)
Duration: 2013 - 2019 - Professorin Daniela Thorwarth, University Department of Radiation Oncology
Project: Biologically individualized, Model-based Radiotherapy on the Basis of Multi-parametric Molecular Tumor Profiling (BIO-IRT)
Duration: 2013 - 2018 - Professor Dr. Sonja Utz, Knowledge Media Research Center Tübingen
Project: Redefining Tie Strength – How Social Media (can) Help us to Get Non-redundant Useful Information and Emotional Support (ReDefTie)
Duration: 2013-2018 - Dr. Stephan Wenkel, Center for Plant Molecular Biology (ZMBP)
Project: Designing microProteins to Alter Growth Processes in Crop Plants (MIPDESIGN)
Duration: 2013 - 2018 - Professor Dr. Jan Wehkamp, University Hospitals, Inner Medicine 1, Hepatology, Gastroenterology, Infectiology
Project: The Influence of Environmental Factors on Antimicrobial Activity of Human Intestinal Defensins“ (DEFENSINACTIVITY)
Duration: 2013 - 2018 - Professor Dr. Andreas Kappler, Geoscience Department
Project: Microbial Formation of Minerals by Communities of Fe(II)-oxidizing Bacteria in Modern and Ancient Environments (MICROFOX)
Duration: 2012 - 2017 - Professor Johannes Krause, Tübingen Interfaculty Center for Archaeology
Project: Ancient Pathogen Genomics of Re-emerging Infectious Disease (APGREID)
Duration: 2012 - 2017 - Dr. Hendrikje Nienborg, Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience (CIN)
Project: Optogenetic Examination of the Role of Feedback on Visual Processing and Perception (NEUROPTOGEN)
Duration: 2012 - 2017 - Professor Katerina Harvati, Geoscience Department - Paleoanthropology
Project: Paleoanthropology at the Gates of Europe: Human Evolution in the Southern Balkans (PaGE)
Duration: 2011 - 2016 - Dr. Steffen Katzner, Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience (CIN)
Project: Cortical Circuits of Visual Perception (Percept)
Duration: 2011 - 2016 - Professor Erik Schäffer, Center for Plant Molecular Biology (ZMBP)
Project: Protein Friction of Molecular Machines: Nanomechanics with Optical Tweezers (NanoMech)
Duration: 2010 - 2015 - Professor Martin Zerner, Department of Mathematics
Project: Non-classical Interacting Random Walks (NCIRW)
Duration: 2008 - 2014 - Dr. Marc Himmelbach, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research (HIH)
Project: Human Reaching and Grasping - Cognitive Networks of Visual Action Control (GRASP-CN)
Duration: 2008 - 2013
- Participation as partner: Assistant professor Dr. Cynthianne Debono Spiteri, Institute of Prehistory and Medieval Archaeology, in
Project: Transformations of Food in the Eastern Mediterranean Late Bronze Age (FoodTransforms) – PD Dr. Philipp Stockhammer (LMU)
Duration: 2016 - 2021
Synergy Grants
Synergy Grants go to support teams of two to four outstanding researchers who can only successfully carry out their project in this grouping. The maximum funding amount is ten million euros over a period of six years.
Funded
- Professor Dr. Igor Lesanovsky, Institute of Theoretical Physics
Project: Open 2D Quantum Simulator (Open-2QS)
Project partners: University of Mainz and University of Stockholm, Sweden - Professor Dr. Carola Lorea, Institute for the Study of Religions
Project: Mantras in Religion, Media and Society in Global Southern Asia (MANTRAMS)
Project partners: University of Vienna, Brown University (USA)
Duration: 2024 - 2030 - Professor Dr. Holger Bettinger, Institute of Organic Chemistry
Project: Tackling the Cyclacene Challenge (TACY)
Project partners: Universities of Heidelberg and Marburg
Duration: 2023 - 2029 - Professor Dr. Martin Giese, Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research
Project: How Body Relevance Drives Brain Organization (RELEVANCE)
Project partners: KU Leuven, Belgium, and Maastricht University, the Netherlands
Duration: 2020 - 2025 - Professor Dr. Ulf Ziemann, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research
Project: Connecting to the Networks of the Human Brain (ConnectToBrain)
Project partners: Aalto University, Finland, and D’Annunzio University of Chieti – Pescara, Italy
Duration: 2019 - 2025