UK-based researchers remain amongst biggest beneficiaries of Horizon’s ERC Starting Grants
On 3 September, the European Research Council (ERC) announced the award of 421 Starting Grants to young scientists and scholars across Europe, including 47 researchers based in the UK. The funding – totalling over €705 million – supports cutting-edge research in a wide range of fields, from life sciences and engineering to social sciences and humanities. These grants are part of Horizon Europe, the EU’s research and innovation programme to which the UK associated on 1 January 2024.
Starting Grants amount to €1.5 million per grant for a period of five years. On top of its standard grants, the ERC offers additional funding to help new grantees establish their laboratories or research team. This funding is now being doubled from up to €1 million to up to €2 million for researchers who relocate from overseas to EU member states or countries associated with Horizon Europe, including the United Kingdom. The increased funding aims to further help top scientists from around the world by easing their transition and establishment in Europe.
In June, the ERC announced its Advanced Grants beneficiaries. The UK topped the league of the 2026 round of Advanced Grants. Sixty-two (almost 20%) out of the total of 319 projects which were funded were UK based. The Advanced Grant competition is one of the most prestigious and competitive funding schemes in the EU. It gives senior researchers the opportunity to pursue ambitious, curiosity-driven projects that could lead to major scientific breakthroughs. The Advanced Grants can go up to €2.5 million.
The ERC, set up by the European Union in 2007, is the premier European funding organisation for excellent frontier research. It supports researchers of any nationality and age to run projects based across Europe. The ERC offers four core grant schemes: Starting Grants, Consolidator Grants, Advanced Grants and Synergy Grants. With its additional Proof of Concept grant scheme, the ERC helps grantees to bridge the gap between their pioneering research and early phases of its commercialisation. The ERC is led by an independent governing body, the Scientific Council. Since November 2021, Maria Leptin is the President of the ERC. The overall ERC budget from 2021 to 2027 is more than €16 billion, as part of the Horizon Europe programme.
The UK has traditionally done very well in securing grants from the ERC, across all stages. In 2024 and 2025, it was the second biggest beneficiary of ERC grants, behind Germany, with 472 participations representing an EU net contribution of €802 million or 15% of the total.
Horizon Europe is the biggest international research and innovation programme in the world with more than €95.5 billion of funding available over seven years (2021 to 2027) from the EU budget, to which all associated countries are adding further contributions.
Questions & Answers on the UK’s association to Horizon Europe can be found here, as well as in this FAQ
Joint statement by the European Commission and the UK Government on the UK's association to Horizon Europe and Copernicus
UK association to Horizon Europe