The European Commission has adopted the European Research Council (ERC) Work Programme 2027, setting out the funding opportunities, grant budgets, competition timetable and application rules for the coming year.
Established by the ERC Scientific Council and formally adopted by the Commission, the Work Programme introduces several changes to the ERC's grant schemes and application procedures, which were announced earlier this year in order to give researchers time to prepare.
Key changes include expanded eligibility periods for Starting and Consolidator Grants, as well as limits on the number of proposals researchers can submit within a single work programme. These changes are intended to better reflect increasingly diverse research careers and to help ensure a fair and efficient evaluation process.
The first call under the new Work Programme will be the ERC Starting Grant 2027 call, opening on 22 July 2026. This will be followed by competitions for the Consolidator Grant, Synergy Grant, Advanced Grant and ERC Plus Grant.