Focus for ERC ‘must be on doubling the budget’

Plans for the European Research Council in the next version of the EU’s research and innovation programme must focus on securing a doubled budget ahead of any other considerations such as launching new schemes, according to sector leaders. Maria Leptin, the ERC president, revealed this month in a webinar to explain the purpose of a new Plus Grants scheme, which offers larger and longer grants, that the funder’s governing Scientific Council is considering launching another scheme at the opposite end of the size spectrum. This potential scheme for “smaller, exploratory” grants is “one example” of “all sorts of ideas” it has, she said.