October 20, 2026

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The European Post

Policy • Diplomacy • strategic insight

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October 20, 2026

Newsletter

The European Post

Policy • Diplomacy • strategic insight

LATEST
EU-UK Summit Hangs On Youth Scheme And Carbon Market LinkBlack Sea Shipping Attacks Put EU Maritime Hub To The TestStock Options Split Governments Over EU Inc 28th Regime MandateCouncil Seals Return Regulation With Return Hubs And Entry BansParcel Handling Fee Lands By 1 November On Low-Value EU ImportsIndia Trade Agreement Heads Into The Council’s Signing QueueBosnia EU Accession Stays Frozen After A Record Low Turnout VoteForeign Investment Screening Regulation Binds Every StateImporters Face EU Deforestation Regulation On 30 DecemberMînzatu Pushes The EU Anti-Poverty Strategy Toward 2030EU Budget Fraud Protection Shifts To National Anti-Fraud ServicesCohesion Policy Row Splits Fitto And Regions Over The 2028 BudgetIn-Game Virtual Currencies Draw EU Action Against Nine StudiosAnnual Euro Area Inflation Hits 3.8 percent As Energy Prices ClimbFRTB Market Risk Rules Await Parliament Scrutiny Before 2027EDIP Defence Funding Backs Eight Plants Making Missile FuelInnovation Act Lets Start-Ups Borrow Against Patents And IP RightsPublic Procurement Act Replaces Three Directives With One RuleGeorgia EU Candidate Status Frays After Parliament Sanctions CallIndonesia EU CEPA Signing Hinges On GSP Deadline And Text LanguageEU-UK Summit Hangs On Youth Scheme And Carbon Market LinkBlack Sea Shipping Attacks Put EU Maritime Hub To The TestStock Options Split Governments Over EU Inc 28th Regime MandateCouncil Seals Return Regulation With Return Hubs And Entry BansParcel Handling Fee Lands By 1 November On Low-Value EU ImportsIndia Trade Agreement Heads Into The Council’s Signing QueueBosnia EU Accession Stays Frozen After A Record Low Turnout VoteForeign Investment Screening Regulation Binds Every StateImporters Face EU Deforestation Regulation On 30 DecemberMînzatu Pushes The EU Anti-Poverty Strategy Toward 2030EU Budget Fraud Protection Shifts To National Anti-Fraud ServicesCohesion Policy Row Splits Fitto And Regions Over The 2028 BudgetIn-Game Virtual Currencies Draw EU Action Against Nine StudiosAnnual Euro Area Inflation Hits 3.8 percent As Energy Prices ClimbFRTB Market Risk Rules Await Parliament Scrutiny Before 2027EDIP Defence Funding Backs Eight Plants Making Missile FuelInnovation Act Lets Start-Ups Borrow Against Patents And IP RightsPublic Procurement Act Replaces Three Directives With One RuleGeorgia EU Candidate Status Frays After Parliament Sanctions CallIndonesia EU CEPA Signing Hinges On GSP Deadline And Text Language

ERC Starting Grants Attract 21 Researchers From Outside Europe

Milot Rashica
Policy Reporter, Research and Innovation

Heidelberg: The ERC Starting Grants for 2026 show a shift in where young scientists want to build their careers. The European Research Council announced on 3 September 2026 that it will award €705 million to 421 early-career researchers, and 21 of the winners are based outside Europe, including 20 in the United States.

That figure for the ERC Starting Grants is notable against last year’s. The 21 researchers from outside Europe make up 5 percent of the winners, compared with 11 researchers, or 2.3 percent, in the previous round. Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva said the decision of those scientists reflects Europe’s growing appeal for frontier research, and she noted that 21 researchers in the US and Canada plan to relocate to Europe.

Demand for the ERC Starting Grants keeps climbing. The council received 4,807 proposals, a rise of 22 percent from 3,928 a year earlier, and the success rate stood at 8.8 percent. Applications from researchers based in the United States rose from 116 to 169. Each grant provides up to €1.5 million over a maximum of five years, and applicants who move to Europe under the Choose Europe initiative can request up to €2 million for new labs or research teams.

The grants are expected to create more than 2,700 jobs in the grantees’ teams. The winners will work in 25 EU member states and associated countries. Germany hosts the most, with 89 grants, followed by the United Kingdom with 47, France with 38, Switzerland with 36 and the Netherlands with 33.

Nationality tells a slightly different story. The winners include 84 Germans, 50 Italians, 30 French and 24 Spanish researchers, alongside 48 other nationalities, and the ERC president, Maria Leptin, says more than 50 nationalities are represented. She called the creativity and ambition of this new generation of grantees inspiring.

The funded projects show the range of the ERC Starting Grants. They include a researcher moving from the United States to Germany to study how brains turn information into action, a Poland-based project on inheritance laws and modern families, and a Spain-based study of how deadly fungi adapt, spread and resist antifungal drugs. The ERC chooses projects on scientific excellence alone, with no national quotas.

The scheme sits within Horizon Europe, and the ERC budget for 2021 to 2027 exceeds €16 billion. The ERC Plus Grants scheme has been open for applications since June 2026, and the deadline for the 2027 round of ERC Starting Grants passed on 14 October 2026. The next data point will be how many applicants in that round list a non-European base.

With budget talks for the next framework programme under way, the numbers give research advocates a concrete argument. If the ERC Starting Grants keep drawing talent across the Atlantic at this rate, Europe’s case for protecting frontier research funding gets stronger, and so does the pressure to keep the money flowing.

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