European Research Council (ERC)
With the start of negotiations between Switzerland and the EU, the EU has put in place the transitional arrangement 2024, which allows researchers in Switzerland to participate in the ERC Advanced Grants 2024 call as ‘beneficiary’. Recent progress in the negotiations have led the EU to invite researchers in Switzerland to participate as 'beneficiaries' in the ERC Starting Grant 2025, Synergy Grant 2025 and Consolidator Grant 2025 calls.
Scope of the programme:
- Groundbreaking bottom-up research
- Support for single, independent Principal Investigator (PI) and their team (no collaborations, except in the external page Synergy Grant)
- PI can be of any age and nationality
- Supporting Host Institution needed
- Grant types depend on career stage
- Please make sure you are eligible according to the ERC rules
- Please make sure you are eligible according to the ETH-internal rules (see Special submission requirements)
- Please make sure you have the support from the department (in many cases, you need to provide a support letter and send it to us). Contact the department as early as possible.
- Once your eligibility, the support of your department and the employment for the duration of the ERC grant are secured, and no later than 4 weeks before deadline, please for support with the application.
Please make sure, together with the department coordination, that you can be employed at ETH Zürich for the full duration of the ERC grant.
- Internal and external applicants at an early stage in their career and with a promising track record can be promoted to assistant professor non-tenure track (if the department agrees). In such case, the department must cover 20% of the assistant professor salary for the duration of the project. Please approach the department coordination with a CV including a list of ALL non-academic activities (experience in the private sector, maternity, documented paternity leave, military service, master’s degree in two different disciplines etc.) that might have delayed your academic career. The academic net age is decisive for an assistant professorship at ETH Zürich.
- Applicants who already hold an assistant professorship non tenure track should to discuss the possibilities.
- Applicants on a tenure track professorship can apply but still need a letter of support from the department.
- Associate and full professors do not need a support letter from the department and can immediately for a consultation.
Maximum project duration is 5 years. For shorter projects, the maximum grant amount is reduced.
For each scheme, additional funding of up to 1 Mio € can be claimed for exceptional purposes:
(a) "start-up" costs for Principal Investigators moving to the EU or an AC from elsewhere as a consequence of receiving the ERC grant and/or
(b) the purchase of major equipment and/or
(c) access to large facilities and/or
(d) other major experimental and field work costs, excluding personnel costs.
Please use the protected page ETH Budget calculator and send us your budget together with the justifications (as requested in the admin section of the ERC application) for a double check.
Please note that there are special ETH internal requirements and deadlines to be met:
- The department must be informed about the plan to apply as early as possible and no later than 2 months before the submission deadline.
- Further internal deadlines around 1 month in advance of the ERC deadline apply. You will receive detailed information from us once the department has confirmed its support for your application.
Once you verified your eligibility, departmental support and employment, please immediately. We will then send you all relevant information in an email. There is a mandatory procedure to be followed and internal deadlines to be met.
Support - our services:
- we arrange a personal meeting with you to provide in-depth information on programme, budget, ethics, and administrative procedures
- we organise regular training and information events
- we formally check your budget and submission
- we issue the mandatory signed Host Support Letter
Procedure - your administrative tasks:
- you ensure you are eligible to apply and have departmental support
- you ensure and send us the required confirmation from the Department
- you register for the call in the Tender and Opportunity Portal and Download grant us access (PDF, 227 KB)
- you send us your budget, acronym, and proposal title
- you submit your application in the Tender and Opportunities Portal
To submit an application, you must register for the call in the Tender and Opportunity Portal and Download grant us access (PDF, 227 KB). After you have received the “Host Support Letter” from us, you can submit the application via the Tender and Opportunity Portal.
Questions and contact
For general questions, please contact