ERC Plus Grant
The ERC Plus Grant from the European Research Council funds visionary, high-impact research projects that aim to transform or create new scientific fields beyond standard ERC grants.
Funder: European Research Council
Due Dates: September 2, 2026
Funding Amounts: Up to €7,000,000 per grant for 4–7 years; about 30 awards expected for the 2026 call.
Summary: Supports exceptional researchers worldwide to pursue transformative, high-impact projects that go beyond the scope of regular ERC funding.
Key Information: Only one ERC Plus Grant may be held in a researcher's lifetime; extremely competitive (approx. 30 grants/year).
Description
The ERC Plus Grant is a flagship scheme of the European Research Council (ERC), designed to empower visionary principal investigators (PIs) from any country and at any career stage to propose bold, transformative research projects that cannot be realized within the scope of existing ERC grant programs. This grant supports projects with the potential to revolutionize their fields or open entirely new avenues of inquiry, emphasizing high risk/high reward, intellectual leadership, and originality. The scheme is highly competitive, with only around 30 grants awarded annually across all scientific domains.
