The Starting Grant supports excellent Principal Investigators starting or having recently started their own independent research team or programme. A Starting Grant Principal Investigator should have already shown evidence of the potential for research independence, for example, by having produced at least one important publication as its main author or a publication without the participation of their PhD supervisor.
Starting Grants may be awarded up to a maximum of EUR 1 500 000 for a period of 5 years. The maximum size of the grants is reduced pro rata temporis for proposals of shorter duration.
The Principal Investigators shall have successfully defended their first PhD at least 2 and up to 7 years prior to 1 January 2026. Cut-off dates: Successful defence of PhD between 1 January 2019 and 31 December 2023 (inclusive).