ERC revises changes to eligibility criteria for grant competitions
After announcing new restrictions on reapplying for European Research Council grants, the ERC
European Research Council
Scientific Council has decided to revise some of the changes.
On 29/04/2026, the ERC Scientific Council said it "has listened to the concerns from members of the research community about the recent announcement on changes to the re-submission rules...The Scientific Council has decided to readjust some of the announced changes."
The Scientific Council presented a series of revisions to the 2027 Work Programme eligibility rules on 16/04/2026. These include reviewing resubmission restrictions to "reduce pressure on the evaluation system". For the 2027 Work Programme calls, applicants who :
• received a C score at Step 1 in the 2024, 2025 or 2026 Synergy Grant calls, or a B score at Step 1 in the 2025 or 2026 Synergy calls, are not eligible to apply for the 2027 Synergy Grant;
• did not pass Step 1 of the 2026 ERC Plus Grant competition may not apply to the 2027 ERC Plus call;
• applied to the 2026 Advanced Grant are not eligible to apply for the 2027 Synergy Grant, regardless of their evaluation outcome;
• More broadly, applicants who obtained a C score at Step 1 in any of the other main grant calls in 2024, 2025 or 2026, or a B score at Step 1 in 2025 or 2026, are excluded from all 2027 ERC main grant calls, including Synergy and ERC Plus.
Following numerous responses, the Scientific Council has therefore reassessed these new rules, deciding to maintain the existing resubmission restrictions for Starting, Consolidator, Advanced and ERC Plus Grants, in line with recent years. However, stricter resubmission rules will be applied to Synergy Grant applications.
More details on the resubmission criteria
- Eligibility for the 2027 Strating, Consolidator and Advanced calls: "Applicants who received a C score at step 1 in the 2025 or 2026 StG/CoG/AdG call are not eligible. Applicants who received a B score at step 1 in the 2026 StG/CoG/AdG call are not eligible", said the ERC.
- Eligibility for the 2027 ERC Plus call: "Applicants who received a C score at step 1 in the 2025 or 2026 StG/CoG/AdG call are not eligible. Applicants who received a B score at step 1 in the 2026 StG/CoG/AdG call are not eligible. Applicants who were not retained at step 1 in the 2026 ERC Plus call are not eligible."
- Eligibility for the 2027 Synergy call: "Applicants who received a C score at step 1 in the 2025 or 2026 SyG/StG/CoG/AdG call are not eligible. Applicants who received a B score at step 1 in the 2026 SyG/StG/CoG/AdG call are not eligible".
"The issues will not go away"
Jan Palmowski, Secretary General of The Guild The Guild of European research-intensive universities , said, on 30/04/2026, he was "delighted" about this revision, while adding: "The issues will not go away, and if the ERC will benefit from a significant budget increase in FP10 The next Framework Programme for Research, currently referred to as FP10 - as it must - then ways of ensuring high quality evaluation of a growing number of applicants must be found. For this process, we need to listen carefully to the arguments, and we must ensure sufficient time so that all parties - applicants, evaluators, and the ERC - can prepare themselves appropriately."
The ERC said that the changes announced on 16 April 2026 were in response to a need to manage an influx of applications and preserve the integrity of the peer-review process by reducing the burden on peer-reviewers, as the ERC had seen a significant increase in applications. Some panels had been assessing more than 250 proposals, well above the historical average of 50 to 150. To safeguard the quality of the evaluation process, the Scientific Council moved towards direct restrictions on applications and resubmissions.
Other eligibility changes are being retained. These include:
- basing eligibility for Starting and Consolidator grants on the date of PhD defence rather than a fixed post-PhD window;
- limiting researchers to one Starting and one Consolidator grant over their career, and restricting applicants to a single proposal at a time (except for Proof of Concept calls) and only one submission under the 2027 Work Programme, unless the first is deemed ineligible.
- In addition, applicants who have previously held a Starting or Consolidator Grant may not reapply to the same scheme, and those who submitted eligible proposals to the Advanced or Plus Grant 2026 calls are not eligible to apply for the Synergy Grant 2027.
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