Why do some countries face problems obtaining ERC grants?
(Apenas disponível em Inglês)
A Q&A session with Professor Alice Valkárová, Chair of the ERC Working Group on Widening European Participation
What does widening mean?
The performance in ERC calls for proposals varies widely across European countries. There is a concentration of ERC grants in several top research institutions located in countries with high research intensity and long research traditions. Several European countries however face problems in obtaining ERC grants. The number of proposals from the so-called “widening countries” is approximately eight times lower than from other countries, and their success rates remain below average. This mirrors a general trend regarding research performance that can be observed in these countries and is not unique to the ERC calls.
| Widening countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia |
Why is there such a disparity in performance?
The share of ERC grants that goes to any given country depends on several factors. Research investment in some widening countries is limited. The percentage of GDP allocated to research and innovation in Bulgaria, Slovakia and Romania is below 1%, while some countries devote more than 3% (Sweden, Belgium, Austria). Other factors include overall quality of the research institutions and their infrastructure, and obviously the economy and population size.
The causes for the low success rates can be attributed partly to the national culture and history of these countries. The effects of historical conditions on the early careers of many now senior researchers are probably the reason why researchers from some widening countries are more often successful in ERC Starting Grant and Consolidator Grant competitions, rather than ERC Advanced Grant competitions.
Researchers from some eastern European countries were not allowed to work or even to travel to western countries in the past. For example, in the 1970s, I was forbidden to take a research trip from the area formerly known as Czechoslovakia to Finland. Such restrictions meant that researchers did not gain much experience with cutting-edge research at an international level, and their CV and track record then made them less competitive.
Often, poor knowledge of English can also be an obstacle to writing a good proposal and successfully completing an interview, both part of the ERC evaluation process. We can hope that this will improve with time. Thankfully, we have already started to see well-prepared young scientists from widening countries submitting excellent proposals.
Finally, it is also important to note that success rates vary greatly between widening countries: Hungary, Portugal and Czechia are doing better than others.
What do you see as the most interesting developments in widening countries in recent years?
Most European countries have national grant agencies that support the best research at a national level. Several countries, like Poland and Czechia, have established funding schemes inspired by the ERC model in their national agencies.
Strict and competitive evaluation schemes could prepare local researchers to put together better applications and to apply to ERC calls. In several countries a condition for the completion of a nationally funded project is to submit a proposal to the ERC. This can increase the number of proposals submitted.
What is the ERC doing to help?
The ERC aims to help unlock the potential for frontier research in widening countries, without departing from the ERC’s principle of funding projects based on scientific excellence. The ERC Scientific Council’s Widening European Participation Working Group was set up to identify ways to achieve this.
One of the problems of researchers from widening countries can be the lack of experience with the preparation of ERC proposals in their countries. Through the ERC Visiting Fellowship Programme, the ERC promotes the efforts of national authorities that set up and fund mobility programmes to allow potential ERC applicants to visit and gain experience with ERC-funded teams. Two researchers who took part share their experiences in this edition of the ERC Magazine.
Widening countries sometimes lack researchers with international expertise who can mentor future ERC applicants. The ERC Mentoring Initiative was specifically set up to address this issue. We explore the outcomes of the Mentoring and Fellowship schemes to date in a dedicated article in this edition.
The ERC also provides recommendations to national policy-makers to make participation in ERC calls an essential component in the national evaluation of research institutions. Some countries already do this and some at least plan to include this in future evaluation schemes.
Another useful tool proposed to widening countries is to fund ERC finalists through national funding schemes. This means that those who submitted proposals that were graded as excellent by the ERC but did not receive ERC funding due to budget constraints, would still have an alternative. In 11 widening countries, this type of support has already been provided, which is very positive.
In a majority of widening countries there are “ERC National Contact Points” (NCPs) who represent a natural connection between researchers and the ERC. It is evident that many proposals in ERC calls do not succeed in the evaluation because they are poorly written. NCPs organise webinars where they give advice to potential applicants on how to write better proposals, as well as provide consultations and organise mock interviews for potential ERC applicants.
What actions may the ERC take in the next few years?
There is still a researcher population in widening countries that is not mobilised. One of the aims of the ERC and of EU member states is to acquaint the scientific community in their countries with the objectives of the ERC and thus motivate scientists to submit more and better ERC proposals.
In this edition of the ERC Magazine, we also invited the former President of the scientific council of the Polish National Science Centre to give his views on actions that could be taken to improve the success rates of applicants from widening countries.
What is certain is that the ERC will continuously monitor the success rates of widening countries and their participation in the ERC calls. Our Widening European Participation Working Group will continue to bring and discuss new ideas and schemes aiming to help mitigate the problems that cause low performance in these countries.
Finally, there will be changes to the way of assessing ERC proposals, as announced by the ERC in December 2022. The project proposal will formally be given more weight than the past achievements of the applicant, which may help to create a more level playing field for applicants from countries that currently lag behind.
Member of the ERC Scientific Council
Chair of the ERC Working Group on Widening European Participation
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