Portugal has already received 81 million euros from the European Research Council

News ERC Consolidator Grants

TheEuropean Research Council ( ERC) announced today, November 23rd, the 308 projects selected for the Call Consolidator Grants 2023 – ERC. This list includes three projects by researchers working in Portugal, which have received funding of 6 million euros (2 million euros each). At the beginning of November, another ERC Call (Starting Grant) approved a project led by Portugal, with funding of 1.5 million euros.

With these results, research carried out in institutions of the National Science and Technology System (SNCT) has reached the mark of around 81 million euros raised and 51 projects coordinated at the ERC’s Calls since the start of Horizon Europe (2021), the framework program for European funding of research and innovation for the period 2021-2027.

The winners of the Consolidator Grant 2023 to carry out research in Portugal are:

  • Pedro Sousa-Victor, from the Institute of Molecular Medicine, with the project “The Interplay of Aging, Immune Signaling and Stem Cell Function“, which will analyze the changes that affect the immune system as people age;
  • Manuel Mendes, from NOVA’s Materials Research Center (CENIMAT-i3N), with the project “Power-to-X: STREAMing Hydrogen from 3-Band Solar Cells boosted with Photonic Management“, whose aim is to create high-efficiency solar cells, applied for example to water fission;
  • Sidh Mendiratta, Center for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, with the project “Building Identity: Religious Architecture and Sacral Landscapes of Christian Minorities in India and Bangladesh”which aims to address the critical challenges faced by Christian minorities in contemporary India and Bangladesh.

The winner of the Starting Grant to carry out research in Portugal is:

  • Catarina Santos, from the Center for Marine and Environmental Sciences (MARE)/University of Lisbon, with the project “Planning for Sustainable Ocean Use in Antarctica Under Global Environmental Change”on marine spatial planning with a focus on Antarctica.

 

Results from the Portuguese Diaspora

In the Call Consolidator Grants 2023, the results of which were announced today, November 23, two projects led by a Portuguese researcher and a researcher carrying out their research abroad were also funded, totaling 4 million euros:

  • João Mendonça, Technical University of Denmark, with the project “Building Virtual Worlds that Follow Universal Laws of Physics”whose ambition is to develop the first climate simulator that can be applied universally to any planet in the solar system;
  • Flor Avelino, Utrecht University, “Power Dynamics in Transformative Social Innovation”which addresses the question of how and when potentially transformative social innovations are able to translate into genuine and sustainable changes in society.

Reference should also be made to the success of a diaspora researcher in the recent Call Synergy Grant 2023.

  • Lourenço Beirão da Veiga, from the University of Milan-Bicocca, who has spent most of his professional career in Italy, with a PhD at the University of Pavia and IST, has received funding from Call Synergy Grants, and will develop new methods for numerical simulations together with institutions in France, Italy and Australia.

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