The ERC Starting Grants 2022 call closed for applications on 13 January 2022.

These are the preliminary data on submitted proposals:

• The ERC received 2,932 applications. This marks a decrease of 28% compared to the Starting Grants call in 2021 and decrease of 10% compared to the call in 2020. The applicants’ success rate in this competition is estimated at 16%.
• The highest number of applications was submitted in the domain of Physical Sciences and Engineering (1,234 – 42%), followed by Social Science and Humanities (850 – 29%), and Life Sciences (848 – 29%).
• Women submitted nearly 41% of proposals, compared to 40% in the Starting Grants call in 2021 and 38% in 2020.

In the ERC Work Programme, the ERC Scientific Council has earmarked €749 million for an estimated 480 Starting Grants in 2022. The ERC is now beginning the evaluation of the proposals. The projects selected for funding are planned to be announced in December 2022.