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Research Ireland ERC Support Programme

Closed

/

05 Mar 2026 / 05 Mar 2026

Deadline

Rolling

Duration

Max 60 months (or 72 months for ERC Synergy Grants)

This programme is temporarily paused for new applications. The programme provides an additional overhead payment to the Host Institution of ERC award winners.

The aims of the Research Ireland ERC Support Programme are: 

  • To allow Irish institutions to recruit ERC-funded researchers from outside of Ireland  
  • To help recruited ERC awardees by providing excellent facilities and infrastructure  
  • To enhance the benefits of applying to ERC schemes for institutions and applicants   
  • To increase, in the long term, the participation of Ireland-based researchers in all ERC schemes  
  • To increase, in the long term, Ireland’s success rate across all ERC schemes

The Research Ireland ERC Support Programme is run as a rolling call. Applications are invited from senior representatives of the Host Institutions of recruited awardees that have been funded through the ERC Starting Grant, Consolidator Grant, Advanced Grant or Synergy Grant schemes. The ERC awardee associated with the application must have succeeded in obtaining their award from a Host Institution outside of Ireland. The proximity of an application to this programme to the official starting date of the associated ERC award may affect the level of funding available. 

  • The applicant must be an appointed senior representative (e.g., Vice President for Research, Dean of Research, Head of Research, etc.) of the Research Office of a Research Ireland Eligible Research Body hosting the research programme of an ERC awardee who can demonstrate that they have officially transferred, or will officially transfer, their ERC award to their institution from an institution based outside of Ireland.   
  • The recruited awardee must have been successful in any of the following ERC schemes: the ERC Starting Grant, ERC Consolidator Grant, ERC Advanced Grant and ERC Synergy Grant. 
  • The recruited awardee may have submitted their proposal to any panel within the three ERC domains. 
  • Currently, applications must be aligned with the legacy remit of Science Foundation Ireland (SFI). Research Ireland is working to update the scope of the ERC Support programme and changes to the remit of the programme will be communicated once they have been confirmed.

This call to the Research Ireland ERC Support Programme offers a maximum award of €300,000, which is provided as an overhead to the Host Institution of a recruited ERC awardee. Regardless of which ERC scheme the awardee applied to, the maximum award is the same. The funding may be requested for two principal purposes:  

  • To help provide an optimal environment to allow the recruited awardee to succeed with their ERC-funded research programme  
  • To assist the Host Institution to be successful in winning ERC awards through future funding calls  

No more than 25% of the total funding requested (i.e., a maximum of €75,000) may be used for the latter purpose.  

Researchers recruited to Ireland before being notified of the outcome of an ERC application may not be associated with an application to this call. Only researchers holding either an active or approved (but not started) ERC grant can be the subject of an application to this call 

Downloads

Call document