European Research Council to support 6 more projects in Portugal

The European Research Council (ERC) announced today, September 4, the projects selected in theERC Starting Grant 2025 Call , which aims to fund projects in all scientific fields and led by researchers at the beginning of their careers, allowing them to form their teams and develop their most promising ideas. In total, 478 projects were selected, amounting to 761 million euros of investment. Within this group, there are 6 projects by researchers working in Portugal, which have raised around 9.6 million euros.

With this result, research carried out in institutions of the National Science and Technology System (SNCT) has received around 127 million euros in ERC Calls funding since the start of Horizon Europe, the European research and innovation funding framework program for the 2021-2027 period.

The six projects selected for funding in the Call Starting Grant 2025, two in each of the ERC's scientific domains, are:

• Joana Pestana Lages, from ISCTE, with the project "Housing as a Tool for Freedom: A Future Away from Incarceration" (1.5 million euros);
• Joaquim Alves da Silva, from the Champalimaud Foundation, with the project DisSeCT - "Disentangling self-paced from cued action initiation in the motor thalamus" (1.5 million euros);
• João Ribeiro, from the Telecommunications Institute, with the LESYNCH project - "Limits and Efficiency of Coding Against Synchronization Errors" (1.5 million euros);
• Paula Nabais, from NOVA FCT, with the SCARLET project - "Study and interpretation of historical natural dye formulations for the modern textile design" (1.5 million euros);
• Rúben Pereira, from I3S, with the FibroRevert project - "Modeling and targeting cell-extracellular matrix communication to revert tissue fibrosis" (1.5 million euros);
• Vanessa Coelho-Santos, from the University of Coimbra, with the AngioArchitects project - "Endothelial-microglial communication as a sculptor of brain capillary network architecture" (2.1 million euros).

ERC-PT Pre-Assessment: FCT's axis program to support the preparation of applications

As part of the announcement of the results of this ERC Starting Grant 2025 Call , it should be noted that two winning researchers - Vanessa Coelho-Santos and Rúben Pereira - were supported by the ERC-PT Pre-Assessment in the corresponding edition, and a third winning researcher - Joana Pestana Lages - benefited from the support to move on to the interview in the previous edition.

Also in the category of Calls Starting Grant, for next year's edition, the ERC-PT Pre-Assessment support program is currently underway, with the number of applications submitted by national researchers having grown by 77% compared to the previous year. Already this September, and one month before submitting their applications, these researchers will receive reports and will be able to hold meetings with members of the ERC-PT Pre-Assessment Annual College of Reviewers, currently made up of 84 former ERC reviewers.

FCT has been developing a set of innovative programs covering all the cycles of national participation in ERC Calls , from the preparation of applications to the stabilization in permanent positions of researchers carrying out research abroadERC-PT Careers - Attract) and researchers carrying out research in PortugalERC-PT Careers - Retain). The ERC-Portugal Program includes the following axis programs: Pre-Assessment, to support the national scientific community in preparing proposals; ERC A-Projects, to fund national applications with top classifications not selected for ERC funding; and ERC-PT Careers, to attract and retain researchers with ERC projects.