ERC-PT Pre-assessment

Overview and Objectives

The ERC-PT Pre-assessment is a new FCT Programme and axis of the ERC-Portugal, consisting of a pre-assessment service by peers available to researchers of the national scientific community who are in the preparation phase of applications to the European Research Council (ERC). Aligned with international best practices in peer review, this new program intends to be an important instrument available to the national scientific community, proposing a model for pre-evaluation and suggestions for the improvement of proposals that mirror the ERC's evaluation criteria and reviewer profiles.

The ERC-PT Pre-assessment aims to contribute to responding to some challenges of the applications submitted by the national scientific community, namely, the existence of margins of progression: (i) at the international level, in the submission levels and success rates of national applications compared to the European average; and (ii) at a national level, in the diversification and expansion of the growth of these indicators in the various national research institutions and all scientific fields. Its comprehensiveness and the availability of two modalities of pre-assessment are additionally relevant contributions to the national scientific community, extending and adapting to the specificities of the various scientific areas, as well as supplying the non-existence or reinforcing similar pre-assessment processes already existing in national institutions.

The objectives of this new Programme are therefore:

• Support the national scientific community in the preparation of proposals to the ERC, through a pre-evaluation model framed by the ERC evaluation criteria and evaluator profiles;
• Contribute to raising Portugal's funding levels in the ERC, success rates and the quality of the national applications submitted;
• Reinforce or fill gaps, free of charge and in all scientific domains, of similar pre-evaluation processes existing at the level of the institutions;
• Complement with the introduction of this new axis, in terms of its scope and diversity of beneficiaries, the strategy of the recent ERC-Portugal Programme to finance ERC applications evaluated with the maximum score but with no allocated funding;
• To add a new type of service, this one in the area of peer review, to those already made available to the national scientific community by FCT.

Characterization and pre-assessment models

Researchers may choose between two models of proposals to be submitted later in one of the typologies of the ERC's Calls , Starting Grant (StG), Consolidator Grant (CoG) and Advanced Grant (AdG):

• Step 1 - submission of part B1 of the application, including Extended Synopsis and Narrative CV, which will be pre-evaluated and commented by 1 evaluator, and the researchers will receive a report;
• Step 2 - submission of parts B1 and B2 of the application, which will be pre-evaluated and commented by 3 evaluators, and the researchers will receive 3 reports.

The proposals submitted to the ERC-PT Pre-Assessment will be evaluated according to the ERC's evaluation criteria for the respective Call, and will be carried out by an annually appointed college of international evaluators, with profiles of high experience in evaluation processes, preferably with experience as panel members at the ERC.

In the Step 2 model, and in order to preserve the diversity of perspectives of the evaluations produced and their contribution to the improvement and enrichment of the proposals, the researchers will receive not one consensus report, but the three reports produced. In any of the models, the format of the report will follow a structure of enunciation and justification of the strengths and weaknesses of the proposal, plus a section for comments and suggestions on aspects considered of potential improvement of the application.

Additionally, in the Step 2 model, upon indication from the evaluators depending on the particular competitiveness of the proposal, there may be an additional interaction cycle, in a zoom meeting format, after receipt of the reports and prior to submission to the ERC.

Eligibility and required documentation

Program eligibility conditions are:

1. The submission of a single proposal in one of the two pre-assessment models, step 1 (B1) or step 2 (B1 and B2), respecting the maximum number of pages defined by the ERC for the respective edition of Call;
2. Send the form provided duly completed;
3. Statement of commitment to submit an application, at a SNCT host institution, to Call of the ERC to which the ERC-PT Pre-Assessment edition relates;
4. Statement of support for the application from the host institution.

The form that must accompany the proposal submission can be downloaded here here. 

The documentation referred to in (a) and (b) should be written in English. All documentation should be sent, in PDF format, to the email address ERCPT@fct.pt.

As in all FCT evaluation processes, evaluators will be bound by confidentiality agreements.

Calendar

In order to guarantee the timely submission of reports to the researchers, the program's calendar model will be as follows: (i) submission of application proposals up to about 2 months before the ERC deadline for submission of applications; (ii) submission of pre-evaluations and reports to the researchers up to about one month of the same deadline.

ERC-PT Pre-assessment "Starting Grant 2024

ERC-PT Pre-assessment "Consolidator Grant 2024

Team

Program Direction
Bruno Béu

Program Coordination
Rui Munhá

Scientific Team of the College of Appraisers

Andreia Feijão
Iolanda Morais
Raquel Grazina

Contact

Information or clarifications about the ERC-PT Pre-assessment should be requested through the e-mail address: ERCPT@fct.pt.