Portugal has a total of 14 European projects financed by Call ERC Advanced Grant

The European Research Council (ERC) announced on June 17 the 281 projects selected in the Call ERC Advanced Grant 2024 , which aims to fund leading researchers with extensive experience in their scientific fields. In this list, there are three projects by researchers developing their research in Portugal, and whose funding amounts to 7.5 million euros (2.5 million euros per project). Portugal will now host a total of 14 projects of this type from the ERC, referring to the four editions of the Calls ERC Advanced Grant under Horizon Europe (2021), the European framework programme for research and innovation funding for the period 2021-2027. In the previous framework programme, Horizon 2020 (2014-2020), and in the seven editions of this Call , Portugal hosted nine projects, meaning there has already been a significant increase in the number of research projects funded under this framework programme.

The winners of the Advanced Grant 2024 to develop research in Portugal are:

• Megan Carey , Champalimaud Foundation, with the SCULPTABELLUM project “ Sculpting cerebellar activity across timescales” ;
• Miguel Ferreira , NOVA SBE, with the FINANCEforALL project, “Financial Education in the Workplace: Combining Experimental Evidence with Administrative Data” ;
• Mónica Sousa , I3S, with the CORDheal project, “ The roadmap enabling spinal cord regeneration in mammals” .

For Megan Carey, this is her third project funded under the ERC (after the Starting Grant in 2014 and the Consolidator Grant in 2019); Miguel Ferreira has his second project funded (after the Starting Grant in 2012). As for Mónica Sousa, in addition to this being her first ERC project, and at its most advanced level, it is worth highlighting the fact that she was supported in preparing her application by the Annual College of Reviewers of the recent FCT programme, ERC-Portugal, in particular of its axis programme, ERC-PT Pre-Assessment . See here for more information about this program.

With these results, research developed in institutions of the National Science and Technology System (SNCT) will reach the mark of R$ 117 million in funding through Calls of the ERC since the beginning of Horizon Europe.

Results from the Portuguese Diaspora

Also worthy of note are two projects led by Portuguese researchers developing their activities abroad, totaling funding of 5.1 million euros:

• Ana Domingos , University of Oxford, with the SympNetO project, “ Sympathetic Neural Networks protecting against Obesity ” , which will start after the completion of the ERC project in the Consolidator Grant typology, also on the topic of obesity.
• Paulo de Assis , Instituto Orpheus, with the PosthumanMusic project, “ Posthuman Music: Creative Practices after AI and Blockchain ” , and has also been previously funded by the ERC under the ERC Starting Grant typology, in a project that took place between 2013 and 2018.

The FCT coordinates national representation and participation in the European Research Council and, as announced at the 1st ERC Portugal Meeting , has been implementing a set of programs whose integrated architecture covers the various cycles of national participation in the Calls of the ERC. The highlights are the ERC-PT Pre-Assessment , ERC-PT A-Projects , and ERC-PT Careers.