ERC Work Program for 2026 published

The European Research Council (ERC) has published its 2026 Work Program, setting out the rules and timetable for the next Calls funding for what is Europe's leading frontier research program. The Calls soon, with the Starting Grant category having a submission date of October 2025 and the Synergy Grant category in November 2025. You can read the full ERC news item here.

To present the new work program, the ERC Executive Agency (ERCEA) will hold an online information session on July 10 at 2:00 p.m. (Mainland Portugal time). This session is an essential opportunity for applicants to learn about all the changes in detail and clarify any questions. Information about the event is available here: https://erc.europa.eu/news-events/events/webinar-erc-work-programme-2026.

Among the new features announced for this work program, a structural change in the proposal stands out: Part B2 now has a limit of seven pages for the Starting, Consolidator, and Advanced types. We recommend that you carefully read all the new specifications in the official Calls documents Calls participate in this information session.

Researchers can still access the ERC-PT program, provided by FCT. This innovative and free service helps increase the competitiveness of proposals from the national scientific community. The schedule for this service is available here and is already aligned with the official ERC calendar.

The FCT will also co-organize three sessions dedicated to the ERC and frontier research at the Science 2025 Meeting, on July 11, at 11:30 a.m. (European Research Council – What institutional strategies are needed to obtain ERC projects?), 2: 00 p.m. (From Research Excellence to Social Impact: Success Stories with Studentships Proof of Concept Studentships ) and 3: 30 p.m. (ERC Success Stories in the Portuguese Academic Landscape). You can still register for the Science 2025 Meeting and participate in Portugal's largest Science and Innovation event.