From left: Dr Casey Platnich and Dr Gabriela Kronemberger. Image: Trinity College Dublin
Nearly 5,000 proposals were submitted this year, highlighting ‘Europe’s growing appeal for frontier research’, said the EU’s start-ups commissioner.
€705m has been allocated to 421 early-career researchers of more than 50 different nationalities for research work in affiliated countries under the European Research Council’s (ERC) Starting Grants initiative.
Five awards collectively worth multiple millions of euros were given to experts at Irish organisations for their research into innovative drug development, and health and safety.
A record 4,807 grant proposals were submitted for 2026 – up 22pc since last year. Only 8.8pc of the applicants were successful in receiving funding. 169 US-based researchers applied, with 20 successful awardees now gearing up to move to Europe to continue their work.
