Barriers and opportunities for Norwegian participation in the European Research Council (ERC)
Publication date: 1 February 2019 | Report language: EN
This report presents the findings of a study on barriers and opportunities for Norwegian participation in European Research Council (ERC) grant funding, carried out by Technopolis Group between August 2018 and February 2019. The ERC provides large and prestigious single investigator grants for basic research funding in Europe. Norway has accounts for around 1.5% of ERC applications, placing it in the top quarter of all countries in terms of ERC applications proportional to population. The overall success rate of Norwegian ERC applications has been just over 8%, compared with an all-country average of over 11%. Norwegian ERC applications are a little bit less successful than the all-country average especially at the second of the two assessment stages, but also lag slightly behind the all-country average at the first stage of assessment.
The study was commissioned by the Research Council of Norway. The main elements of the study were surveys conducted among applicants to the ERC and researchers who have received support from the Research Council’s open competitive arena (FRIPRO). The surveys were complemented by interviews. The objective of the study is to contribute to a better knowledge base to increase Norwegian participation and success in the ERC.
