Seven Catalan Scientists Awarded Europe’s Prestigious Advanced Grants

BY BIOCAT

Two hundred and sixty-six leading researchers from around Europe received good news yesterday: they were each awarded one of the European Research Council’s (ERC) prestigious Advanced Grants, which will enable them to continue their work for the next 5 years. The average amount of funding per grant is €2.5 million. Catalonia took home seven grants this year, which, as in previous years, accounts for more than half of all the grants awarded to Spain. The UK, Germany and France lead the ranking.

ERC ADVANCED GRANTS AWARDED TO CATALONIA IN 2010

LIFE SCIENCES

• Jordi Sunyer, Co director, CREAL-UPF (Project Brain Development and Air Pollution Ultrafine Particles in School Children)
• Manel Esteller, Group leader of the Cancer Epigenetics, IDIBELL (Project Epigenetic Disruption of Non-Coding RNAs in Human Cancer)
• Vivek Malhotra, Group leader of the Intracellular Compartmentation, CRG (Project Mechanism of Unconventional Protein Secretion)

PHYSICAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

• Eugenio Oñate, engineer, CIMNE-UPC
• Xavier Serra, computer scientist, UPF

SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES

• Anna Cabré, demographer, UAB
• Gosta Esping-Andersen, sociologist, UPF

This year marked the third edition of the ERC’s prestigious Advanced Grant program, which, since its inception in 2007, has awarded a total of €590 million. Compared to last year’s edition, there was a 29% increase in the number of applications and a 13% increase in the number of winning projects. By research area, the 2010 Advanced Grants break down as follows: Physical Sciences & Engineering (46%); Life Sciences (37%); and Social Sciences & Humanities (17%).

List of 2010 ERC Advanced Grant Winners
List of 2010 ERC Advanced Grant Winners in Life Sciences

Recommended reading: ERC Grants: Prestigious Research Funding, a report (Biocat, 15/12/2010)