The European Research Council is right to help its scientists speak up
When the European Research Council was launched in 2007, member states were wary of its role. Many high-level policymakers, including several research ministers, saw the ERC as a second-tier funder for those who had failed to obtain grants for individual projects in their home countries.
How wrong they were. In little more than a decade, the EU-funded ERC has established itself as one of the leading science funders worldwide, with a reputation rivalling that of the traditional, prestigious science funders such as the French CNRS and Germany’s DeutscheForschungsgemeinschaft.