UK confirms ‘safety net’ applies to winners on ERC reserve list

Twenty-three more top researchers could be enticed away from UK to take up EU grant

The UK government has confirmed to Research Professional News that UK-based researchers on the European Research Council’s reserve list for grants—who may now be offered EU funding—are eligible for its safety net funding.

The safety net guarantee was put in place to offer ERC grant winners alternative UK funding if they were unable access their EU funds due to the political delay in associating the UK to the bloc’s R&D programmes—a situation that has come to pass.