Which call will you apply to?
We can help you adapt your project to what the funder wants
Have you already decided which call you will apply to? Are you just getting started and need some guidance digesting and interpreting the call documentation? Or perhaps you’ve matured your project idea, but need some insights into how to build the non-scientific aspects? Or maybe you’re almost ready to submit, and just need some extra reassurance that all of the little details have been taken care of?
From working with lots of scientists on lots of grants, we have learned some important insights about how to adapt to the funder’s intention and focus. We can offer you a valuable external perspective to help you navigate the requirements of the call you’re applying to, manage the process of developing your ideas and sections, and prepare an competitive proposal. For the following calls, we can send you our guide for applicants (see below). If you’re interested in other calls, just contact us.
European Research Council
ERC Starting Grant | ERC-StG
The ERC Starting Grant supports individual PIs starting their independent research groups and pursuing ground-breaking ideas by introducing non-canonical and disruptive scientific approaches.
Challenging to apply for because…
If you’re applying for this prestigious grant, it will typically be a qualitative leap in your grant writing, often with significant implications for your career trajectory. You may not yet be used to applying for grants of this scale, and it can be intimidating to confidently capture the ambition of your scientific proposal, while also being realistic with the implementation and coordination of the project.
How we can help
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- Support to help you underline your leadership capacity and maturity in research
- Accompaniment in your writing process, to help you plan and sticking to your timeline
- One-on-one meetings to discuss your proposal and resolve doubts or questions
- Strengthen the critical points required for positive evaluations
- An external perspective to detect mistakes and inconsistencies
- Help make your proposal attractive and engaging
ERC Consolidator Grant | ERC-CoG
Objective of this Call
The ERC Consolidator Grant supports individual PIs consolidating their research groups and pursuing ground-breaking ideas by introducing non-canonical and disruptive scientific approaches.
Challenging to apply for because…
As an applicant for this call, you’ve already started your own research group, and you’re in the process of establishing your presence in your field in the eyes of your institute and the international research community. You’re building the partnerships needed for research, for growing your team, and for attracting important collaborators to your institute. However, you may not yet have significant staff, infrastructure, or support in your team or institute, plus you have many other responsibilities (teaching, supervision, admin, coordination, etc.). So the stakes are high for your application to this call.
How we can help
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- Support with highlighting your key contribution to your research field and your capacity to lead research teams
- Accompaniment in your writing process
- Assistance in planning and sticking to your timeline
- Help to strengthen the critical points required for positive evaluations
- One-on-one meetings to discuss your proposal and resolve any doubts or questions
- An external perspective to detect mistakes and inconsistencies
- Insights to make your proposal attractive and engaging
ERC Advanced Grant | ERC-AdV
Objective of this Call
The ERC Advanced Grant supports individual PIs who are established leaders in their research fields and pursue ground-breaking ideas by introducing non-canonical and disruptive scientific approaches.
Challenging to apply for because…
You are a senior profile, and if you’re successful, getting the AdG will be a major win for your institute. However, this call also has the strongest competition and the lowest success rate of all ERC calls. You typically have a packed agenda, with multiple coordination and leadership roles for your research projects, institution, students, postdocs, and junior PIs. In this context, it will be challenging for you to carve out the time and mental space needed to think about, discuss, and properly develop your scientific ideas for this important milestone, and especially to coordinate development of the application itself.
How we can help
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- Support demonstrating your role as an established leader in your research field and your capacity to train the next generation of researchers
- Accompaniment in your writing process
- Assistance in planning and sticking to your timeline
- One-on-one meetings to discuss your proposal and resolve any doubts or questions
- Help to strengthen the critical points required for positive evaluations
- An external perspective to detect mistakes and inconsistencies
- Insights to make your proposal attractive and engaging
ERC Synergy Grant | ERC-SyG
Objective of this Call
The ERC Synergy Grant supports a group of 2-4 PIs to jointly address ambitious scientific challenges by introducing interdisciplinary disruptive scientific approaches.
Challenging to apply for because…
As coordinator of this application, it will be challenging for you to coordinate meetings and communication with other busy PIs, and to homogenise your team’s ideas and writing style. It can also be intimidating for you to write about research fields outside of their main expertise, and these challenges are added that of coordinating the entire writing process, while also attending to your many other duties as a PI.
How we can help
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- Assistance in developing a cohesive research project with a language adapted to the distinctive characteristics of the ERC-SyG review panel
- Support homogenising the researcher’s profile sections (research achievements, peer recognition, etc.) of the Synergy group
- Accompaniment of your Synergy group in the writing process, helping to plan and stick to your timeline
- One-on-one meetings to discuss your proposal and resolve any doubts or questions
- Help to strengthen the critical points required for positive evaluations
- An external perspective to detect mistakes and inconsistencies
- Insights to make your proposal attractive and engaging
Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions
MSCA Doctoral Network | MSCA-DN
Objective of this Call
The MSCA-DN aims to develop creative, entrepreneurial, and innovative doctoral programmes to train the next generation of researchers, while converting ideas into products and services for economic and social benefit.
Challenging to apply for because…
This is not a scientific project, but rather a training program, so there are many non-scientific details to focus on, including recruitment, administration, logistics, training plan, supervision, the gender and open science dimensions, while forming durable intersectoral, interdisciplinary, and international partnerships. Your training program, and consequently your network composition, will need to be perfectly aligned with the scientific goals you want to achieve. Your institute’s projects office will be a big help, but they may not have the resources needed to meticulously review all the details to help you create a detailed, cohesive proposal. And of course you will need to fit this task in around your many other responsibilities as a PI.
How we can help
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- Support in developing a cohesive proposal that integrates intersectoral, interdisciplinary and international partners
- Help ensure your training and research programs are credible and innovative
- Accompany your network’s writing process
- Assistance in planning and sticking to your timeline
- One-on-one meetings to discuss your proposal and resolve any doubts or questions
- Help to strengthen the critical points required for positive evaluation
- Insights to make your proposal engaging and easy to read
MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship | MSCA-PF
Objective of this Call
The MSCA-PF facilitates the mobility of postdoctoral researchers, and strengthens Europe’s capital base in research & innovation with better-trained, innovative, and entrepreneurial researchers.
Challenging to apply for because…
If you’re the host PI, it will require quite some time to accompany the applicant in developing their scientific ideas and learning how to write the grant, and to coordinate the writing process and review their work.
If you’re the named PF applicant, this may be one of the first big fellowships you apply for. You might be still adapting to the mindset, jargon, and style of grant applications, and the unfamiliar topics they include (e.g impact, risk assessment, project implementation). You might not yet be used to interpreting the extensive documentation that comes with any grant call, or coordinating the process of developing, debating, and communicating your scientific ideas. This also happens to be a very competitive call.
How we can help
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- Assistance in focusing your project and making your implementation coherent and credible
- Help in highlighting key details about the planned research, training, and dissemination activities
- Accompaniment during your writing process
- Assistance in planning and sticking to your timeline
- One-on-one meetings to discuss your proposal and resolve any doubts or questions
- Help to strengthen the critical points required for positive evaluations
- Insights to make your proposal attractive and engaging
Horizon Europe – Pillar II
Horizon Europe Pillar II – Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness | HE Pillar II
Objective of this Call
Pillar II grants follow a top-down approach to tackle major global challenges and address Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Pillar II also boosts Europe’s competitiveness in technology and implements interdisciplinary solutions from research to innovation.
Challenging to apply for because…
In this top-down call, the funder is telling you what they want to achieve, and what research topic they want you to work on. As an established researcher, especially if you have focused on bottom-up calls until now, it may be challenging to adapt your current research lines to the funder’s intentions, while also developing a coherent project with a good balance between your expertise and that of your consortium partners. It’s important to perfectly blend their expertise with yours, and to communicate this in a cohesive proposal; we have found this to be one of the most common shortcomings of previous applications.
How we can help
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- Assistance in adapting your project to the specific destination and expected impacts of this call
- Support with blending the consortium’s expertise and writing a cohesive proposal that highlights the value of each partner
- Accompaniment during your consortium’s writing process
- Assistance in planning and sticking to your timeline, and coordinating partners
- One-on-one meetings to discuss your proposal and resolve any doubts or questions
- Help to strengthen the critical points required for positive evaluations
- Insights to make your proposal attractive and engaging
European Innovation Council (EIC) – Pillar III
EIC Pathfinder Open – Breakthrough Innovation Support | HE Pillar III
Objective of this Call
The European Innovation Council (EIC) Pathfinder Open call supports radical, high-risk/high-gain ideas that can lead to breakthrough technologies and create entirely new markets or radically transform existing ones.
The EIC Pathfinder Open call follows a bottom-up approach, giving applicants full freedom to propose disruptive innovations across any technological field, typically at early technology readiness levels (TRLs). Typically starting the project at TRL 1-2 and expected to reach TRL 3 or early TRL 4 by the end of the project.
Challenging to apply for because…
If you are applying to the EIC Pathfinder Open call, you are expected to define an original technological breakthrough. You must convince evaluators that your idea is transformative before there is clear proof of feasibility, while still providing a coherent research logic, credible milestones, and a powerful vision toward future technological impacts.
It is challenging to write a proposal that is early-stage by design yet lays out a clear, concrete roadmap for developing transformative technology. Many applicants and consortia struggle to navigate the uncertainty of demonstrating the great potential of demonstrating the great potential of an incipient technology, or to align an open-ended research concept with the EIC’s portfolio logic and breakthrough-oriented evaluation criteria.
How we can help
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- Strategic positioning of your science-towards-technology idea as a genuine breakthrough innovation
- Support in articulating the high-risk/high-gain profile expected by the EIC
- Assistance in translating complex technological innovation into a clear, persuasive innovation narrative
- Guidance on strengthening impact and long-term market-creation potential
- Accompaniment during your consortium’s writing process, sticking to your timeline, and coordinating partners
- One-on-one meetings to discuss your proposal, identify weaknesses, and refine key messages
- Help to strengthen the critical points required for a positive evaluation
- Insights to make your proposal attractive and engaging
EIC Challenges – Mission-Driven Innovation Support| HE Pillar III
Objective of this Call
The European Innovation Council (EIC) Pathfinder Challenges support breakthrough innovations that address strategically defined technological and societal challenges set by the European Commission.
Challenge calls follow a top-down approach, with clearly specified objectives and expected outcomes. Projects are evaluated not only on their and their teams’ excellence, but also on how they align with the EIC challenge they address and on their ability to deliver the desired transformative impact.
Challenging to apply for because…
If you’re applying to an EIC Pathfinder Challenges call, you must align your innovation closely with a predefined strategic objective, while still demonstrating real, exciting breakthrough potential. This often requires adapting your idea to the funder’s ambitions without losing originality or technical depth.
Clearly positioning your project within the challenge scope, anticipating portfolio expectations, and articulating high risk, high gain, and long-term impact is one of the most demanding aspects of an EIC Challenge application.
How we can help
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- Assistance in aligning your project with the specific challenge objectives and expected outcomes
- Strategic positioning of your science-towards-technology idea as a genuine breakthrough innovation
- Support in articulating the breakthrough nature of your solution within a top-down framework
- Help in translating complex technologies into a clear and mission-driven innovation narrative
- Guidance on strengthening impact and long-term market-creation potential
- Accompaniment during your consortium’s writing process.
- One-on-one meetings to discuss your proposal, resolve doubts and questions, and refine key messages
- Help to strengthen the critical points required for a positive evaluation
- Insights to make your proposal attractive and engaging