Fifth ERC StG online mentoring event online coming on September 25

On September 25, 2025, from 14:00 to 16:00 CET, the Young Academy of Europe (YAE), in collaboration with the Academia Europaea (AE) Budapest Knowledge Hub, will host an online event on Zoom for researchers worldwide who are interested in applying for the next round of the European Research Council’s (ERC) Starting Grant (StG). One of the main goals of this event series is to promote wider participation among researchers from EU13, Associated Countries as well as outside of Europe.

The online event will consist of two parts. First, a plenary information session with welcoming remarks from Katalin Solymosi (Outgoing Chair, YAE and Vice Academic Director, AE Budapest Hub) will be followed by a presentation from a representative of the ERC Executive Agency (ERCEA) about the latest changes in ERC’s 2026 and 2027 Work Programmes. This will be followed by a talk from Eörs Szathmáry (MAE, ERC Advanced and Synergy Grant Holder, former ERC Advanced Panel member and Synergy Panel Vice-President, Parmenides Foundation, Eötvös Loránd University) providing useful tips and insights for ERC oral interviews. The presentations will conclude with a Q&A session moderated by Anna Kuppuswamy (YAE Vice-Chair).

The second part of the event will focus on providing insights into how oral interview panels work and how interviewees should present their project and answer questions from the evaluation panel. Although these are only mock interviews and panels, we hope that they offer an important opportunity for applicants to gain key insights into what makes a successful ERC application and a better understanding of the evaluation process. We will have three parallel sessions by domain, featuring as interviewees YAE members who have received an ERC StG, and expert panel members with relevant expertise in oral interview evaluation.

Programme

Plenary session (14:00-15:00 CET)

14:00-14:05 Opening (Katalin Solymosi, YAE and AE Budapest Hub)

14:05-14:30 Information session, The European Research Council (ERC): Latest changes in ERC’s 2026 and 2027 Work Programmes (Alban Kellerbauer, ERCEA, FYAE, MAE)

14:30-14:45 Q & A

14:45-15:00 Tips and tricks of successful oral interviews (Eörs Szathmáry, MAE)

Moderator: Anna Kuppuswamy (YAE)

Parallel break-out sessions (15:00-16:00 CET)

1. Social Sciences and Humanities (SH) domain interviewee: Scott Bremer (ERC StG obtained in 2018, panel SH2, Project title: CALENDARS - Co-production of seasonal representations for adaptive institutions). Panel members: Özen Nergis Dolcerocca (FYAE, University of Bologna), Phoebe Koundouri (MAE, Athens University of Economics and Business), Ronen Palan (City University London), Mona Simion (MAE, FYAE, University of Glasgow).

2. Life Sciences (LS) domain interviewee: Nitzan Gonen (ERC StG obtained in 2021, panel LS2, Project title: ENHANCE-SEX - Deciphering Gene Regulatory Networks governing Mammalian Sex Determination). Panel members: Gautam Dey (FYAE, EMBL), Zohreh Hosseinzadeh (FYAE, Radboud University Medical Center), Sebastian Leidel (MAE, FYAE, University of Bern), Mangala Srinivas (FYAE, Wageningen University and Research), Shahrokh F. Shariat (MAE, Medical University of Vienna), Marc Yeste (FYAE, University of Girona).

3. Physical Sciences and Engineering (PE) domain interviewees: Toma Susi (ERC StG obtained in 2017, panel PE5, Project title: ATMEN - Atomic precision materials engineering) and Monica Morales-Masis (ERC StG obtained in 2019, panel PE8, Project title: CREATE - Crafting Complex Hybrid Materials for Sustainable Energy Conversion). Panel members: Steve Evans (MAE, University of Cambridge), Nicoletta Liguori (IFCO, FYAE), Linn Leppert (FYAE, University of Twente), Jovana Milic (FYAE, University of Turku), Sara Nocentini (FYAE, LENS), Wolfgang Tress (FYAE, Zurich University of Applied Sciences), Gianvito Vilé (FYAE, Polytechnic University of Milan), Ina Vollmer (Utrecht University).

Registration is available here. By registering for this event, you agree to the session being recorded on Zoom. Please note that we do not send separate registration confirmations, but the Zoom link will be emailed to registered participants a few days before the event. The registration form collects your data solely to manage attendance for the webinar. By registering, you consent to YAE’s Privacy Policy and Data Protection Policy as described here.