The aim is to provide support for a small group of two to four Principal Investigators to jointly address ambitious research problems that could not be addressed by the individual Principal Investigators and their teams working alone. Synergy projects should enable substantial advances at the frontiers of knowledge, stemming, for example, from the cross-fertilization of scientific fields, from new productive lines of enquiry, or new methods and techniques, including unconventional approaches and investigations at the interface between established disciplines. The transformative research funded by Synergy Grants should have the potential of becoming a benchmark on a global scale.
Principal Investigators must demonstrate the ground-breaking nature, ambition and feasibility of their scientific proposal. Principal Investigators must also demonstrate that their group can successfully bring together the scientific elements necessary to address the scope and complexity of the proposed research question.
One of the Principal Investigators must be designated as the Corresponding Principal Investigator. At any one time, one Principal Investigator per Synergy Grant Group except the Corresponding one can be hosted or engaged by an institution outside of the EU or Associated Countries.
Size of ERC Synergy Grants
Synergy Grants may be awarded up to a maximum of EUR 10 000 000 for a period of 6 years. The maximum award is reduced pro rata temporis for projects of a shorter duration. This does not apply to ongoing projects.
Additional funding up to EUR 4 000 000 * can be requested to cover further eligible costs (e.g. start-up costs, major equipment, access to large facilities, major experimental and field work costs) when these are necessary to carry out the proposed work. The requests for additional funding must be duly justified in the proposal.
Profile of the ERC Synergy Grant Principal Investigators
The 'Synergy Grant Group' applying for the ERC Synergy Grant must be made up of a minimum of two and a maximum of four Principal Investigators with competitive track records and, as necessary, their teams.
Each of the Principal Investigators must present in the proposal a Curriculum Vitae and a Track Record as appropriate to their career stage.
For further information, please see the ERC Work Programme 2026.
