European Research Analysis
ERC Advanced Grants 2025:
What the Numbers Reveal About Europe’s Research Strength
More researchers are applying. More money is being awarded. More countries are represented. But the success rate is falling.
The ERC Advanced Grants 2025 results show a European research system under pressure, but also full of ambition. In 2025, the European Research Council received 3.329 proposals for Advanced Grants. Only 319 were selected, giving a success rate of around 9,6%. The total funding awarded reached €838 million.
This Is Not Just a Funding Story
ERC Advanced Grants are aimed at established research leaders. The selected researchers are not early-career applicants trying to prove potential. They are experienced scientists and scholars expected to open new directions in their fields.
That makes the 2025 numbers especially important. They show that excellent research is not enough on its own. At this level, success also depends on the strength of the idea, the clarity of the proposal, the credibility of the research plan and the capacity of the host institution to support ambitious frontier research.
Total applications received for ERC Advanced Grants 2025.
Researchers selected for funding in the 2025 call.
Overall selection rate across the 2025 Advanced Grants call.
Total ERC funding announced for Advanced Grants 2025.
ERC Advanced Grants are one of Europe’s strongest signals of frontier research capacity, but the 2025 results show that competition is becoming tighter.
A Larger Call, but a Tighter Competition
Compared with the previous year, the 2025 call attracted significantly more applications. In 2024, the ERC Advanced Grants call received 2.534 proposals and selected 281 projects. In 2025, proposals increased to 3.329, while selected projects increased to 319.
The important detail is that applications grew faster than the number of grants awarded. As a result, the success rate fell from around 11% in 2024 to 9,6% in 2025.
ERC Advanced Grants 2024–2025 comparison. Applications increased from 2.534 to 3.329, while the success rate fell from around 11,0% to 9,6%. Source: European Research Council.
Strong science remains essential, but ERC competitiveness also depends on whether the proposal explains why the research matters, why now, why this principal investigator, and why the project needs ERC-level support.
The Call Was Competitive Across All Research Areas
The largest number of proposals came from Physical Sciences and Engineering, with 1.341 submissions and 124 selected projects. Social Sciences and Humanities followed with 1.013 submissions and 99 selected projects. Life Sciences received 975 submissions and had 96 selected projects.
ERC Advanced Grants 2025 proposals by scientific domain. Source: European Research Council.
This distribution matters because the ERC is not a narrow thematic programme. It is designed to support investigator-led frontier research across the full scientific spectrum.
The Geography of Research Strength
The 2025 ERC Advanced Grant results also show a clear geographical concentration.
The ERC publishes the results by country of host institution, not by European region. However, when the host countries are grouped regionally, the pattern is clear.
Western Europe accounts for 152 grants, or around 47,6% of the total. Northern Europe follows with 99 grants, or 31,0%. Southern Europe accounts for 56 grants, or 17,6%. Eastern Europe accounts for only 6 grants, or 1,9%.
Regional grouping based on ERC country-level host institution data. This is an analytical grouping, not an official ERC regional classification. Source: European Research Council; regional grouping by Skale Egenkapital.
This does not mean that scientific talent exists only in certain parts of Europe. It means that ERC success is strongly connected to research ecosystems: universities, laboratories, funding offices, international networks, proposal experience and institutional capacity.
The Country Concentration Is Also Clear
The concentration is visible at country level. The United Kingdom hosted 62 selected grantees. Germany hosted 46, Switzerland 32, Spain 29, France 26, the Netherlands 22 and Italy 19.
Leading host countries for ERC Advanced Grants 2025. Source: European Research Council.
ERC competitiveness is built before the call opens. It depends on the long-term ability to identify strong researchers, support ambitious ideas and turn scientific depth into a proposal that evaluators can trust.
What This Means for 2026 Applicants
The ERC Advanced Grants 2026 call is already open, with a deadline of 27 August 2026 at 17:00 Brussels time. Final 2026 results are not yet available, so the 2025 results remain the latest completed dataset.
The 2025 numbers should be read carefully by anyone preparing for 2026. A lower success rate does not mean researchers should avoid applying. It means the application must be treated as a strategic exercise, not as an administrative form.
The project needs a strong scientific core. But it also needs a convincing structure, a credible research plan and a clear explanation of the principal investigator’s capacity to lead the work.
- Is the research question genuinely frontier-level, or only an extension of previous work?
- Does the proposal explain why the project matters now?
- Is the principal investigator’s track record connected clearly to the ambition of the project?
- Does the research plan show both originality and credibility?
- Is the host institution visibly able to support the work?
- Does the proposal communicate scientific depth without making evaluators work too hard to understand the case?
The Strategic Lesson
ERC Advanced Grants remain one of the strongest opportunities in European science. But the 2025 results show that the competition is not only between ideas. It is also between research environments.
The institutions that perform well are not only those with excellent researchers. They are also those able to support proposal development, protect research time, provide credible infrastructure and help researchers communicate ambitious work with clarity.
References and Data Sources
European Research Council (2026) ERC 2025 Advanced Grants — Statistics. Available from: ERC 2025 Advanced Grants statistics PDF
European Research Council (2026) ERC 2025 Advanced Grants results. Available from: ERC 2025 Advanced Grants results announcement
European Research Council (2026) ERC Advanced Grants 2026 evaluation timeframe. Available from: ERC Advanced Grant 2026 evaluation timeframe