The Max Planck Society has achieved a remarkable feat in the latest round of European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grants, securing a total of 17 awards. This outcome comes after the Society submitted 56 applications, resulting in a success rate of 30 percent. This accomplishment reinforces the Society’s strong position within the competitive landscape of European research funding.
In the broader European context, the Max Planck Society shares the top spot with the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) for the number of grants awarded. Following closely are esteemed institutions such as the University of Oxford with 12 grants, University of Amsterdam with 10 grants, ETH Zurich with 9 grants, and the Helmholtz Association with 8 grants. The ERC received a total of 3,928 applications this year, approving 478, which translates to an overall success rate of 12 percent.
Max Planck Society’s Strong Performance Across Disciplines
Germany leads the European rankings with 99 grants, followed by the United Kingdom with 60, the Netherlands with 44, and France with 41. Within the Max Planck Society, the Humanities and Social Sciences Section (GSHS) excelled, achieving a success rate of 46 percent with 6 out of 13 applications approved. In contrast, the Biology and Medicine Section (BMS) had 4 out of 15 applications approved, yielding a 27 percent success rate, while the Chemistry, Physics and Technology Section (CPTS) saw 7 out of 28 applications approved, accounting for a 25 percent success rate.
This year, the ERC Starting Grants awarded to Max Planck researchers encompass a diverse range of disciplines. In the Chemistry, Physics, and Technology category, the recipients include:
– Anna De Graaff – Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
– Christian Renggli – Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research
– Mariya Toneva – Max Planck Institute for Software Systems
– Rahul Trivedi – Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics
– Alexander Wietek – Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems
– Alexander Winkler – Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry
– Guanqui Qiu – Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung
In the Humanities and Social Sciences category, the grantees are:
– Ugofilippo Basellini – Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
– Arthur Kocher – Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
– Marília Nepomuceno – Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
– Hannah Sarvasy – Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
– Oleg Sobchuk – Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
– Sofie Valk – Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences
For the Biology and Medicine field, the awardees include:
– Can Aztekin – Friedrich Miescher Laboratory
– Valentin Flury – Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics
– Juliane Glaser – Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics
– Martina Preiner – Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology
The ERC Starting Grants provide an average funding of €1.5 million over a period of five years, enabling early-career researchers to establish their own teams and pursue innovative ideas independently. This latest success not only highlights the Max Planck Society’s commitment to advancing research but also its pivotal role in shaping the future of science across Europe.
