Multi-million euro boost for young researchers: 16 ERC Starting Grants for Max-Planck

Max Planck Society

In a European comparison, the Max Planck Society ranks second

On September 5, 2024, young researchers from Max Planck Institutes secured 16 of the 98 ERC Starting Grants awarded to Germany. These prestigious grants, each averaging €1.5 million, will enable recipients to support their research groups for five years. Additionally, the funding aims to empower them to launch independent projects and lead their own teams, fostering innovative research ideas.

ERC

© ERC

© ERC

In Europe, the Max Planck Society ranks second, just behind France’s CNRS, which received 25 grants. The Helmholtz Association follows in third place with 13 grants.

Germany led Europe with 98 grants in total, followed by the Netherlands with 51. Of the 3,474 proposals submitted across Europe, 494 were approved, with a total funding of €780 million. Notably, 44% of this year’s Starting Grants went to female researchers, up from 43% in 2023 and 39% in 2022. The ERC Starting Grants are part of the EU’s Horizon Europe research and innovation program.

This year’s ERC Starting Grant recipients are:

Chemistry, Physics & Technology

Max Gronke – Resolving the Multiscale, Multiphase Universe

MPI for Astrophysics

Chunyo Guo – Force-free microstructures host intrinsic dynamics of orbital phases in AV3Sb5 Kagome metals

Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter

Jad Halmeh – Quantum simulation of far-from-equilibrium gauge theories

Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics

Mario Krenn – Artificial Scientific Discovery of advanced Quantum Hardware with high-performance Simulators

MPI for the Science of Light

John Molloy – Illuminating Routes to 3D Organoboron Molecules

Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces

Melanie Müller – Ultrafast atomic-scale imaging and control of nonequilibrium phenomena in quantum materials

Fritz Haber Institute

Vera Schäfer – Search for physics beyond the standard model with highly charged ions

Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics

Libor Šmejkal – Magnetic counterparts of unconventional superconductors for spin-conserved and nondissipative electronics

MPI of Microstructure Physics

Paul Strohmeier – Kinesthetic Displays: Creating Embodied Experiences of Movement Using Vibrotactile Feedback

MPI for Informatics

Li Wan – Fully Electrically Controlled Ultra-fast Chiral Light Handedness Switching in Organic Light-Emitting Devices

MPI of Microstructure Physics

Biology & Medicine

Luis Humberto Orellana Retamal – Ecological and evolutionary role of specialized bacteria in algae health and carbon sequestration

MPI for Marine Microbiology

Anna Schröder – Internal state drivers of behavioral flexibility and their underlying neural circuitry in the zona incerta

MPI for Brain Research

Anna Stempel – Brainstem circuits supporting adaptive instinctive behaviours

MPI for Brain Research

Humanities and Social Sciences

Harald Ringbauer – Exploring natural selection due to the Black Death and continuous human population genetic structure

MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology

Lisa Suckert – Understanding the Role of Economic Imagination for Advancing Decarbonization in Europe

MPI for the Studies of Societies

Charley Wu – Compositional Compression in Cognition and Culture

MPI for Human Development

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