"Congratulations to the five highly talented researchers. These are projects of very high scientific quality that will help drive the research frontier forward. These are important grants for UiO," says Svein St?len, Rector of the University of Oslo.
Every year, the European Research Council (ERC) awards funding to talented young researchers who will perform an exceptional research project. UiO had a total of 26 applications for this year's ERC Starting Grants, and five projects were awarded. This is both a high number of awards and a very good success rate. The projects are distributed among four faculties and centres.
The following received funding
- Carl Andreas Lindstr?m, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences: Staging of Plasma Accelerators for Realizing Timely Applications
- Charlotte Boccara, NCMM, Faculty of Medicine: Map and manipulate sleep oscillations to reveal their role in healthy cognitive development
- Felix Stein, Centre for Development and Environment: Time to pay up? Reparations and global development challenges
Read more: ERC Starting Grant to study reparations in development - Nicolai Topstad Borgen, CREATE, Faculty of Education: Segregation of Opportunities: Pathways to Marginalization through Neighborhoods and Peers
- Norbert Pirk, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences: Actively learning experimental designs in terrestrial climate science
"These are prestigious awards in which scientific quality is the only criterion. UiO has such a high success rate because we have highly motivated academic communities, as well as leaders and units that facilitate participation. We aim to promote independent, ground-breaking, and long-term research, and believe we are succeeding," says St?len.
About Horizon Europe and ERC Starting Grants
ERC Starting Grants are awarded to promising researchers who submitted their doctoral degree two to seven years ago. Applicants must have demonstrated potential for independent research and scientific maturity. Starting grants are part of the program's Pillar I 'Excellent Science’ and consist of grants of up to 1.5 million euros for research projects with a duration of up to five years.
In total, UiO has submitted nearly 700 applications to Horizon Europe, and has been awarded a total of 134 projects. The vast majority, 90 of the projects, are within the 'Excellent Science' category. UiO's total awards in Horizon Europe now amount to approximately 940 million NOK.