Portugal secured new funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the Starting Grant 2026 Competition. Researcher Nikita Melnikov, from NOVA SBE, was selected with the project "CRACKDOWNS — Labour Mobility, Development, and Discrimination in Post-Gang El Salvador", which aims to deepen research in the areas of political economy and development. This funding can reach up to 1.5 million euros over a five-year period.
Starting Grants aim to support early-career researchers, promoting their scientific independence and the formation of research teams. In this edition, the ERC distributed a total of 705 million euros among 421 researchers, with an overall success rate of 8.8%. The number of applications grew by 22% compared to the previous edition, and in Portugal, submitted proposals increased by 10%.
With this latest achievement, Portugal now has 29 Starting Grants obtained by researchers from national institutions since the beginning of the Horizon Europe program in 2021. Of this total, 10 are from the Life Sciences area, 10 from Social Sciences and Humanities, and 9 from Physical Sciences and Engineering. The "Choose Europe for Science" initiative had an impact on the 5% increase in winners with scientific activities transferred to institutions in the European Union or countries associated with Horizon Europe.
The ERC also announced new guidelines for its Work Programme for 2027, which include changes to the eligibility windows for the Starting Grant and Consolidator Grant competitions. The Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) coordinates national participation in the ERC, offering support at various stages of the process through programs such as ERC-PT Pre-Assessment and ERC-PT A-Projects.
