European Research Council Starting Grants are designed to support excellent Principal Investigators at the career stage at which they are starting their own independent research team or programme. Applicant Principal Investigators must demonstrate the ground-breaking nature, ambition and feasibility of their scientific proposal.

The Principal Investigator shall have been awarded their first PhD at least 2 and up to 7 years prior to 1 January 2017.

A competitive Starting Grant Principal Investigator must have already shown the potential for research independence and evidence of maturity.