The ERC_HU_15 call for applications is open again; new applications can be submitted by 30 September 2016.

The funding scheme provides funds for blue-sky research projects that were ranked among the best by the ERC evaluation panel so that researchers can prepare in Hungarian institutions under predictable conditions for applying for new ERC funds without having to disrupt their scientific work or continue it abroad.

Projects awarded under the decision of May 2016:

• Cryptography, which is essential for the security of online databases, can only be developed by gaining a better understanding of how integers work. This is in the very focus of a new research project titled “Bounds for automorphic forms on arithmetic manifolds” led by Gergely Harcos from Alfréd Rényi Institute of Mathematics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The project deals with the analysis of the so-called “automorphic forms”, that is harmonic waves with rich symmetry properties.
  
• One of the biggest unanswered questions in neuroscience is how the neural network records and stores the events of our lives as memories. Lead by Judit Makara , the Lendület Laboratory of Neuronal Signalling operating in the Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences strives to understand the cell and network level mechanisms behind the extraordinary information processing and storage capability of the brain. In their research project titled “Synapto-dendritic processing involved in hippocampal memory coding” they try to find out how external information is encoded by the coordinated activity of spatially distributed neuron groups.
  
• The project of the Fungal Genomics & Evolution Lab lead by László Nagy G. at the Biological Research Centre of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Szeged contributes to understanding the evolutionary steps leading to multicellular organisms. The project titled „Examination of the evolution of multicellular fungi with the tools of phylogenetics and genomics” relies on the latest methodological achievements of biology, mainly in the fields of bioinformatics and genomics.
  

The internationally renowned Hungarian research groups were granted HUF 45 million (approx. EUR 145 thousand) each for a period of 18 months in the framework of the ERC_HU_15 call for application.

The total amount of allocated to this funding scheme from the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund is HUF 450 million (nearly EUR 1.5 million) in 2015 and 2016. Applications may be submitted through the dedicated participation portal after the decision following the call for applications but no later than 31 December 2016, subject to availability of funds. The remaining amount currently available for funding projects is HUF 90 million (EUR 290 thousand). Should this budget be exhausted the NRDI Office plans to announce the ERC_HU_16 call in 2016.

On 1 December 2015 five project applications were already selected for funding in the framework of the programme, on recommendation of the professional panels. The projects awarded in the first round belonged to both natural and social sciences, including cellular biology, genetics, mathematics and linguistics. The current decision was adopted in respect of project applications submitted so far to the second round announced in the meanwhile.

Research groups working on cutting-edge basic research projects can apply for two sub-programmes under ERC_HU_15:

Applications for the “Amplifier Sub-programme” can be submitted

• by researchers who previously applied under the ERC StG, CoG or AdG funding scheme, and whose application scored “A” in the second round of the ERC evaluation phase but was not awarded due to lack of funds.
  

Applications for the “Assistance Sub-programme” of the ERC_HU_15 call can be submitted in two ways:

• with a project which scored “B” in the second round of the ERC StG or CoG call and the applicant will not be able to submit a new application for one year after receiving the ERC rating (e.g. due to an administrative ban or because the period between the date of issue of the rating and the next deadline for submission is less than one year), or
  
• with a project which is lead by a person who has already won a grant in an earlier ERC call but was unable to submit a new application for the next call due to administrative reasons as he/she was requested to participate in an ERC evaluation panel which made him/her ineligible to apply.