EPFL receives four ERC Starting Grants

© 2015 http://erc.europa.eu

© 2015 http://erc.europa.eu

The European Research Council (ERC) announced on December 4 that Starting Grants are bieing awarded to 291 early-career researchers. Among them, four EPFL professors have been selected: Michele Ceriotti, Johannes Graeff, Elison Matioli and Fabien Sorin.

This funding, worth in total € 429 million and up to € 1.5 million per grant, will enable the early-career researchers to set up their own research teams and pursue ground-breaking ideas. The grants are awarded under the “Excellent Science” pillar of Horizon 2020, the EU’s research and innovation programme.

The new grantees will perform research on a wide range of topics. Prof. Certiotti will work on decoding, mapping and designing the structural complexity of hydrogen-bond networks, Prof. Graeff will be looking at cellular and molecular mechanisms of remote fear attenuation, Prof. Matioli will be investigating into III-nitrides nanostructures for energy-efficiency devices, and Prof. Sorin will explore the use of solid-state flow as a novel approach for the fabrication of photonic devices.

The overall success rate for this ERC StG call 2015 was 10%, but 33% of the EPFL applicants were successful.

(Source: ERC Press Release)