On 9 July 2024, the European Commission adopted the 2025 Work Programme of the European Research Council (ERC), with EUR 2.7 billion allocated for research grants in the coming year (including contributions from countries associated to Horizon Europe). 

Under the 2025 Work Programme, two calls – for Starting Grants and Synergy Grants – were published in July and the Consolidator Grant call will be published in September 2024. For these three calls, the European Commission decided to treat Swiss institutions as “entities established in Associated Countries” in the context of the ongoing negotiations between the EU and Switzerland. Swiss institutions can therefore act as host organisations in case of success. However, grant agreements can only be signed with successful applicants if the association agreement with Switzerland is in effect at that time.  

This decision shows further progress in the EU-Swiss negotiations, building on a prior opening of the Advanced Grant call under the ERC 2024 Work Programme to Swiss entities based on the transitional arrangements announced by the European Commission in March 2024 (see ACA Newsletter – Education Europe, March 2024). The deadline to apply for the 2024 Advanced Grant call is 29 August 2024.