ERC grants, awarded by the European Research Council (ERC), are among the most important European funding programmes in the field of basic research. The ERC funds outstanding scientists with groundbreaking project ideas e.g. in the following categories:
Starting Grants (up to 1.5 million euros) for excellent researchers at the beginning of an independent career.
Consolidator Grants (up to 2.0 million euros) for excellent researchers whose own independent research group is in the consolidation phase.
Advanced Grants (up to 2.5 million euros) for established top scientists with an outstanding scientific track record who would like to open up new research areas.
Historian Dr Saskia Limbach from the University of Göttingen has received a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). This funding will enable Limbach and her team to investigate the effects of the rapid economic change triggered by the printing press on the rights and agency of widows. The advent of the printing press spurred crucial intellectual, economic and social developments in early modern Europe. In Germany, the print industry grew faster than in most places and – what has often gone unnoticed – there was a conspicuously high number of widows involved. Yet the exact nature of the industry’s growth, and women’s contribution to it, is extremely difficult to reconstruct because the print runs of different editions of books are a mystery. WidowsPrint will significantly break new ground by filling in these missing pieces. The ERC project will also analyse how widows' economic agency changed in the 16th and 17th century as book production progressively moved from single workshops to larger family enterprises. (Press release, project database CORDIS)
Linguist Professor Hedde Zeijlstra from the English Department has been awarded an Advanced Grant by the European Research Council (ERC). Many languages lack words for certain terms. For example, nowhere is there a single word that means "not all". This is surprising, because every language has words for "some" and "all", and many languages also have a word for "none". So why is this "fourth corner" missing? Until now, universal paradigmatic gaps like these have not been systematically investigated. Since these gaps occur universally, they cannot have developed for cultural reasons. So, why have logical elements like this not become part of the lexicon? Ultimately, these words and concepts are not unimaginable. The ERC project will identify, investigate and explain many more such universal paradigmatic gaps, both in spoken language and in sign language. (Press release, project database CORDIS)
Biophysicist Professor Timo Betz, University of Göttingen, has been awarded a Proof of Concept (PoC) grant by the European Research Council (ERC) for his “TissMec” project. The PoC will start in 2024. Betz and his team have developed a 3D cell culture chamber to grow muscle and other tissue. In doing so, they can apply a system where they can use high-resolution microscopy and where they can measure forces close-up in the cell. The new funding will enable them to extend the usability of the chamber to other tissues. One application of this system is drug screening, as this system should reduce the work and cost associated with getting a new drug to market, as well as the number of animal experiments that are required to test and validate future drugs. In addition, the team’s enhanced laboratory version of the chamber system will allow scientists to mimic the mechanical situations that confront various living tissues in serious conditions, such as cardiovascular disease or muscular dystrophies.
(Press release, project database CORDIS)
Computer scientist and brain researcher Professor Alexander Ecker from the University of Göttingen and the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organisation (MPIDS) has received a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). Ecker and his team want to find out how the form and function of nerve cells in the cerebral cortex are connected. For a long time, it was only possible to determine either the shape or the functional activity of a nerve cell, but not both at the same time. A large data set should help to analyse the form and function of the nerve cells: The team is drawing on data from a previous collaboration under the US Brain Initiative, which includes the anatomy and activity of about 100,000 neurons in the visual cortex of a mouse. With the help of the ERC funding, the researchers want to develop machine learning methods to describe these nerve cells mathematically, recognise patterns in these data and relate their form and function to each other. (Press release, project database CORDIS)
Professor Lutz Ackermann from the Institute of Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry at the University of Göttingen has received an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). The development of environmentally sound production methods is one of the greatest challenges facing society today. This is where Ackermann's project comes in: it unites two resource-saving strategies, thus combining the conversion of reaction-carrying molecules with electrocatalysis. The overarching goal is to replace toxic reagents and mediators with green electricity and to control the selectivity of electrocatalytic transformations of biomolecules. With external stimuli of renewable forms of energy, waste products can thereby be minimised and lengthy synthesis sequences bypassed. This is made possible by the design of innovative catalysis concepts. (Press release, project database CORDIS)
Professor Jörg Enderlein from the Third Institute of Physics (Biophysics) at the University of Göttingen has been awarded an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). The aim of the project is to develop a new light microscopic method that can be used to investigate structural details and the temporal dynamics of individual molecules with unprecedented spatiotemporal resolution. This procedure will enable the investigation of the structure, dynamics and interaction of biological molecules (protein molecules, fats, nucleic acids) in real time, opening up completely new possibilities for biophysical and biomedical research. The project thus combines basic physical research with its far-reaching applications in biology and medicine. (Press release, project database CORDIS)
Professor Birgit Abels from the Department of Musicology at the University of Göttingen has received a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). In the project, Abels and her team are researching the specific sound of the knowledge of music-making in Micronesia. This knowledge does not take shape in words, but in musical practice. This enables change and approaches to solutions. The project will explore the relevance of this musical knowledge in the context of very concrete crises: Climate change, social alienation and post-colonial trauma each shape certain parts of the region. (Press release, project database CORDIS)
Professor Theofanis Kitsopoulos, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry and Institute of Physical Chemistry at the University of Göttingen, has received an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). Dr. Tim Schäfer from the Institute of Physical Chemistry at the University of Göttingen is involved in the project. So-called catalysts are used to increase the reaction rate in chemical reactions. Understanding such processes better is an important part of developing new sustainable technologies and optimising existing techniques. The aim of the research project is to characterise the most important factors that determine how elementary reactions take place on surfaces. (uni|inform, project database CORDIS)
The biologist Professor Dr. Jan de Vries from the University of Göttingen has received a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). With the funding, de Vries and his team are investigating central factors in the terrestrialization of plants more than 500 million years ago. The emergence of all flora on land plants - from moss growth on stones to barley in the fields to redwood trees - can be traced back to this key evolutionarily event. During this event, the algal precursors of land plants successfully established themselves in the terrestrial habitat - and subsequently produced the impressive diversity that is the basis of life on land today. The project explores the question of which factors made this success story possible. (Press release, project database CORDIS)
Professor Manuel Alcarazo from the Institute of Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry at the University of Göttingen has received a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). Alcarazo and his team are investigating how functional groups on a complex molecule can be efficiently transferred at the end of its synthesis route. Important for this is the design of new so-called transfer reagents that allow this transformation. Until now, iodine compounds have often been used, which are often explosive and therefore not universally applicable. In his ERC project, Alcarazo is now hoping to find the safest possible alternatives, which are to be developed on the basis of sulphur compounds. The safety aspect is particularly important for reactions on an industrial scale. (Press release, project database CORDIS)
Professor Timo Betz has received a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). The project started back in 2018 at the University of Münster, and in 2020 Betz has moved to the Third Institute of Physics (Biophysics) at the University of Göttingen. His research project examines epithelial cells. These cells form boundary layers in the human and animal body, for example in the lungs and skin. The scientists want to understand the mechanical processes by which epithelial cells organise themselves properly. It is of paramount importance that all cells align themselves correctly, distinguishing, for example, the side of the lung facing the body and blood vessels from the outside. If this differentiation fails, serious diseases such as cancer can develop. (Press release University of Münster, project database CORDIS)
Professor Winfried Rudolf from the Department of English Philology has obtained a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). The project focuses on anonymous vernacular sermons of the Anglo-Saxon period (ca. 650-1100), which form a highly complex network of interdependent reuse speeches. The international research team is also for the first time completely indexing all Latin sources of these sermons and their exact transmission from different parts of the European continent to England. Novel analytical tools will be used to unravel text composition and text variation processes with the help of the original manuscripts, thereby identifying previously unknown Anglo-Saxon preachers and making linguistic-historical, political and religious changes visible. (Press release, project database CORDIS)
Professor Sarah Köster from the Institute for X-ray Physics at the University of Göttingen has secured a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). The different mechanical requirements that our body cells have to meet are mainly determined by a complex network of fibre proteins in the cell, the so-called cytoskeleton. One component of this "composite material" in particular, the family of intermediate filament proteins, has amazing physical properties such as extreme extensibility and high flexibility. Together with her team, Köster will combine various innovative methods to measure molecular interactions in the proteins, mechanically characterise the fibres and finally transfer the results to the cellular level. New insights into the fundamental physics of biological soft matter as well as fields of application in medicine and material sciences are expected. (Press release, project database CORDIS)
Professor Dr. Jörg Enderlein from the Third Institute of Physics (Biophysics) at the University of Göttingen is participating in an ERC Advanced Grant. The grantee is Professor Dr. Shimon Weiss from Bar Ilan University, Israel. The total funding amounts to approximately 3.5 million euros, of which 175,000 euros for Göttingen. The duration is five years. (project database CORDIS)
Professor Claudia Höbartner from the Institute of Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry has received an ERC Consolidator Grant. In 2017, Ms Höbartner moved to the University of Würzburg with her ERC project. In the ERC project, Professor Höbartner and her team are investigating how certain marker molecules can be made to glow in order to make them visible inside cells, for example, using high-resolution methods such as Nobel Prize winner Professor Stefan Hell's STED microscopy. Possible applications include biochemistry and medicine. (Press release, project database CORDIS)
Bioclimatologist Professor Dr. Alexander Knohl from the Faculty of Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology at the University of Göttingen has been awarded a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). Within the framework of the project, Prof. Knohl wants to develop a new method to quantify the CO2 exchange of terrestrial ecosystems. Mainly, the CO2 uptake of land ecosystems is measured with the help of climate towers. One problem with these measurements, however, is that no direct insights can be gained into the individual components of CO2 exchange to plants and soil. Understanding these components is, however, necessary for the confirmation of global climate models. (Press release, project database CORDIS)
The ethnologist Professor Dr. Roman Loimeier from the University of Göttingen has acquired an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). The research project examines developments in six countries in North Africa and West Asia. Its results will help, among other things, to find an answer to the question of whether the insistence on the privacy of faith is associated with a corresponding loss of the influence of religion in the public sphere, and thus with a loss of influence on the part of the respective religious actors - especially the radical Islamist groups that have tried to win over Muslims for their political goals in recent decades. (Press release, project database CORDIS)
The mathematician Professor Dr Harald Andrés Helfgott from the University of Göttingen has been awarded a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). With this grant, the ERC is funding research into questions of growth and expansion in so-called non-commutative groups. Within the framework of the ERC project, Helfgott and his team are analysing the relations of non-commutative groups to other fields such as algorithms, geometric group theory - in particular for sofic groups - and analytic number theory. Of particular interest is the significance of arithmetic combinatorics, transformed in terms of group processes, for cancellation in short sums with arithmetic significance. (Press release, project database CORDIS)
Professor Lorenz Rahmstorf from the Department of Prehistory and Early History has received a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). The project started back in 2015 at the University of Copenhagen, and Rahmstorf moved to the University of Göttingen in 2017. In 2019, he confirmed one of the project's hypotheses, that metrological knowledge was already known in many regions of Europe in the late second and early first millennium BC. For example, people in England were already using fine weights and scales to measure material value. Rahmstorf compared gold objects from the Middle and Late Bronze Age from the British Isles and from northern France and found that they were based on the same unit of weight. Until now, it was often assumed that exchange during the Bronze Age in north-western Europe was primarily socially embedded, for example as gift exchange. (Press release, project database CORDIS)
Professor Claus Ropers from the IV Institute of Physics at the University of Göttingen has received a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). In the microscopic world of atoms and molecules, structural changes occur in trillionths and quadrillionths of a second. Ropers and his research group are developing new experimental techniques to investigate such extremely fast processes on surfaces and in thin films. New insights gained in this way form a basis for the future use of functional layer structures based on two-dimensional materials such as graphene. (uni|inform, project database CORDIS)
Professor Sven Schneider from the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Göttingen has received a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). Schneider and his team are investigating elementary reactions that enable the development of new, catalytic synthesis pathways for nitrogen-containing compounds. In industry, nitrogen from the air is converted into ammonia with the help of hydrogen, primarily for fertilisers, but also for the production of plastics, nylon or medicines. However, this nitrogen has a low reaction rate, so it only slowly forms new compounds. The industrial production of ammonia using the so-called Haber-Bosch process is also very costly and consumes about two percent of the world's energy. The project is looking for alternative processes. (Press release, project database CORDIS)
The physicist Professor Christoph Schmidt from the Third Institute of Physics at the University of Göttingen has secured an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). Cells possess both a chemical "sense of smell" and a physical "sense of touch". Schmidt is investigating how the mechanical "sense of touch" of cells fits into their complex regulatory network. The structure, dynamics, development and differentiation of the cell as well as programmed cell death are influenced by physical signals that intervene in complicated sets of rules. In addition to fundamental importance for cell biophysics, the mechanical control of cell behaviour is also of crucial importance for biotechnology and medicine, for example in the development of artificial tissues and organs. (Press release, project database CORDIS)
The chemist Professor Lutz Ackermann from the University of Göttingen has received a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). Ackermann works on organic synthesis and catalysis chemistry. Catalysts are molecules that accelerate or direct chemical reactions without being consumed themselves. This is important, among other things, in material sciences, plant protection and in the pharmaceutical industry, which needs resource-saving synthesis pathways for the production of active substances. Ackermann's work on the catalytic activation of carbon-hydrogen bonds (C-H bonds), which are otherwise extremely inert, attracted international attention. This made fundamentally new and environmentally friendly production routes for important classes of active substances possible. (Press release, project database CORDIS)
Professor Ansgar Reiners, astrophysicist at the University of Göttingen, has received a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). The aim of the project is to develop certain standards that will enable the search for habitable planets outside our solar system. In order to discover planets outside our solar system, periodic changes in the star's light are studied, which are caused by the star itself moving when it is orbited by a planet. This requires highly precise light sources that can be used as reference points for measuring the wavelengths of light. Such calibration sources are currently not available for particularly cool stars. Their development is therefore the goal of the project. (Press release, project database CORDIS)
The chemist Professor Manuel Alcarazo has received a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). The project started in 2011 at the Max Planck Institute für Kohlenforschung, and Alcarazo moved to the University of Göttingen in 2015. Alcarazo's research work in the field of synthesis chemistry focuses on the development and use of custom-fit cationic ligands in various application areas, for example in the synthesis of natural substances. He thus strengthens above all the research focus "Molecular Catalysis" at the Faculty of Chemistry. Another important field for Prof. Alcarazo and his research group is the work with so-called "Frustrated Lewis Pairs". They play an important role in sustainable, resource-saving catalysis chemistry. (Press release, project database CORDIS)
The mathematician Professor Dr. Valentin Blomer from the University of Göttingen has received a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). The aim of the project is to investigate objects of analytic number theory in complex structures that are unassailable by conventional means. Significant advances in classical unsolved conjectures are expected. The methods used are interdisciplinary: they lie within pure mathematics and have links to stochastics, physics and cryptology. The arithmetic objects and structures studied in number theory include the distribution of prime numbers and the position of grid points on curved surfaces. (Press release, project database CORDIS)
