Irish Researchers Awarded European Resea... Jun 23, 2026 European Research Council The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded €838m in Advanced Grants to 319 leading researchers across Europe and associated countries under the Horizon Europe programme. Designed for established researchers with outstanding track records, ERC Advanced Grants support ambitious, curiosity-driven projects with the potential to generate transformative scientific advances. Among the recipients are five Ireland-based projects at Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin, spanning infant cognition and AI, social wellbeing, Asian anti-colonial history, bioactive RNA research and liquid metal electrocatalysis, highlighting Ireland’s strength in world-class, frontier research. Read More
Celebrating 30 years of the MSCA Apr 13, 2026 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions This year Europe will celebrate 30 years of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA). This vital funding stream in Ireland supports the development of highly skilled human capital, funding curiosity-driven, bottom-up research across all disciplines and sectors and building strong international research partnerships. As part of the presidency of the EU Council, Ireland will host the annual MSCA Presidency Conference on 04-05 November 2026 in TU Dublin. Read More
ERC Momentum Continues: New Awards, Upco... Apr 13, 2026 European Research Council Since the last ERC update in October, European Research Council (ERC) results announced have reinforced a clear message: ambitious, investigator-led ideas across Ireland’s research system continue to secure major international recognition and investment. Cumulative ERC support under Horizon Europe is on track to pass the €200m milestone once the remaining grant agreements are finalised, an important marker as further ERC Work Programme calls open under the current framework. Read More
RootEd – Supporting sustainable in... Nov 12, 2025 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions RootEd is a €2.7M Horizon Europe project which aims to double agricultural output sustainably by 2050. Led by UCD, the focus is on plant root systems with 10 PhD researchers exploring soil-plant interactions, AI imaging, and crop resilience. The project seeks to reduce fertiliser use, boost yields, and support farmers with data-driven decisions, contributing to a “second green revolution.” Read More
ERC Grants Get a Makeover: Proposal Rest... Oct 14, 2025 European Research Council Major updates to ERC procedures and eligibility are planned, including changes to proposal formats, evaluation processes, and grant windows from 2026 and 2027. ERC National Delegate Maria Nash provides a breakdown of the updates and what they mean for ERC applicants in the coming months. Read More
iCircular3 – Digitalising the circ... Oct 13, 2025 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions The €2.56M iCircular3 project, led by University College Dublin, aims to digitalise the circular economy in robotics, Electric Vehicles, and power tools. Funded by Horizon Europe’s MSCA programme, it trains nine researchers to develop tools and frameworks for sustainable industry practices. Solutions like sensor upgrades and battery reuse to support EU climate and circularity goals are focus areas of the project. Read More
Irish Success in ERC Starting Grants Sep 19, 2025 European Research Council In September, the European Research Council announced its latest Starting Grant recipients, including seven researchers from Irish universities. With a combined value exceeding €10.8 million across four institutions, the funded projects span diverse disciplines, from medieval genomics and social history to pain research and the evolution of memory, reflecting Ireland’s strong research excellence and interdisciplinary ambition. Read More
European Research Council: Highlights, T... Jun 10, 2025 European Research Council With the 2026 European Research Council work programme due for adoption and publication in July, spring and early summer have brought multiple updates on current and future ERC calls. Following late-stage amendments to the 2025 programme, notable new features are expected in 2026, with further significant changes already signalled for implementation in 2027 across funding schemes and strategic priorities overall. Read More
Ireland’s MSCA Success: €110m Secured an... Jun 10, 2025 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Ireland has had an impressive track record in MSCA success. In Horizon 2020, Ireland’s MSCA drawdown was €196.5 million and, to date, over €110m in MSCA funding has been secured by Ireland-based institutions under Horizon Europe. Excellent resources have been created to support applicants and increased national participation means that examples of case studies with Ireland-based researchers are plentiful. Read More
Horizon Europe Project STONE-WORK Jan 2, 2025 European Research Council Watch Our latest YouTube video here – STONE-WORK is an ERC-funded project under Horizon Europe led by Professor Christine Casey, Trinity College Dublin. The project gives us a new way of looking at architectural production, focusing on the communities involved in sourcing and producing materials for buildings Read More
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions: Why we n... Dec 12, 2024 Excellent Science Through the MSCA programme, the European Union has supported more than 150,000 researchers with many more benefiting from these highly prestigious grants. Behind this investment is the motivation from the EU to build a strong and creative research-based human capital, with the right combination of skills to be able to detect and tackle current challenges of our time, and indeed those future challenges that we don’t even know about yet. Read More
Working out ways to tackle age-related m... Feb 7, 2024 Cluster 1 Health Sarcopenia, or age-related muscle loss, is a primary cause of loss of physical independence in the elderly, and the focus of one recent Horizon-funded research study. “The need for effective treatment strategies that can slow or reverse age-related muscle loss is essential if a future crisis is to be avoided,” says Dr Robert Radford, project lead of Pept-AGE at Nuritas. Read More
