Call for EAM Starting Grant 2024/25

Announcement EAM Starting Grant 2024/2025

Call for proposals (first summary May 31, 2024 – final deadline June 30, 2024)

Dear FAU researchers,

To support the most talented young scientists working in the field of new materials and processes, the FAU Competence Center Engineering of Advanced Materials (FAU EAM) is launching a new call for the EAM Starting Grant. The grant is endowed with 100,000 Euro, and should serve as seed for the preparation of a Starting Grant of the European Research Council.

The recipients of the grants are required to apply for an ERC Starting Grant in 2025 or 2026 the latest. Therefore, applicants for the EAM Starting Grant have to meet the respective ERC application criteria and have to show how the EAM Starting Grant helps them to strengthen their profile with respect to their future ERC application. The grant must be used for the specific research needs of the grant recipient (personal, equipment, consumables, dissemination). Please check the attached funding criteria for more details. Funds will be available immediately after a positive decision and have to be spent completely by December 2025. Only proposals with a strong link to new materials and processes research will be considered. Proposals clearly related to ongoing or future collaborative research initiatives are particularly welcome. Further information can be provided by FAU EAM Administration.

In order to apply, candidates are requested to send a tentative title and a short summary of a grant (max. 2,000 characters) to eam-administration@fau.de by May 31, 2024. This material will be used to identify suitable referees. The deadline for the submission of the proposals is June 30, 2024. The proposals need to be provided in electronic form to eam-administration@fau.de. The evaluation will be overseen by the EAM Executive Board and will be based on assessments by highly esteemed external referees. A decision is expected by October 2024.

Guidelines for proposals:

The requirements of the proposal are equal to those of the ERC Starting Grant (section 1) and are as follows:

1. Title page with an abstract (2,000 characters)
2. Scientific leadership potential (max. 1 page)

• Extended synopsis of the scientific proposal (max. 5 pages): a concise presentation of the proposal including the scientific feasibility of the project, with particular attention to its groundbreaking nature and how it may open up new horizons or opportunities in research. Additionally you should provide information regarding financial planning on how to spend the grant budget.

1. CV (max. 2 pages)
2. Early achievement track-record (max. 2 pages):

• Publications as main author in major international peer-reviewed multi-disciplinary scientific journals and/or leading international peer-reviewed journals, peer-reviewed conference proceedings and/or monographs
• Granted patents
• Invited presentations to peer-reviewed, internationally established conferences and/or international advanced schools
• Awards, scholarships and granted research projects under the name of the applicant

The application can be strengthened by outlining the significance/relation of your research to current and future research initiatives (e.g. CRC, RTG) at FAU.

For specific questions, please refer to Dr. Andreas Späth (andreas.spaeth@fau.de  or 09131 85-70473).

Best regards,

Prof. Dr. Ana-Sunčana Smith
Spokesperson FAU Competence Center EAM