Building ERC Capacity in Widening Countries

Building the capacity to win an ERC grant starts long before you sit down to write a proposal. This free online webinar from the European Research Council (ERC) looks at how researchers, and the institutions and national systems behind them, can get ready for an ERC application, with a focus on researchers in Widening countries.

Widening countries are the EU member states and associated countries that have historically had lower success rates in Horizon Europe, including much of Central and Eastern Europe, Portugal and the Baltic states. The ERC is working to build a stronger pipeline of applicants from these countries, and this session sets out the support available.

The session will cover:

• relevant changes in the ERC Work Programme 2027, and what future applicants need to know
• the ERC Mentoring Initiative, from both the mentee’s and the mentor’s point of view
• how Visiting Fellowships and other support can help researchers prepare
• national and institutional case studies from Portugal, Poland, Slovenia and Estonia
• first-hand experience from researchers who have gone on to ERC success

Speakers include Leszek Kaczmarek, Chair of the ERC Working Group on Widening European Participation, alongside ERC Executive Agency staff, an ERC mentor from the Italian Institute of Technology, the ERC-Portugal Programme, the University of Warsaw’s international research office, and ERC grantees from Ljubljana and Tartu. There is time for questions after each part of the programme.

The webinar is in English on Friday 23 October 2026, from 9.30am to 12.20pm CEST (8.30am to 11.20am UK time), with a short break mid-morning.

How to join

There is no need to register. Join the webinar on the day using the link below. Places are limited to 1,000 attendees, and the session will be recorded and made available afterwards.

Join the webinar

The full agenda and speaker biographies are on the ERC event page.

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