Millions in funding for young researchers: 16 ERC Starting Grants for Max Planck

In a European comparison, the MPG ranks second

16 of the 98 Starting Grants that the ERC awarded to Germany on September 5, 2024, will go to young researchers from Max Planck Institutes. With the Starting Grants, each worth an average of 1.5 million euros for their outstanding work, the scientists can provide additional support to their group for five years. The funding is also intended to encourage them to start independent projects with their own teams in order to realize their creative research ideas.

In a European comparison, the Max Planck Society ranks second behind the French CNRS with 25 grants. The Helmholtz Association follows in third place with 13 grants.

The most successful host organizations in Europe come from Germany with 98 grants, followed by the Netherlands, which received 51 grants. Of a total of 3,474 applications submitted across Europe, 494 applications were approved. This year, the funding totaled 780 million euros. The ERC Starting Grants are part of the EU program for research and innovation, Horizon Europe.

This year’s ERC Starting Grants go to:

Chemistry, physics, technology

Max Gronke – Resolving the Multiscale, Multiphase Universe
MPI for Astrophysics

Chunyo Guo – Force-free microstructures host intrinsic dynamics of orbital phases in AV3Sb5 Kagome metals
MPI for Structure and Dynamics of Matter

Jad Halmeh – Quantum simulation of far-from-equilibrium gauge theories
MPI for Quantum Optics

Mario Krenn – Artificial Scientific Discovery of advanced Quantum Hardware with high-performance Simulators
MPI for the Physics of Light

John Molloy – Illuminating Routes to 3D Organoboron Molecules
MPI for Colloids and Interfaces

Melanie Müller – Ultrafast atomic-scale imaging and control of nonequilibrium phenomena in quantum materials
Fritz Haber Institute

Vera Schäfer – Search for physics beyond the standard model with highly charged ions
MPI for Nuclear Physics

Libor Šmejkal – Magnetic counterparts of unconventional superconductors for spin-conserved and nondissipative electronics
MPI for Microstructure Physics

Paul Strohmeier – Kinesthetic Displays: Creating Embodied Experiences of Movement Using Vibrotactile Feedback
MPI for Computer Science

Li Wan – Fully Electrically Controlled Ultra-fast Chiral Light Handedness Switching in Organic Light-Emitting Devices
MPI for Microstructure Physics

Biology, Medicine

Luis Humberto Orellana Retamal – Ecological and evolutionary role of specialized bacteria in algae health and carbon sequestration
MPI for Marine Microbiology

Anna Schröder – Internal state drivers of behavioral flexibility and their underlying neural circuitry in the zona incerta
MPI for Brain Research

Anna Stempel – Brainstem circuits supporting adaptive instinctive behavior
MPI for Brain Research

Humanities and Social Sciences

Harald Ringbauer – Exploring natural selection due to the Black Death and continuous human population genetic structure
MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology

Lisa Suckert – Understanding the Role of Economic Imagination for Advancing Decarbonization in Europe
MPI for the Study of Societies

Charley Wu – Compositional Compression in Cognition and Culture
MPI for Educational Research