Nine ERC Advanced Grants awarded to Helmholtz

The latest ERC Advanced Grants call for proposals was a success for Helmholtz. Researchers secured a total of nine grants for Helmholtz centres.

The European Research Council (ERC) awarded 319 grants, 46 of which were given to researchers in Germany. The 'Advanced Grants' programme provides funding of up to 2.5 million euros over a five-year period for established researchers.

Below is an overview of the successful applicants and their projects:

  • Beate Escher, ToxSick - From toxic mixtures to disease, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
  • Gaetano Gargiulo, MOIRA - Modeling oncogenesis, phenotypic identity and fate in brain cancer avatars, Max Delbrück Center
  • Ulrike Herzschuh, PlantExtinct - When plants disappeared with the mammoth steppe, Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research
  • Uwe Ohler, TRANS-DECODE - Translational Control Decoded: Predictive, Interpretable and Generative Models of mRNA Regulation, Max Delbrück Center
  • Krisztian Peters, SONAR - Superconducting Oscillator for Novel Astrophysical Radiation: a pioneering detector concept for highfrequency gravitational waves and axion searches, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY
  • Mario Ruben, HILBERT MOLECULES - Hilbert Space Engineering of Nuclear Spin Qudits by Isotopologue Coordination Chemistry, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
  • Dieter Saur, Evoke-PDAC - Evoking anti-tumor immunity in pancreatic cancer, German Cancer Research Center
  • Aurelio Teleman, AdenoRegulate - Uncovering how environmental cues regulate metabolism via the anti-growth hormone Adenosine, German Cancer Research Center
  • Anton Wallner, SUPREME - Supernova and r-process radionuclides engraved on million-years old archives from Earth and Moon, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

The ERC is the European Union’s leading institution for funding excellent basic research. It funds scientific projects based solely on scientific merit and supports researchers pursuing innovative, high-risk ideas with the potential to generate new insights and technological breakthroughs.

ERC Advanced Grants provide funding for ambitious and high-risk research projects, and are recognised throughout Europe as a key indicator of scientific excellence and innovation.

ERC Advanced Grants: Nearly €840 million to support Europe’s leading researchers

23.06.2026, Helmholtz

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