REHOVOT, ISRAEL—June 22, 2020—The Weizmann Institute of Science is ranked seventh in Europe – and first in Israel – for the total number of research grants received from the European Research Council (ERC) for the years 2007-2019. In fact, if the small size of the Weizmann Institute of Science were taken into consideration – compared to large institutes with numerous research groups – its ranking would be even higher.

The ERC hands out billions of euros in scientific research grants every year, and has thus far funded over 10,000 projects by researchers in 34 countries. It is the major supporter of the kind of basic scientific research practiced at the Weizmann Institute of Science: groundbreaking, high-risk/high-gain research that is based, first and foremost, on the excellence of its investigators. The Weizmann Institute is highly successful in obtaining these extremely competitive grants.

The ERC offers four types of grants: Starting, Consolidator, Advanced, and Synergy. The Starting and Consolidator grants are meant for researchers in the early stages of their careers, the Advanced grants go to outstanding established researchers to help expand the frontiers of human knowledge, and the Synergy grants support small cross-disciplinary groups that aim to share their knowledge in order to undertake ambitious research projects.

The Weizmann Institute’s success rate is above average in all categories, and well above average in three out of four. In the two meant for early-stage researchers, the Institute’s average is over 50% – that is, about one out of every two proposals receives funding.

A midterm analysis of the Institute’s ERC performance under the EU Framework Program “Horizon 2020” (which began in 2014) puts Weizmann at 51% for Starting grants and 54% for Consolidator grants, compared to 13% and 14%, respectively, across Europe. Furthermore, the Institute has maintained a success rate of 50% in the Synergy grants – in contrast with 11% for Europe. Of 288 proposals for this grant submitted in 2019, only 38 were accepted. And the Institute is above average as well in the Advanced grants category, obtaining 18%, compared with Europe’s 11%.

“Our success in this arena for many years is one of the contributing factors to the outstanding research accomplishments at the Weizmann Institute of Science,” says Institute President Prof. Alon Chen. “Our high success rate in the categories for young researchers is especially encouraging, and it points to a promising future for the Institute.”