Six ERC Consolidator Grants for Max Planck
Most successful German institution – ranked fifth in Europe
To the point
- Six scientists from the Max Planck Society have been awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant this year.
- The projects cover the fields of astronomy, materials research, particle and gravitational physics, and cognitive and neuroscience. The CPTS section has been particularly successful, accounting for five of the six grants.
- Across Europe, 349 of 3121 applications submitted were approved – the Max Planck Society ranks fifth among the host institutions.
Most of the funded projects come from the United Kingdom (66 grants), followed by Germany (58), the Netherlands (40), Spain (26), Switzerland, and France (25 each). The ranking of host institutions is led by the French Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) with 13 grants, followed by the University of Oxford with 11 grants. Behind them are the University of Zurich, the University of Amsterdam, and the University of Cambridge. As in the previous year, 38 percent of the grants went to female scientists.
The following six Max Planck researchers will receive up to two million euros in funding over the next five years:
Chemistry, Physics, Technology (CPTS)
- Paul Mollière, MPI for Astronomy – develops new models and analysis methods to reconstruct the three-dimensional structures and dynamics in exoplanet atmospheres from observational data.
- Yu Ogawa, MPI of Colloids and Interfaces – researching how plants produce cellulose at the molecular level in order to replicate this process in the laboratory.
- Karoline Schäffner, MPI for Physics — working on novel detection techniques for the COSINUS dark matter experiment.
- Marius Wiesemann, MPI for Physics — is working on innovative calculation methods that can be used to simulate particle collisions with high precision.
- Miguel Zumalacarregui, MPI for Gravitational Physics — aims to develop the theory and tools needed to analyze deflected gravitational waves and evaluate their diverse wave-optical properties.
Humanities and Social Sciences (GSHS)
- Lars Meyer, MPI for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences — researches neural mechanisms of language processing.
Background: ERC Consolidator Grants
ERC Consolidator Grants are aimed at researchers who completed their doctorates seven to twelve years ago. Funding amounts to up to two million euros for a maximum of five years. A total of 728 million euros was awarded in this round of calls.
