What if preventing childhood obesity might start with breastmilk? During #WorldBreastfeedingWeek 2026, we highlight ERC grantee Trine Moholdt's research at NTNU, on how exercise during lactation may influence breastmilk composition and infant health. 👉️ buff.ly/D55JqE4

"Our coatings are inspired by nature and empowered by science." Anna Sandak. Her newly designed ‘living skin' can be used on wood, concrete or plastic surfaces to shield it from weather. Podcast on her #FrontierResearch 👉 bit.ly/45oYEWF #Science4EU @scienceinnovation.ec.europa.eu

Late-summer bilberry picking depends on more than ☀️ & 🌧️ . Hidden microbes help bilberries grow and adapt 🫐 Sara Leino of ERC grantee Anna-Liisa Laine's team @helsinki.fi, studies how biodiversity change & forest management affect vital plant–microbe partnerships. @annaliisalaine.bsky.social

He/she/they.... the appropriate uses of some #pronouns have changed over the years. In time, we also lost the useful wit, unker and git. But what did they allow us to say? Read the interview with Tom Birkett, leader of the NorseMap #Viking research. 👇 @norseincork.bsky.social @ucc.ie #ERCCoG

Wit, unker, git: The lost medieval pronouns of English intimacy

Tales of love and adventure from 1,000 years ago reveal a dazzling range of now-extinct English pronouns. They capture something unique about how people once thought about "two-ness".

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Researchers, we want to hear from you! Take 10 minutes to complete a new OECD–EU survey and help policymakers better understand how R&D work is evolving. 👉 oe.cd/RD2026

Meet Adrian M. Ionescu, Ambassador for the ERC from Switzerland 🇨🇭 ! At EPFL, he rethinks the building blocks of computing, developing nanoelectronic devices and technologies designed to make computing systems more energy efficient. 🔗 bit.ly/4eAoICf #Amb4ERC

What helps friendships form and thrive? This International Day of Friendship, discover how ERC grantee Antonia Hamilton @ucl.ac.uk is investigating the science of #friendship and how curiosity-driven research could help tackle loneliness. 🔗 buff.ly/5tNYptB @antoniahamilton.bsky.social

📣 Calling all ERC Grantees! Want to engage with the public and celebrate science? Join #EuropeanResearchersNight on 🗓️25/09! This year, the event will take place across 40 countries and should attract >1 million participants. Coming? Drop a line & let us know! 👇 @ercgrantees.bsky.social #SciCom

Deadline reminder ⏰ Just a few weeks left to submit your ERC Advanced Grant application! 📅 Application deadline: 27 August 2026 Find all the details and apply 👉 buff.ly/zvQYMhg

Heading to the coast this summer? 🌊 André Colonese @uab.cat suggests that Indigenous knowledge and centuries-old fishing traditions could help shape more sustainable fisheries policies today. Read more 🔗 bit.ly/3TmMjQ1

What drives human behaviour in the most complex and challenging situations? Emilie Caspar of Ghent University is investigating how empathy, guilt, social influence and obedience shape moral and immoral decision-making: buff.ly/OxuHkSa @emiliecaspar.bsky.social

10,000 YouTube subscribers - thank you! The ERC YouTube channel is your place for practical guidance on ERC grants, proposal writing and evaluation, insights from grantees, webinars and stories from frontier research across disciplines. 📺 👉 t.co/Lu2T5NU07O

🟠 Now open: ERC Starting Grant 2027 call for proposals! 🗓️ Deadline: 14 Oct 2026 📄 Call details: link.europa.eu/RwNMpX Planning to apply? Let our ERC Classes videos guide you through the application evaluation process. 👉 t.co/qGPy7Y8UhS #ERCStG #FrontierResearch @scienceinnovation.ec.europa.eu

Interested in a traineeship at the European Research Council? 📢 Applications are now open for the European Commission's Blue Book Traineeship! 📆 Apply by 28 August 2026, 10:00 a.m. (Brussels time) More info: link.europa.eu/YNDggC

The ERC Work Programme 2027 has been adopted. Planning to apply for an ERC grant? The first call, Starting Grants, opens on 22 July. Find out more 👉 erc.europa.eu/news-events/...

New ERC Work Programme sets out 2027 funding opportunities

The European Commission has today adopted the European Research Council (ERC) Work Programme 2027, setting out the funding opportunities, grant budgets, competition timetable and application rules for...

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EU Gender Equality Champions Award Who can apply? Universities and research performing organisations in EU Member States, Horizon Europe Associated Countries, as well as EU candidate countries.

EU Science, Research & Innovation@scienceinnovation.ec.europa.eu · last mo.

🎓🧪 Are you our next #GenderEquality champion in research and innovation? Apply by 29 Sept 2026 to win our EU Gender Equality Champions Award. You can make a difference in academic & research organisations See how to apply & what prize awaits you:   👉https://link.europa.eu/pmhM77

This week, we explored one thread of #FrontierResearch: who asks the questions, who owns the data, who benefits? Catch up with the #ERCMagazine issue on equity and trust in global science 👉 buff.ly/lvib6Uz #ResearchEquity #OpenScience @scienceinnovation.ec.europa.eu

In some contexts, talking about your research topic is already seen as a political act. Marta Bucholc of the University of Warsaw on navigating equity, ethics and polarisation in research on human rights and abortion - in the latest #ERCMagazine 👉 buff.ly/oDpPHmK

Great meeting with the new Hungarian State Secretary for Science Policy and Innovation, Péter Horváth, this week. He has so many good ideas for improving the conditions for top-level research in Hungary! We will do what we can to help - all fingers crossed for success!

On this International Day of Criminal Justice, Mojca M. Plesničar, Ambassador for the ERC for Slovenia 🇸🇮, shares a common misconception people have about criminal behaviour. 🔗 Learn more about @mplesnicar.bsky.social's research 👉 bit.ly/4gucCeM #Amb4ERC #JusticeMatters

'If we already have so many rules, what will it actually take to inspire people to act ethically?' Pamela Andanda of the University of the Witwatersrand on values, ethics dumping and the TRUST Code, in the latest #ERCMagazine 👉 link.europa.eu/fc4yjK #TRUSTCode #ResearchEthics #ResearchEquity

Written codes changed science. But unwritten rules still shape who gets fully included, writes historian Joris Vandendriessche in the latest #ERCMagazine. From the 1992 Baltimore Charter to the TRUST Code 🔭 👉 link.europa.eu/4hyHCv @scienceinnovation.ec.europa.eu #SpaceTelescope @stsci.edu

Who gets to use the world's largest telescopes? Who decides the rules? ERC grantee Marijke Haverkorn of Radboud University, and science diplomat Daan du Toit on trust, access and equity in mega-science 🔭 in the latest #ERCMagazine. 👉 link.europa.eu/jkMFhQ @marijkehaverkorn.bsky.social

Bonne fête du 14 juillet à toute la France! 🇫🇷 Celebrating France’s frontier research with Mathilde Touvier, winner of the 2024 ERC Public Engagement with Research Award, whose work is helping bring nutrition science closer to the public. Learn more 👉 link.europa.eu/YjmV3C @inserm.fr #ERCengage

'Excellence and equity are not competing ambitions -they reinforce one another' Harriet Bulkeley and Liselotte Højgaard's editorial on why fairness and trust are foundations of excellent science, not extras, in the latest #ERCMagazine. 👉 t.co/SZSrlvndih @harrietbulkeley.bsky.social

📢 The new #ERCMagazine is out! Who defines the question? Who owns the data? Who benefits? This edition explores how equity is woven into excellent frontier science, with concrete examples from the field. 👉 link.europa.eu/JFFYYH #FrontierResearch @scienceinnovation.ec.europa.eu

How do roots avoid growing in an unhealthy direction? Jiří Friml of @istaresearch.bsky.social describes a newly identified root response, called saprotropism, showing how plants sense acidity changes in the soil and adjust their growth direction accordingly. Learn more 🔗 buff.ly/fLKS5f0

Really feeling the heat this summer? We all want to protect ourselves, but the weather also prompts thoughts of climate change. How, when and why does the average person start to adapt to climate change? Find out with @imagineadapt.bsky.social and @martaolazabal.bsky.social buff.ly/k8NNbym

Everyday Adaptations

Have you noticed how small choices in your daily life are starting to change because the weather no longer feels the way it used to? This short motion video presents the results of a study on…

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🔍What will make Europe the best place for the next generation of researchers? That was one of the questions of last week's event, 'Towards a European Fifth Freedom and Global Competition'. 📽️ 👉 bit.ly/4vQtsuV #FifthFreedom #EUResearch @leopoldina.org

How do tumours influence the healthy cells around them? Arkaitz Carracedo & Perez Fernando Calvo look into cancer-associated fibroblasts, to provide insights into the tumour microenvironment and its role in cancer progression. 👉 link.europa.eu/mg3K8N @cicbiogune.bsky.social @ibbtec.bsky.social