On February 10, 2026, the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports announced the tenth public competition in research, experimental development, and innovation within the ERC CZ program. This program aims to support excellent research in the Czech Republic through projects that received an A or B classification in the second round of evaluation by the European Research Council (ERC), but were not funded due to limited resources.
Conditions for submitting projects:
- The (original) project had to be submitted by a Czech legal entity under the ERC Starting Grants, Advanced Grants, or Consolidator Grants closed by the announcement of results after January 29, 2025.
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The (original) project must have been classified in category A or B in the second round of ERC evaluation and must not have received financial support.
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The principal investigator must be the principal investigator of the originally submitted ERC project.
Important dates:
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Competition deadline: February 10, 2026 - March 31, 2026 (by 2:00 p.m.)
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Evaluation period: April 1, 2026 – June 10, 2026
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Information seminar: March 10, 2026, at 10:00 a.m., Building C of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, Meeting Room C081
How to submit an application:
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Electronically to the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports data box (ID: vidaawt) marked "ERC CZ – public competition – DO NOT OPEN!".
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In paper form including an electronic version on a flash drive in a sealed envelope, submitted to the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports registry office.
Information seminar and questions:
Registered interested parties can attend an information seminar, which will provide general information about the public competition and answer questions about project submissions. Registration is via email at sarka.komendova@msmt.gov.cz with the subject line "ERC CZ SEMINAR".
Detailed information about the competition, how to apply, and the evaluation criteria is available at Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports website in the tender documentation for the ERC CZ program.
Source: msmt.gov.cz