Czech national support system resonated at the Academia Europaea event

On September 2, 2026, Prof. Zdeněk Strakoš, coordinator of the Expert Group for Supporting ERC Applicants, spoke at the event “How can researchers from Widening countries improve their success rate with ERC grants?”, organized by the Academia Europaea Budapest Knowledge Hub.

The event was opened by the ERC President, Prof. Maria Leptin, who presented the ERC white paper on widening European participation. The President pointed out that the key to change lies primarily with the widening countries themselves, which should reform their academic systems and increase R&I funding. However, what the ERC can do to help lagging countries is to make greater efforts to invite scientists from widening countries to evaluation panels. Prof. Zdeněk Strakoš presented the current national-level system for supporting ERC applicants and the synergistically linked support system at Charles University. Finally, Prof. András Stipsicz, a current member of the ERC Scientific Council, shared the experience of the Hungarian Rényi Institute in supporting its ERC applicants, which took inspiration from the example of Czechia.

Watch the full recording of the webinar on the Academia Europaea YouTube channel.