Building ERC-Competitive Research: Lessons from Croatia
We are pleased to announce the two-day workshop: “Building ERC-Competitive Research: Lessons from Croatia” – organised under the motto Unlocking ERC Success: Smart Preparation & Winning Strategies. The event will take place at the Mediterranean Institute for Life Sciences (MedILS), University of Split, Split, Croatia, from 7–8 September 2026.
The workshop is supported by the Association of ERC Grantees (AERG) and is co-organised by the Centre of Excellence STIM, the University of Split, the Croatian Agency for Mobility and EU Programmes, and the Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and Youth.
Despite the considerable scientific potential of many countries in Central and South-Eastern Europe, researchers from Widening countries remain underrepresented among ERC grantees. By bringing together researchers, ERC grantees, evaluators, institutional leaders, research managers, and policy representatives from Croatia, EU Widening countries, and the Western Balkans, the workshop seeks to strengthen understanding of the ERC, enhance institutional and national readiness for ERC participation, and provide practical guidance on developing competitive ERC proposals.
Workshop Topics
The programme will focus on:
- Understanding the ERC mission, funding philosophy, and evaluation process
- Strategies for increasing ERC success rates in Widening countries
- Insights from ERC evaluators and successful grantees
- Common strengths and weaknesses of ERC applications
- Hands-on proposal development and mock evaluation exercises
- Building institutional and regional ecosystems that support frontier research excellence.
Target audience
The workshop is intended for:
- Early-career researchers preparing ERC Starting Grant applications
- Mid-career researchers preparing ERC Consolidator Grant applications
- Research managers and technology transfer professionals
- Representatives of research institutions and policy bodies
- Researchers and innovation stakeholders from Croatia, EU Widening countries, and the Western Balkan region.
Further information, registration details, and the preliminary programme will be announced soon. We look forward to welcoming researchers, research managers, institutional leaders, and policymakers to Split for this unique opportunity to learn from ERC success stories, exchange experiences, and contribute to strengthening research excellence and ERC competitiveness across the region.
Virtual access
To ensure accessibility for participants from EU Widening and Western Balkan countries who are unable to attend in person, all plenary sessions will be available online. Parallel workshop sessions dedicated to proposal development in three scientific domains will be open exclusively to participants attending in person.
Organisers:
Professor Jadranka Šepić, PhD | Ambassador for the ERC in Croatia
Danica Ramljak, DVM, PhD | Advisor to the Rector
University of Split, Croatia
Emanuel Maloča | National Contact Point for ERC
Ivana Puljiz | Assistant Director for EU Programmes in Science
Agency for Mobility and EU Programmes
Petra Reiner | Directorate for Science and Technology
Ministry of Science, Education and Youth
