But on 16 April, 2026 European Research Council (ERC) announced new rules designed to stem a flood of grant applications it says has overwhelmed review panels. Historically, each of ERC’s 91 peer-review panels, which cover the breadth of science and humanities, handled 50 to 150 proposals annually, according to the letter. Over the past 4 years, however, the number of applications has risen 50% to 160% depending on the grant type, Maria Leptin, ERC head, told Science via email. Some panels now see more than 250 applications, according to the letter.

The agency, which this year will award almost €3 billion through more than 1000 grants, has already tried other ways of alleviating the burden on reviewers, the letter notes. These include increasing the number of panel members and streamlining the evaluation process. But officials ultimately decided the number of applications also needed to be reduced.

Source https://www.science.org/content/article/abrupt-change-european-funder-s-rules-leaves-researchers-shut-out

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