By invitation only

Set up by the European Union in 2007, the European Research Council (ERC) is celebrating in 2012 its fifth anniversary. These five years of successful operations, groundbreaking discoveries and new opportunities for top researchers will be commemorated in Brussels on 29 February and 1 March 2012 with an event entitled “5 Years of Excellent IDEAS”.

The overarching theme is to look at the achievements of the ERC - the first pan-European funding body supporting frontier research on the basis of excellence. The event will feature scientific projects of its grant holders. It will also be an occasion for an exchange of views with policy-makers, scientific organisations and ERC counterparts from other parts of the world.

The event will be opened by Helga Nowotny, ERC President, and by the European Commission President Barroso (by video message). It will consist of a conference and of a celebrative part:

• the conference will be held on the afternoon of 29 February (including a round-table discussion with representatives of the NSF and of other funding agencies from other continents) and on the morning of 1st March (with scientific presentations by ERC grant holders from different scientific areas)
• the celebrations will take place on the evening of 29 February, with the participation of high-level representatives from EU institutions, ERC founding fathers and researchers demonstrating their striking ERC projects.