EXCEPT project inspired ERC Starting Grant to Anna Baranowska-Rataj

Anna Baranowska-Rataj, researcher at Umeå University has been granted EUR 1.5 million through the ERC Starting Grant from the European Research Council, ERC.

"This is a prestigious EU grant, and I'm honoured and glad to receive it. The grant provides new opportunities to conduct research on health and welfare throughout life. For instance, I'd like to study how transitions to unemployment can lead to mental illnesses in individuals and how it can spread within the family," says Anna Baranowska-Rataj, researcher at Umeå University.

One of the ERC missions is to encourage the highest quality research in Europe through competitive funding and support investigator-driven frontier research. The ERC complements other funding activities in Europe such as those of the national research funding agencies, and is a flagship component of Horizon 2020, the European Union's Research Framework Programme for 2014 to 2020.

ERC grants are awarded through open competition to projects headed by starting and established researchers, irrespective of their origins, who are working or moving to work in Europe. The sole criterion for selection is scientific excellence.