The European Research Council (ERC) is supporting some 480 early-career researchers over the coming five years with grants worth up to €2 million each. In this fourth 'ERC Starting Grant' competition, just over €670 million is allocated to top talent to carry out their pioneering research in any domain throughout Europe. The number of applications increased by 42% compared to last year. The projects selected cover a wide variety of topics: from studying the exceptional properties of biological nanomaterials to the health impact of exposure to traffic noise and the role of economic media in financial crises.

Our congratulations are due to Dr Simon MacKenzie, of the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Reasearch, who won his award in the Social Sciences and Humanities category.

The GTICO project will gather and analyse data on the international illicit trade of cultural goods (motives of traffickers, types of activities such as illegal excavation, pricing structures etc). This comprehensive study will not only develop new approaches to regulate international trade of cultural goods but also help policy-makers to better define laws to fight criminal activities.

 

First published: 19 September 2011

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