The MERCI project aims to evaluate the “Starting Grants Program”, introduced in the year 2007 by the European Research Council (ERC). The purpose of the “Starting Grants” is to provide postdoctoral researchers with the opportunity to rapidly qualify for a leading position in science by leading an independent research group (up to € 2 million per grant for the duration of up to five years). The initial point for setting up this kind of scheme was the perception that Europe still offers insufficient opportunities for postdocs to develop independent careers which leads to a dramatic waste of research talents in Europe. The overall aim of the ERC funding scheme is to strengthen the European Research Area (ERA).

MERCI’s focus is on the impact and outcome of the ERC funding line on the career development of postdoctoral researchers but it also relates to the dimension of the institutional environment as well as to the research structures within the ERA. Our evaluation study contributes to clarify the question under which conditions young scientists can conduct excellent research and how funding programs should be designed. By doing so, we aim to make a contribution to the current discussion in science policy.

In order to analyze the impact of the ERC funding scheme, we use a longitudinal design and a multi-method-approach. An online panel survey with two survey waves and short yearly intermediate surveys and semi-structured interviews as well as a bibliometric analysis are used in order to gather information about postdoctoral researchers’ career developments.
MERCI is conducted by the iFQ in cooperation with the Humboldt University of Berlin, the University of Dortmund (TU Dortmund) and the Institute for Science and Technology Research at the University of Bielefeld. (IWT).