Science in its issue of November 28th 2008 (Science 2008; 322: 1307) reports the results of the
first round of grants for established researchers awarded by the European Research Council (ERC).
Inequalities among countries and between genders appear in the grants distribution.
Researchers from UK are receiving 16% of the 275 grants, which are worth for 3 up to 3.5 million each.
The percentage of Germany, France and Italy are about 14, 13, 10, respectively.
Austria is the last one with 3%. “Women, who made up 14% of the applicants, will get only 12% of the grants”. “It reflects the low number of female full professors in Europe”.
For more information, see Science 2008; 322: 1307.
