How to obtain the Letter of Commitment of the Host institution
Internal procedures
Faculties have different internal procedures to decide whom they are going to support. It is the PIs’ responsibility to make sure they are informed of the procedures and abide by them.
PIs reaching retirement age within the next 7 years should read the directive in the memento (D -II. Activités post-retraite selon l’article 10 alinéa 3 RPers) and inform both the Faculty and the Research and Grants Office (RGO) as soon as possible.
Deadline
Please note that the Research and Grants Office is committed to do its best to support PIs wishing to submit a proposal to an ERC call. However, if we do not receive the requested information one month before the call deadline, the Research and Grants Office cannot guarantee that the budget will be revised and the Letter of Commitment delivered on time.
Letter of Commitment
Contrarily to the Swiss National Science Foundation, the ERC Letter of commitment needs to be drafted using a template that cannot be modified: it is therefore impossible to personalize such letter. No other support or recommendation letters are accepted by the ERC.
Timeline
The time needed to write a good quality proposal varies depending on the context. However, it is generally recognized that writing a proposal that is competitive, convincing and innovative enough for the ERC Grants may take on average three months of dedicated work if the PI already has a clear idea in mind of the project they would like to submit.