European Research Council awards four of the prestigious ERC Starting Grants to excellent researchers at the Rhine-Main Universities
From top left to bottom right: Prof. Dr. Meret Huber (photo: Stefan F. Sämmer), Dr. Seda Koyuncu (photo: private), Dr.-Ing. Tao Li (photo: Katrin Binner), Dr. Johannes Petry (photo: private)
Another big funding success for the Rhine-Main Universities alliance (RMU): The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded an ERC Starting Grant to a total of four researchers from Goethe University Frankfurt, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and Technical University of Darmstadt.
With the four ERC Starting Grants being awarded in all three of the ERC’s domains (Physical Sciences and Engineering, Life Sciences as well as Social Sciences and Humanities), RMU alliance has once again clearly demonstrated its comprehensive science profile that is built on the complementary profiles of the three universities.
The ERC Starting Grants were awarded to:
- Professor Meret Huber of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz for her project “Plant Metabolites as Keystone Traits” (METABOKEY), where she wants to explore how plant-based ingredients influence the co-existence of different species and can thus change entire symbiotic communities
- Dr. Seda Koyuncu of Goethe University Frankfurt for her project “Ubiquitin Signaling as a Key Regulator of Aging and Neurodegeneration“ (UbiAge) to explore the mechanisms underlying aging and the causes of neurodegenerative diseases such as the hereditary disorder Huntington’s disease and the neuromuscular disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
- Dr.-Ing. Tao Li of Technical University of Darmstadt for his project “Beyond the Hydrogen Leak: Advancing Understanding of Ignition and Flame Propagation to Inform Mitigation Strategies“ (BeLIF) to investigate the entire chain of events arising from hydrogen leaks in order to better understand how such hazardous situations can be prevented in the first place.
- Dr. Johannes Petry of Goethe University Frankfurt for this project “The Geopolitics of Global Finance“ (GEOFINANCE) to examine how growing geopolitical competition is changing the relationship between states, markets, and power
ERC Starting Grants
With the ERC Starting Grants, the European Research Council supports excellent researchers who want to build up their own research team in the first few years after their doctorate and establish themselves scientifically with a promising research project. The projects receive funding of up to 1.5 million euros over a period of up to five years.
