On the 29th of February and 1st of March 2012 celebrations were held in Brussels to mark the fifth anniversary of the European Research Council (ERC), the institution funding pioneering academic research in Europe. Since its inception in 2007 the institution has in the course of five years allocated 4.2 billion Euro in research funding to over 2500 academics from 53 countries. As Helga Nowotny, the ERC President, notes: ‘The ERC has changed the scientific landscape in Europe and it fills us with joy to see ERC grantees flourishing in universities and research institutions across Europe’. Those awarded funding from the European agency’s programmes include many eminent scientists amongst whom are four Nobel Prize winners.
During the meeting to mark the 5th anniversary of the ERC, which was attended by the head of the NCN Council Professor Michał Karoński, the recipients of funding from different countries presented their projects from various academic fields. Amongst those awarded was Professor Maciej Konacki, who presented research conducted by a scientific team from the Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Centre in Torun on circumbinary planets eclipsing binary stars. Professor Konacki’s research is also supported by the National Science Centre.
The text has made use of information found on the ERC website (www.erc.europa.eu).