The research support office at NUIM put on a grant writing masterclass for ERC applicants. It was very useful and I learned alot, hopefully stuff I can also apply to IRC and SFI grants in future. Good job research support. It was aimed at all levels - starter (StG), consolidator (CoG) and advanced (AdG) so there was quite a selection of people in the room, from all disciplines. I also found out that it will be nearly two years before I can apply for the starter! The requirement is a minimum of 2 years research experience from the date of graduation - but in my case I had a big wait from submission (Oct 2012), to viva (Jan 2013), to graduation (Sept 2013). That was almost a year working as (but not being paid as for all of it!) a post-doc that isn't reckonable. So although two years from my graduation is Sepember 2015, I will miss that call and therefore Sept 2016 is my first date of eligibility!
While I was bemoaning the loss of all this time (and ignoring the near impossibility of getting an ERC) it occurred to me that it might not be a bad thing at all. I will be able to present 4 years work experience as a postdoc but slip into the two years bracket (or something along those lines).
Now all I need is an idea.
And a novel methodology.
And to work in a different country first.
And 5 Journal Papers.
And at least one paper without my thesis supervisor.
And a better CV.
The mobility and CV bit aren't insurmountable, as the guest speaker, Lotte Jaspers pointed out, there have been Nobel prize winners that got turned down for it, so the idea is even more important.
Needless to say, if I get one, I'll post.
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