Yesterday’s group meeting got transformed into a mock interview for the final evaluation step of my ERC starting grant application. To be successful with an ERC starting grant application one has to pass three evaluation steps.

The first step consists of a short research proposal (max 5 pages), CV, successful previous grant writing, early achievements track record, and a publication list. If a panel of reviewers (usually around 4-6) decides that this is “excellent” (this word is the main evaluation criterion) then the application is transferred to step two.

In step two a full scientific proposal is evaluated. The unfair procedure is that if step one is not successful then the full proposal is not even read (although it had to be submitted together with step one).

Fortunately, my proposal passed step one and step two. The final hurdle will be a 10 minutes interview + 15 minutes questions in Brussels where the final decision will take place.

I already had one mock interview with some of the 2020 research fellows (thanks to Konrad, Remi, and Laurel), one with David Gavaghan, and the third one took place yesterday with our whole research group.

After those three mock interviews I hope to be properly prepared for the real interview!