Description

In European Research Council (ERC) grants, the coordinator is called "principal beneficiary". The "host institution (HI)" is the beneficiary that hosts (and normally also engages) the "principal investigator (PI)". 

The main researcher (i.e. the PI) is named in the Grant Agreement (GA). 

Principal Investigators can be of any nationality, if they intend to conduct research in an EU Member State or H2020 associated country and are hosted by a host institution that is based in an EU Member State or H2020 associated country and can receive EU funding. Due to the key role of the Principal Investigator, s/he cannot be replaced by any other researcher during the implementation of the action. Requests for amendments to change the Principal Investigator will be rejected. The Agency must be informed before any change in employment or location of the Principal Investigator.

Principal Investigators do not become party to the GA, but are key actors of ERC actions. This leads to an asymmetrical relationship (in which the Principal Investigator is the key actor in charge of innovative research, but it is the host institution that subscribes to the financial and legal obligations under the GA — since it is the beneficiary).
Examples: A Principal Investigator can choose its own research team. This team is the research team of the Principal Investigator and thus different from that of a network or consortium of undertakings, universities, research centres or other legal entities. The engagement of the team follows the rules of the beneficiary and its country.
Principal Investigators must be supported by their host institution during the entire action duration.

In order to govern their internal relationship (during the implementation of the ERC action), Principal Investigators and their host institutions must sign a "supplementary agreement (SA)" (see Article 32 of the Grant Agreement). The supplementary agreement can NOT replace the employment/engagement contract.

For more information, please consult the Annotated Model Grant Agreement. 

Scope

ERC grants.

How to change the PI data 

 These data cannot be edited by the Consortium. Please ask your EU officer to apply the necessary changes to the PI data. 

The EU Officer will make the necessary changes to the Family Name, First name, Date of Birth and Country of Birth in the Personal Information section of the Principal Investigator tab and will click SAVE.

How to change the PI data in case there is also a change of Host Institution

In case there is also a change of Host Institution (AT71 - Transfer of the Grant Agreement (portability) - replace host institution), the data of the Principal Investigator tab can be updated as follows: 

• the Consortium will be able to update the data in:
  • the Project Related info section
    
  • the Personal Information section - the Current Country of Residence field
    
    
    
• the EU Officer will be able to update the data in:
  • the Personal Information section - Family Name, First name, Date of Birth, Country of Birth fields and is also able to update the Current Country of Residence field