Success@Leeds

The University of Leeds has been awarded 280 projects under H2020 with a total value to Leeds of nearly €140 million, coordinating 142 of these as ‘lead partner’ or ‘Fellowship host’ (as of January 2021).

The EU Team provides bespoke support for 6 schemes, our success in these is illustrated by the table below*.

Scheme	Total number of awards	Value of awards (€m)	Overall success rate (%)	Number of coordinated awards	Coordinated success rate (%)	Scheme success rate (%)
ITN	30	22.9	10.24	13	15.29	12.07
IF	86	16.8	22.40	All IF awards coordinated		12.36
ERC Starting Grant	12	14.2	12.50	8	9.30	12.74
ERC Consolidator Grant	11	18.4	16.92	8	14.29	12.77
ERC Advanced Grant	9	10.8	10.34	4	5.71	12.91
Collaborative Projects (Societal Challenges and LEIT)	87	42.9	17.65	12	16.67	c.11.88

Some highlights of Leeds success in rankings include*:

9^th in the world for MSCA Individual Fellowship awards to Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)
Joint 7^th in the world for coordinated Innovative Training Networks
6^th in the UK for Individual Fellowship awards
2^nd in UK for coordinated Innovative Training Networks
Top 6 nationally for collaborative projects in Transport, Climate and Nanotechnologies, Advanced Materials, Biotechnology, and Advanced Manufacturing and Processing (NMBP)

*Source: Horizon 2020 Dashboard (period: January 2014 – January 2021)

Post-referendum results

A more notable result is the improvement of our rankings post-referendum.

Prior to June 2016, the University of Leeds ranked 12^th amongst UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) for number of awards and 15^th for value of grants.

Our concerted effort to promote the UK’s continued eligibility for H2020, matched by enthusiasm from our research staff, has seen us rise to 8^th in both categories for awards post-referendum and in 1^st place across Yorkshire’s Universities.

We believe all success is a combination of the EU Team’s knowledge of the schemes and bespoke support and more importantly, the insights and ambition of the academic leads.

Current projects on Twitter

Follow the latest updates from current Leeds H2020 projects on our Leeds EU Research twitter list.

📢Calling all University of Leeds #H2020 projects!

Is your research project on Twitter?

If it's not on our list, leave a comment below with the Twitter handle or say 👋!

Leeds EU research projects list: https://t.co/r7URmGIZoi

— EUFunding@Leeds (@EUFundingLeeds) January 28, 2021

Tips and Advice from Successful Leeds Applicants

In this section, Leeds PIs share what they consider contributes to a successful proposal.

Advice and Top Tips for Marie Curie Individual Fellowship Applicants

Greg Radick is a Professor of History and Philosophy of Science (Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Culture). He has been involved in several EU-funded projects and a host supervisor on a Marie Curie Individual Fellowship entitled ‘Making Biological Minds’. Prof. Radick shares his views and experiences of this project including key advice for future applicants.

MSCA ITN: Advice & tips from a successful coordinator

Graham Huggan, Professor and Chair of Commonwealth and Postcolonial Literatures (Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures) coordinated 'ENHANCE', a Marie Curie-Skłodowska (MSCA) Innovative Training Network (ITN). Graham shares his experience of and tips for putting a proposal together.

FET Open: Experience of a successful PI & key advice for applicants

Christopher Marrows, Professor of Condensed Matter Physics (Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences) worked as a Principal Investigator on ‘MAGicSky’, a FET open project led by CNRS between 2014 and 2018. Prof. Marrows shares with us his experience of the project and key advice for putting a FET proposal together.