New ERC Advanced Grant

ERC Advanced Grants are designed to support excellent scientists and scholars in any field at the career stage when they are already established research leaders, with a recognized track record of research achievements. In the most recent 2021 call, ICREA Prof at ICFO Dr Niek van Hulst received his 3^rd Advanced Grant for his project entitled FastTrack:  Photons and Electrons on the Move. In this new project which will begin 1 November and run through 2027, Prof van Hulst will investigate the dynamic organization of the natural light-harvesting membrane architecture, its packing-order, diffusion, and re-organization in response to light stress. The research will address questions related to which pathways are taken to charge separation and the role of fluctuations, coherences, input-spectra and vibrations.

Prof van Hulst’s two previously funded ERC Advanced Grants were LightNet (AdG: 2016-2021), tracking the Coherent Light Path in Photosynthetic Networks and  NanoAntennas (AdG: 2010-2015), Nano-Optical Antennas for Tuneable Single Photon Super-Emitters. He was also the recipient of one Proof of Concept Grant entitled IBIS (PoC 2017-2019) Platform for label-free quantitative detection of single proteins and extracellular vesicles.

When asked about the impact of the Advanced Grant program on his research, Prof van Hulst commented, “The ERC funding gives a strong basis to my group and ample freedom to explore such high-risk research goals, while recruiting the best researchers for the topic.”

Upon the publication of the results of this call, President of the ERC Prof. Maria Leptin commented, “Congratulations to the new grant winners in the latest round of ERC Advanced Grants! By following their scientific curiosity, these senior researchers are pushing the frontiers of our knowledge in a wide range of fields. It’s essential to fund this type of cutting-edge research to keep Europe at the scientific forefront.”

Congratulations Niek!