Congratulations to two young researchers of the NCCR Affective Sciences, who have been awarded major funding by the European Research Council (ERC) under its new Starting Grants programme. Dr Gilles Pourtois, based in Geneva, was awarded CHF 1,400,000 to pursue his experimental research into anxiety and its effects on decision making and selective attention. Dr Tanja Singer, based in Zurich, was awarded CHF 2,400,000 to continue her study of the neuronal, hormonal and psychological mechanisms underlying social behavior.

The two researchers were selected out of a field of 9,000 applications for funding. These “starting grants” are intended to help promising young researchers to get started in independent academic careers. The sum awarded goes to fund their own salaries, as well as research assistants and equipment over a five-year period. This program was launched last year by the ERC, itself a newly-founded European umbrella organization with the goal of fostering research excellence throughout the continent.