Interview Trainings Synergy Grants

The interview is an important part of the ERC evaluation process. Here you can find out how the National Contact Point ERC can support you in this process.

In the foreground, you see the back of a female trainer. A group of participants is visible in the blurred background. — New Africa / stock.adobe.com

ERC Interview Trainings – Preparing for the ERC Synergy Grant Interview

The National Contact Point for the ERC supports candidates for ERC Synergy Grants in preparing for their interviews in Brussels.

We offer these interview training sessions online. They are conducted in English and are open to all domains. Two Synergy Grant groups can take part in each training session. The Synergy interview training sessions are based on the principle of peer learning. In addition to your group, another Synergy Grant group will also be present. You will provide each other with feedback. A maximum of two and a half hours is available to both groups combined, during which your Synergy Grant group can simulate your interview (presentation in accordance with the panel’s guidelines and a Q&A session).

Two representatives from the NCP ERC will take part in the training. As the training sessions are conducted without external coaching, please organise your own mock panel in advance to join your session. This panel may consist of colleagues from your field, team members or other institutional support staff.

Places are limited and the training is primarily aimed at ERC Synergy Grant Groups with a German corresponding host institution that have received an invitation to the interview. If you are a group without a German corresponding host institution but with German participation, please register via the waiting list on the Invitario registration system (applies to sessions organised by the EU Bureau of the BMFTR). For the idloom registration system, please send an email to interviewtrainings@kowi.de. Please do not register via the standard process (this applies to sessions organised by KoWi). Should a place become available for the training session you have registered for on the waiting list, we would be pleased to offer you a place.

Please ensure that your entire Synergy Grant Group attends the interview training on time and in full.

For the online training sessions, you will receive an invitation link for the video conferencing tool a few days before the session. We use WebEx for this. Please ensure that the dial-in link is available to all PIs in your Synergy Grant Group and is forwarded to all the mock panel members you have organised.

Please note that two different registration systems are used and that the training sessions will be checked for duplicate registrations. Please register for only one training session and coordinate within your Synergy Grant Group to ensure that more than one person does not register.

Registration opens on 29 July 2026 at 10 am CEST.

Before registering, please read the information below regarding the two different procedures, which arise from the fact that the NCP ERC is managed by two organisations: the EU Bureau of the BMFTR at the DLR Projektträger and the EU Liaison Office of the German Research Organizations (KoWi).

EU Bureau of the BMFTR dates

Registration link: will be displayed before registration opens

Monday, 17 August 2026, 1 pm – 3.30 pm CEST
Tuesday, 18 August 2026, 10 am – 12.30 pm CEST
Tuesday, 25 August 2026, 10 am – 12.30 pm CEST
Thursday, 27 August 2026, 1 pm - 3.30 pm CEST

KoWi dates

Wednesday, 19 August 2026, 1 pm – 3.30 pm CEST, register
Thursday, 20 August 2026, 10 am – 12.30 pm CEST, register
Monday, 24 August 2026, 1 pm – 3.30 pm CEST, register
Wednesday, 26 August 2026, 1 pm – 3.30 pm CEST, register

Documents to be attached to your registration

To ensure that your registration is completed successfully, please upload the following documents as PDF files:

Invitation to the interview (document name: Acronym_Invitation)
Annex I: Specific Requests from the Panel (document name: Acronym_Annex)
Part B1 of your ERC application (document name: Acronym_B1)

After registration

Once you have registered, you will receive an automatic confirmation of your registration by email. Within a few working days, we will review your registration and the documents you have uploaded and inform you of the status of your registration:

Confirmation: You will receive a binding confirmation of your place on the training session.
Waiting list: If no places are available, we will inform you that you are on the waiting list. Should a place become available, we will notify you.

Important information regarding registration for training sessions organised by the EU Bureau of the BMFTR

Registration takes place via the online system Invitario. The registration link will take you to all training dates.

Registration is only possible once the required documents have been uploaded.
If a date is no longer displayed in Invitario, it is fully booked.
Each person may only register for one training date.
Registration is carried out using a personal email address, which serves as identification. Multiple registrations using the same email address are not possible.
Cancellation: If you are unable to attend, simply cancel your registration via your personalised access link. Confirm your cancellation by clicking the "Deregistration" button.
You can optionally upload a draft of your interview presentation at any time via the personalised access link by clicking the "Save" button.

Important information regarding registration for KoWi training sessions

The EU Liaison Office of the German Research Organizations (KoWi) uses the idloom event registration platform for registration for the Synergy Grant interview training sessions.

A specific registration link is available for each interview training session. Please register for your preferred session and upload the requested documents in PDF format via idloom.

If you wish, you can also send us a draft of your interview presentation in advance of the training (interviewtrainings@kowi.de).

Note regarding all training sessions

The NCP ERC reserves the right, up until the day of the training session, to exclude participants from the training if the required documents have not been submitted or other eligibility criteria have not been met.