Among the World’s Scientific Elite: Economist from FSV UK Joins ERC Peer Review Panel
The European Research Council (ERC) grants are among the most prestigious in Europe. The peer review panels that select the most successful applicants each year include only top scientists from around the world. In 2024, Associate Professor Jozef Baruník from the Institute of Economic Studies became a member of the ERC Consolidator Grant review panel. How does the evaluation process work? And what has this experience brought to him? Read the full interview below.
In 2024, you were the only representative from the Czech Republic on the SH1 evaluation panel for the ERC Consolidator Grants. Do you know why they chose you? What requirements did you have to meet?
That’s a good question. It started with a simple invitation via email. Later, colleagues in Brussels explained that I was selected because of the increasing number of projects at the intersection of finance, big data, machine learning, and econometrics — fields I actively work in. Membership in an ERC peer review panel is offered to researchers with significant international reputation and academic excellence in their field. Retrospectively, I realized that I was invited because my work is visible, and my research and its contributions fit well with the panel’s current needs. It’s a significant recognition of my international scientific reputation and also a confirmation of the high quality of our research.
Can you describe how ERC grant evaluation works?
ERC grants are among the most prestigious research funding opportunities in Europe, supporting groundbreaking research with high risk and high reward. The evaluation process is accordingly very careful and demanding. A key aspect is the project’s ground-breaking nature and ambition (so called “high risk/high gain” potential), as well as the applicant’s quality. The evaluation takes place in two main stages. First, the panel thoroughly familiarizes itself with all projects. Each evaluator then writes a detailed review for projects closest to their expertise. Then, in a multi-day meeting, the panel carefully and thoroughly evaluates projects based on numerous criteria and invites a smaller portion of applicants with the highest potential to the second round. In this round, applicants present their projects in interviews — evaluators learn more about the methodology and specific steps of the project and discuss them with the applicant based on the previously prepared assessments.
Members of the peer review panels are selected by the European Research Council from around the world based on their scientific reputation. In the past, Professor Tomáš Havránek from the Institute of Economic Studies was among those selected. In 2020, he served as the first representative of the Czech Republic in the field of “Economics and Finance” and was also the youngest Czech panel member across all disciplines evaluating applications for the so-called ERC Advanced Grant.
How time-consuming was the ERC grant evaluation for you?
It was more time-consuming than I expected — it took many workdays to review the projects, write evaluations, and then attend two multi-day meetings in Brussels.
Was there anything that really surprised you during the evaluation process?
Quite a few things. First, the remarkable quality of all the projects and the outstanding ideas of the applicants. When I started going through the projects, I realized it would be extremely difficult to select only a small fraction. You expect a high level from ERC, of course, but when you’re actually confronted with so many excellent proposals and your task is to rank them by quality, it’s still surprising. I was also impressed by the work ethic and efficiency of all panel members, especially the clear and focused discussions during the long and demanding meetings. I appreciated the strong emphasis on the quality of the main research question — it’s something ERC emphasizes, and it was great to see it genuinely taken seriously.
So what does a successful ERC grant proposal look like? What do you think is key to success?
Absolutely crucial is the groundbreaking nature of the research, the potential to push the boundaries of knowledge and innovation. That means a very strong and societally relevant research question that is clearly formulated, ambitious, and carries high potential — even though it comes with considerable risk. Equally important is the applicant’s ability to convincingly demonstrate, through their previous work, that they can deliver the promised results.
Is the difference in institutional support noticeable in the submitted projects?
As an evaluator, I focused mainly on the research question and the project content, regardless of other factors. The applicant’s reputation came second. However, in terms of project execution, there was a visible difference between proposals from large, prestigious institutions with strong support and those from smaller or lesser-known institutions with limited resources.
In recent years, FSV UK has secured three ERC grants. At the end of 2023, Anežka Kuzmičová from the Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism became the first-ever recipient of a social sciences ERC Starting Grant at Charles University. As of September 2024, Associate Professor Michal Smetana from the Institute of International Studies also holds this prestigious grant. In December 2024, Associate Professor Jaroslav Švelch from the Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism was awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant, becoming the first scholar in the faculty’s history to receive this type of internationally recognized grant.
How successful are Czech researchers when it comes to ERC grants? Are there particular areas where we struggle or shine?
The success rate of Czech researchers is improving over time, but it varies by discipline. I think we significantly lag in confidence — many researchers don’t even submit proposals, and without submitting, success is impossible. In the social sciences, for example, several teams have recently secured projects, which is a great leap forward. I could also imagine stronger support for applicants — though that, too, is improving. I believe many Czech fields have individuals who stand out at the European level with their work and ideas.
What has this experience brought to you professionally?
Being on the panel advanced me professionally in several ways. Having to recommend only a very small number of exceptional projects based strictly on quality criteria gave me a broader perspective and helped me get to the core of a matter much more directly. That also helped me with my own projects and in writing research papers. I think it’s also great for those around me, as I can now offer much more valuable feedback.
Why did you choose the path of a research economist?
Early in my studies, I realized that economics tries to answer many interesting and socially important questions. At the same time, I noticed that there were far more questions than answers. This was around the time when economists were gaining access to more data, showing that many theories didn’t accurately describe the behavior of economic agents. Alongside this, there was also massive technological development. I became deeply interested in how all this could be used to better understand the problems we face.
What are your main research topics?
My main field is econometrics, which lies at the intersection of statistics, economics, and mathematics, and provides economists with new tools to test their theories using data. Most of my research projects bring new methodologies, mainly applied in finance, financial markets, currency markets, or risk measurement — for example, in measuring shock spillovers in markets or the interconnectedness of various indicators within an economy or between economies. Recently, I’ve also been focusing on how deep learning can benefit economists, how it can help, and how to extract the right answers from large volumes of data.
The European Research Council (ERC) is a prestigious European body supporting groundbreaking research by the most ambitious and talented researchers in Europe. It helps to push the frontiers of knowledge and innovation and transform both science and society. ERC grants are considered elite due to their exclusivity, scope, and intellectual freedom. The selection process is highly competitive — applicants compete with the best researchers in Europe, which brings great prestige not only to the successful researchers but also to their home institutions.
