Is academic research becoming too competitive? Nature examines data

Success rates for Europe’s leading research grants are falling — some by as much as one percentage point — as the surge in applications greatly outstrips available funding. Data collected Nature show that researchers, especially those at the beginning of their academic journeys, face increasingly strong competition to continue their research career (see “Competition for funding”).

Last month, the European Commission said that it is European Union framework for research and innovation This year, the program received the largest number of funding proposals in its four-decade history.

Applications for Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships (MSCA) in 2025 have exceeded 17,000 — an increase of almost 65% compared to 2024. The MSCA scheme has a proposed budget of €404.3 million (US$471 million) to fund around 1,650 projects, and the success rate (proportion of awards awarded) is expected to fall below 10%, down from almost 17% last year.

The European Research Council (ERC), Europe’s leading basic research funding agency, reported similar jumps in applications across all its programmes. For its initial grants — open to early-career researchers with two to seven years of post-PhD experience — the ERC has so far received 13% more proposals compared to 2024. Only 12% will be funded, down from 14% last year.

Applications for the ERC’s Advanced Grants — which fund established researchers — also increased, by 31% and 82% compared to 2024 and 2023, respectively. However, only 276 projects (8%) are estimated to be funded, down from 11% last year.

“We are extremely pleased that there is such a great demand for ERC grants. It shows that people have ideas for basic science, for frontier science, that there is a need for it, there is a desire for it,” he says Maria Leptin, President of the ERC. “The other side is that we don’t have any more money. And so success rates will drop, and there will be frustration in the community,” she adds.

The European Life Sciences Organization, EMBO, has received a “record number” of applications for its postdoctoral fellowships this year, according to Karin Dumstrei, program manager.

The result is that many researchers are struggling to stay afloat in an increasingly competitive academic system. “You can work as hard as you want, but at the end of the day, it’s all about the numbers. It’s all about luck,” says Christina Carlisi, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of London, who applied for grants this year and is feeling the strain. “It’s mostly out of your control. And I think sometimes it’s hard to deal with in terms of staying motivated.”

Declining success rate

National funding bodies across Europe are seeing a similar increase in applications. The German Research Foundation (DFG) — the country’s largest independent research funding organization — said Nature that applications for early career scholarships increased by 20% between January and August compared to the same period in 2024.

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Another major funder in Germany, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, has received at least 20% more postdoctoral applications so far this year than in the same period last year. Applications from India and China account for the largest share of this increase, said a representative of the foundation Natureand applications from the United States also increased, albeit to a lesser extent.

According to a report published this year, grant applications received by the UK’s central research funder, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), almost doubled from 2017 to 2018. But over the same period, success rates almost halved — from 36% in 2017-18. to 19% in 2024–25. the lowest in a decade. Data shared with Nature UKRI’s Medical Research Council shows that two of its grant schemes have seen their highest number of applications since 2020 this year.

The Swedish Research Council said Nature that it has also seen a significant increase in applications over the past three years, but the Research Council of Norway said there have been no major changes.

European competition

Researchers and officials say it’s too early to know what caused the spike in applications. Budget cuts for science and political instability are prompting American researchers to seek work in Europe. Academics in the United States can apply for EU grants provided they conduct research at institutions in Europe. European scholars who built careers in the United States might also be looking for opportunities to return home.

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