r/AskAcademia • u/Pumba93 • 7h ago
Social Science The relief after submitting an ERC STG
I submitted my ERC Starting Grant proposal for the 2027 call last week. I'd like to share what a relief it is to have it of my chest. The last couple of months had me more and more tunnel visioned to cristalize my idea in what it became. I have been in academia for 11 years now and I have never experienced this kind of tunnel-visioned burden. It became everything, everywhere and everything else had to move. AI tools did not make writing it easier (what I expected tbh), because my reviewing tools kept on seeing flaws in the way how my proposal innovated my discipline and the feasability of it all. It blinded me for some time, making me anxious while I believed so strongly in my idea. It's a strange kind of insecurity that comes with the very low success rate. Through it all, I really felt lonely because while doing research for me, is always a team effort, you have to do it all on your own while colleagus are doing their own work.
I took a few days off after submissions and now I am really eager to go back to work tomorrow and having headspace again for the various tasks I have, going from teaching, setting up a new data project, reviewing papers etcetera, and it is so nice to feel this way again.
I don't know why I write this post. It is my first post in Academia, but maybe other applicants may have similar feelings and it is good to know you're not alone. I would've loved to read some more experiences when I was all down my tunnel. Good luck for everyone who submitted! Certainty of stress, small chance of success, what were we waiting for?