Six researchers from ETH Zurich specializing in artificial intelligence, robotics, biomedicine, chemistry, and statistics have secured prestigious ERC Starting Grants from the European Research Council as of September 2026. Part of the Horizon Europe framework, these grants provide up to €1.5 million over five years to support early-career independent investigators pursuing ambitious foundational research.
Decoding Transformer Architectures and Probabilistic Uncertainty
Ryan Cotterell, professor at ETH Zurich working at the intersection of artificial intelligence, Sprachwissenschaft, and theoretical computer science, secured funding to deconstruct the foundational mechanics of large language model transformer architectures. Instead of treating transformer networks as black-box predictors, Cotterell’s project deploys statistical theory and mathematical modelling to isolate precisely when these models acquire generalizable rules versus merely memorizing surface-level statistical regularities from massive training sets.
Simultaneously, mathematics professor Yuansi Chen is targeting the computational bottlenecks of high-dimensional data analysis. Focusing on Markov-Chain-Monte-Carlo (MCMC) algorithms—computational methods utilized to sample complex probability distributions—Chen’s lab is building faster, more reliable algorithms designed to quantify uncertainty when analyzing vast sets of unknown variables. The goal is to establish automated adaptation frameworks that scale efficiently where current statistical inference architectures fail.
Resilience in Autonomous Systems and Soft Robotics
Lars Lindemann, professor of algorithmic systems theory, is engineering mathematical models to guarantee the safe, deterministic execution of multi-agent autonomous fleets, such as unmanned aerial vehicles and ground robots deployed in emergency response scenarios like wildfire containment. Lindemann’s algorithms are designed to maintain real-time coordination despite stochastic communication delays and hardware disturbances.
In materials engineering, Parth Chansoria is pioneering acoustic-driven tissue engineering. By developing biocompatible soft matrices that cross-link precisely where overlapping ultrasonic waves intersect, Chansoria aims to form complex regenerative muscle structures directly within the body. Meanwhile, Máté Bezdek is investigating proton-coupled electron transfer in synthetic chemistry, focusing on earth-abundant elements like carbon, phosphorus, and sulfur to engineer modular molecules for advanced catalytic systems and chemical sensors.
Cross-Border Institutional Migration and Materials Physics
The 2026 cohort includes strategic institutional movements across European research bodies. Elzbieta Gradauskaite, specializing in inorganic chemistry and solid-state physics, originally submitted her winning grant proposal via the French Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS). Gradauskaite is transitioning her research to ETH Zurich to assume a professorship. Her project targets the synthesis of multiferroics—novel materials combining magnetic order, tunable electrical conductivity, and polar ionic displacement within thin-film structures designed to bypass the dimensional instability of traditional three-dimensional lattices.
Robert Baines, formerly a postdoctoral researcher in mechanical and process engineering and a Branco Weiss Fellow, secured an ERC Starting Grant to develop shape-shifting, biologically inspired soft robots. Baines transferred his project to the University of Oxford at the end of August 2026, marking a notable cross-border transition for the funded initiative.
The 30-Second Verdict
With six projects funded through Switzerland’s association with Horizon Europe, ETH Zurich continues to anchor high-risk, high-reward foundational research across central Europe. From parsing the mathematical boundaries of transformer models to synthesizing multiferroic thin films and controlling multi-robot wildfire responses, these grants secure long-term capital for European deep-tech innovation.
