Twenty seven research groups across Europe have won highly-coveted ERC Synergy Grants. Worth in total €250 million, this funding enables groups of two to four lead researchers to bring together complementary skills, knowledge and resources to jointly address research problems at the frontiers of knowledge. The grants are part of the EU's research and innovation programme, Horizon 2020.

One group from Germany will search for a novel cure for osteoporosis, a disease suffered by millions throughout Europe. Another interdisciplinary team from Hungary and the Czech Republic aims for a new understanding of the networks that define much of biological processes and social systems. A fresh perspective on the history of Islam in Europe is the goal of a research group based in France, Italy, Spain and the UK. These are only some of the newly funded ERC Synergy Grants research projects.