How one lab challenged a grant rejection and won €5 million

A British scientist successfully appealed against an unfavourable grant review — but the road to victory can be paved with challenges.

Faced with a rejected grant application, scientists experience a range of emotions — shock, sadness, anger — before usually accepting the verdict and moving on. But when the European Commission rejected a €5-million (US$5.7-million) grant application from computational scientist Peter Coveney, he hired a lawyer and challenged the decision.

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Personally, I wonder where the extra money came from to fund the appealed grant? Presumably they didn't cut someone else, so my guess is that the money probably comes from next-years budget, further reducing success rates.