Beyond Bienvenüe COFUND: a chemist from Rennes wins an ERC Starting Grant

As the launch of the first Bienvenüe+ call is imminent, let us look at the accomplishments of our first Bienvenüe laureates. First stop: Grégoire David’s office at the Institute of Chemical Sciences in Rennes.

Since 2021, the Bienvenüe COFUND programme has funded 81 high-level international postdocs in Breton laboratories. The only thematic constraint of the calls for proejcts was that they had to contribute to the Breton research and innovation strategy (RIS3). This has enabled teams to welcome researchers to explore innovative topics at the fringe of their own expertises, and complement their own research.

Grégoire David led the MagDFT project at the Institute of Chemical Sciences of Rennes between 2022 and 2024. The project aimed to develop theoretical methods for evaluating and understanding magnetic exchange couplings at the molecular level. The interntional recognised Theoretical Inorganic Chemistry team at ISCR providedan opportunity to connect Grégoire david’s expertise with that of Rennes researchers in molecular magnetism.

“The Bienvenüe grant really helped accelerate my career,’ says Grégoire David. ‘First of all, it allowed me to develop my own research topics in a particularly fulfilling scientific environment, with attractive working conditions. This enabled me to boost my scientific output and establish myself as a young independent researcher.’

Since then, the researcher has been recruited as a research fellow at the CNRS in the same laboratory. In September 2025, he was awarded a prestigious European Research Council ‘ERC Starting Grant 2025’ worth €1.5 million for his BRUNCH project (learn more – in French). This new project will enable him to develop an innovative methodological toolbox for modelling the magnetic properties of matter.

He notes the boost provided by the Bienvenüe COFUND funding:

“MSCA grants are also a widely recognised mark of scientific excellence at national and European level, and obtaining this type of grant is a prestigious addition to a CV. Although the scientific quality of the project is the main criterion,scientific independence and the candidate’s CV are essential elements in the evaluation of ERC projects, and the Bienvenüe grant has validated both of these aspects.”