your partner for
Research Assessment & Grant Evaluation
Supporting organisations in identifying and funding the best research
We ensure independent Research Assessment
ESF specialises in research assessment and grant evaluation, helping research funders, foundations, universities and international programmes implement robust, transparent and high-quality evaluation processes.
Over the past decade, ESF has mobilised more than 40,000 international experts across all scientific disciplines to deliver over 65,000 scientific assessments for research funding organisations and research-performing institutions.
We collaborate with over 60 international partners, including:
Each year, ESF provides 10,000-12,000 expert assessment reports and mobilises 9,000-10,000 reviewers, drawing on its Community of Experts of 11,000+ researchers from 90+ countries.
Members of ESF Community of Experts are internationally recognised Evaluators across all scientific fields, with extensive experience in providing robust scientific assessements within their domains of expertise.
We provide flexible support including
We closely match international experts with applications and provide two or more quality-checked assessment reports per application.
We set up (inter)-disciplinary international Review Panels fand provide, ranking and panel consensus reports
We advice on peer review processes (i.e., management of conflict of interest, selection criteria, call guidelines, etc.)
We evaluate a wide range of projects
- Postdoctoral and doctoral fellowships
- Fundamental and applied research projects
- Researchers’ academic profiles
- Interdisciplinary research projects
- R&D projects
- Evaluation of Research Funding Organisations
- Mid-term evaluation of Research
and/or Training Programmes - Evaluation of Centres of Excellence
- Evaluation of Research Infrastructures
ESF Evaluation KPIs (2022-2025)
evaluated
in our Community
of Experts
from all scientific areas identifying Experts
We are committed to Integrity and Quality
Supported by dedicated digital platforms, expert databases, and established quality assurance procedures, ESF delivers efficient, independent, and scientifically rigorous evaluation processes aligned with international best practices in responsible research assessment.
Since December 2022, ESF has served as CoARA’s secretariat, ensuring fair and high-quality peer review for CoARA-funded activities. ESF actively supports its partner organisations in adopting research assessment reforms within their evaluation processes.
ESF CoARA Action Plan
As a signatory of the Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment (ARRA), ESF is committed to aligning its evaluation practices with the Agreement’s principles and advancing research assessment reform across the European research ecosystem.
Principles for Research Assessment
In providing expert reviews of research proposals, ESF and its Expert Reviewers are guided by research assessment principles aligned with the ARRA commitments, ensuring fair, responsible, and high-quality evaluation processes.
Why partner with ESF ?
With a community of more than 11,000 experts, ESF guarantees a targeted identification of experts and quality check of assessment reports across diverse research areas.
ESF applies robust conflict-of-interest, quality-assurance and non-disclosure procedures to ensure independent, unbiased assessments throughout the review process.
What our Partners say
"We are pleased with ESF’s work in appointing external reviewers of excellent standing whose high-quality reviews are much appreciated by FWO review panels. Flexible and trustworthy partners like ESF are crucial for organisations like FWO"
Dr. Hans Willems, Secretary-General
Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO)
The cooperation with the ESF was very straightforward, goal-oriented and flexible. FWF decided to externalise the review process to the ESF in order to ensure that transparency and the rules regarding conflicts of interest can be complied with without any problems"
Tina Olteanu
Unit Head, Program Management Coordination
FWF - Austrian Science Fund
“ESF’s multi-disciplinary expertise and robust processes have proven instrumental in designing and managing competitive calls and supporting AXA’s philanthropic research programmes”
Raphaël Gusdorf
Head of Selection at the AXA Research Fund
"ESF's independent selection procedure, combined with their effective CoI management, has been essential in maintaining the integrity of our calls and ensuring that the best projects are funded"
Delphine Heenen
Co-founder of Fight Kids Cancer Programme
and Director of KickCancer Foundation
"ESF successfully and timely implemented our programme-tailored process. The appropriateness of recruited experts and high-quality of provided evaluations were noticed by the BIENVENÜE selection panel and the applicants"
Anne-Laure BAUDRIER
Head of the Research & Higher Education Office
Region Bretagne
"ESF ensured a timely and highly qualitative mission which eased my life as coordinator! We were pleased with the professionalism and diligence of the ESF team, and for their support and advice in running this large exercise"
Anne Adams
Head of Unit, Grants Office - University of Antwerp
Coordinator “YUFE4Postdocs” MSCA Cofund
"Since 2019, ESF has carried out peer review evaluations of our national grants, consistently mobilizing a large pool of highly qualified international reviewers and delivering timely, high-quality assessments. We greatly value the ESF team’s professionalism"
Ketevan Gabitashvili, Head of Science Department
Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia (SRNSFG)
"What I appreciated most about ESF’s research grant evaluation was the support from the ESF team. Their assistance ensured independent, external evaluations free from conflicts of interest, helping us optimize our funding decisions"
Philippe Lambert, Project Manager
(Chef de Projet Cellule opérationnelle LUE)
I-SITE Lorraine Université d'Excellence
"What I value most about ESF’s research grant evaluation support is its ability to identify the right academic expertise while ensuring both the competence and independence of the reviewers, all within an efficient and transparent process"
Philippe Trainar, Director
SCOR Foundation for Science
"The quality of the process implemented by ESF contributed to a large extent to the success of this new harmonised mechanism at the Grand Est Region level. ESF perfectly adapted to the specificities of the mission during which it demonstrated professionalism, responsiveness, and fairness in the processing of projects”
Christophe Sagnier,
Research & Innovation Regional Direction, Grand Est Region, France
“We partnered with ESF for peer review support, a key piece of the selection process of the MSCA Cofund Energy for Future (E4F) Programme. This partnership allowed us to mobilize international expertise in five very specific areas of research in a very short period of time”
Teresa Rodríguez de Tembleque
Programme Manager - Iberdrola Foundation
“Energy for Future” MSCA Cofund
"Since 2018, Ghent University has entrusted ESF to carry out the peer review assessment of our various types of research proposals. We appreciate the professionalism of ESF in delivering review reports in due time and of a high level of quality”
Dr. Dirk De Craemer
Head of Office Secretary of the Research Council of Ghent University
"This partnership allowed us to focus on other work packages of the PEARL programme we managed. The evaluations were greatly appreciated by the principal investigators because these helped them to improve their projects"
Franck DUMEIGNIL, University of Lille Doctoral Programme
Coordinator, “PEARL” MSCA Cofund
“What I valued most about ESF’s research grant evaluation was their advice on peer review process. It enhanced our review process, enabling us to ensure transparency and optimise funding decisions”
Kai Zhang, Partnerships Portfolio Lead
Group Risk Management - Swiss Re Institute
Discover our Partners
Public Authorities
We partner with Public Authorities to evaluate a wide range of funding programmes.
Philanthropies
We partner with Philanthropies to evaluate a wide range of funding programmes.
Universities
We partner with Universities to evaluate a wide range of funding applications
MSCA Cofunds
We partner with MSCA Cofunds to evaluate a wide range of funding programmes.
Research Funding Organisations
We partner with Research Funding Organisations to evaluate a wide range of funding programmes.
Discover our Community of Experts
Contact Us!
Our Partnerships team is ready to answer all your questions and see how we can support your organisation.
Julia Boman
Grant Evaluation Partnerships Manager
Eliana Legoux
Grant Evaluation Partnerships Administrator