NEW YORK UNIVERSITY

Their core work

New York University is a major US research university that serves primarily as a host institution for European researchers funded through Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowships. Its H2020 involvement spans an exceptionally broad range of disciplines — from neuroscience and theoretical mathematics to digital humanities and dark matter physics — reflecting the depth of a large, multidisciplinary university. NYU does not lead EU consortia but provides world-class research environments, lab infrastructure, and faculty mentorship for visiting fellows across nearly every scientific domain.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In the early period (2015–2018), NYU's H2020 projects leaned toward applied digital topics like 5G wireless networks and procedural game content, alongside foundational neuroscience and social psychology. From 2019 onward, the portfolio shifted decisively toward fundamental science — dark matter detection, ergodic theory, nanofluidics — and a growing cluster of humanities and cultural history projects (Renaissance emotions, avant-garde art movements). The applied technology projects largely disappeared, replaced by deep theoretical work and interdisciplinary humanities research.

NYU's EU engagement is moving toward hosting fundamental research fellows in physics, mathematics, and cultural studies, making it an ideal partner for blue-sky research rather than applied technology projects.

How they like to work

NYU operates almost exclusively as a third-party host institution (25 of 30 projects), receiving European researchers through MSCA individual and global fellowships rather than leading or co-designing projects. It has never coordinated an H2020 project. With 98 unique partners across 33 countries, NYU connects to an exceptionally wide network, but these relationships are typically indirect — mediated through the fellowship's coordinating institution in Europe rather than through direct consortium membership.

NYU connects to 98 unique consortium partners across 33 countries, one of the broadest geographic spreads in the dataset. However, most connections are indirect, arising from MSCA fellowship structures where NYU hosts the researcher while a European institution coordinates.

What sets them apart

As a US-based university, NYU offers European researchers access to American research infrastructure, faculty networks, and academic culture that few H2020 partners can provide. Its role as a top MSCA fellowship destination means it attracts high-caliber individual researchers across an unusually wide disciplinary range — from dark matter physics to Renaissance cultural history. For consortium builders, NYU is not a project driver but a prestige partner that adds transatlantic reach and world-class lab or library access to any proposal.

Highlights from their portfolio

• PATHOCOM
  By far NYU's largest funded project (EUR 3.86M via ERC Synergy Grant), studying pathogen community ecology and genomics through 2028 — a rare long-term, high-budget engagement.
• DMandEFT
  Addresses sub-GeV dark matter direct detection using effective field theories and collective excitations — represents NYU's fundamental physics strength at the frontier of particle physics.
• CUSP
  Unusually interdisciplinary project combining dental anthropology, zooarchaeology, and cementochronology to reconstruct prehistoric seasonality in the Danube Gorges — exemplifies NYU's capacity for niche, cross-method research.