Jose M. Ezquiaga Awarded 1.5M € to Explore the Furthest Binary Black Holes

Every time that we have been able to look further into the Universe, we have found fascinating surprises. Elusive dark matter shapes cosmic structures, while the Universe expands at a rate that we struggle to understand. Unraveling these fundamental open questions demands a deeper look into the distant cosmos, where gravitational waves from stellar-mass binary black holes offer a unique observational window.

Unlike electromagnetic signals, gravitational waves traverse the Universe without alteration, except for gravitational lensing. Their long wavelengths make them subject to diffraction by cosmic structures, providing an unprecedented opportunity to map dark matter and test the foundations of gravity. If we can recover these lensed signals, we gain a cosmic magnifying glass to observe the most distant black hole mergers and illuminate their origins.

Associate Professor Jose M. Ezquiaga’s newly awarded European Research Council (ERC) project aims precisely to do that: exploit the furthest binary black holes — detected through gravitational-wave lensing — to open new frontiers in cosmology, astrophysics and gravity. The project will synthesize advancements in theory, simulations and data analysis to enable the discovery of lensed gravitational waves.

The project, furthestBBH, will run over five years with a budget of 1.5 million euros. It is part of the ERC’s Starting Grant 2026 program. The 2026 call received more than 4,800 proposals, marking a 22% increase compared to the previous year, which already saw a 13% increase from the year before.

You can read the official ERC announcement here.

Sept. 3, 2026, 8:30 a.m.