In this paper I will outline my European Research Council project ‘Creative Agency and Religious Minorities: Hidden Galleries in the Secret Police Archives in Central and Eastern Europe’, which started in September 2016 and will run for four years. I will discuss the project writing, submission and interview stages of the application as well as offer my personal reflections on my experience of institutional support, my approach to research design, and its relationship to H2020 societal challenges. In my view, the ERC scheme presents great opportunities for scholars of religions in contemporary Europe, especially those whose research work is transdisciplinary, socially engaged (with a public-facing dimension) and ‘high-risk’.