Both researchers have returned to Croatia after pursuing their careers abroad, and for the next few years they will be working at Zagreb's Rudjer Boskovic Institute, where their projects were presented on Friday.
Smith, who previously worked in Erlangen, Germany, and now works at the IRB Division of Physical Chemistry, was awarded for her project on bio-membranes.
A total of 3,239 projects applied for funding and 287 have been awarded grants, including Smith's.
"Thanks to the ERC project, worth 1.5 million euros, I will be able to hire a team of young researchers, including as many as three returnees, and in the next five years we will be researching membranes and live cells. We plan to expand our understanding of processes that connect physics, biology and materials science and our results could advance development of new medicines and therapies," said Smith.
Iva Tolic of the IRB Division of Molecular Biology will receive an ERC grant of more than 2 million euros, which she intends to use to form her own research team and equip her laboratory with state-of-the-art equipment so that, she said, they could gain new insights into cell division.
Tolic previously worked at research institutes in Denmark and Germany.
Deputy Prime Minister Branko Grcic, who attended the presentation of the awarded projects, said: "To be among the 8-10% best research projects in the EU is truly a sign of excellence. It is a major step forward for Croatia, a strong core of researchers with top achievements is evidently being created at the IRB."
He said that one of the country's goals was to increase investment in research and development from the current 0.7% of GDP to 1.4-1.5% of GDP in the next seven to eight years.
IRB director Tome Anticic said that his institute currently had nine very important projects worth six million euros, and that in the future it would work to make the cooperation between researchers and the business sector closer.