The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) is part of Horizon Europe the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation that tackles climate change, helps to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and boosts the EU’s competitiveness and growth. The MSCA are the European Union’s flagship funding programme for doctoral education and postdoctoral training of researchers.
OBJECTIVES OF THE MSCA
The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions fund excellent research and innovation and equip researchers at all stages of their career with new knowledge and skills, through mobility across borders and exposure to different sectors and disciplines. The MSCA help build Europe’s capacity for research and innovation by investing in the long-term careers of excellent researchers.
The MSCA also fund the development of excellent doctoral and postdoctoral training programmes and collaborative research projects worldwide. By doing so, they achieve a structuring impact on higher education institutions, research centres and non-academic organisations.
The MSCA promote excellence and set standards for high-quality researcher education and training in line with the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the recruitment of researchers.
THE PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING THE PROGRAMME ARE
The MSCA support excellent researchers. They also foster excellence in research and innovation collaborations, knowledge transfer, methodologies and content, as well as in training, supervision and career guidance.
The MSCA support the mobility of researchers between countries, sectors and disciplines to acquire new knowledge, skills and competences.
The MSCA are open to all domains of research and innovation and encourage international cooperation to set-up strategic collaborations.
The MSCA promote the principles of the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers for the recruitment, working and employment conditions of researchers.
The MSCA support Open Science and Responsible Research and Innovation.
The MSCA support bottom-up and frontier/applied research supporting the European Green Deal and tackling climate and environmental-related challenges. The MSCA Green Charter provides recommendations in this regard.
UNDER HORIZON EUROPE THERE ARE 5 MARIE SKŁODOWSKA-CURIE ACTIONS
Doctoral programmes supporting excellent research in academia and other sectors
Supporting the careers of individual researchers and promoting excellence
Promoting knowledge collaboration between organisations and sharing best practices through staff exchanges
Supporting regional, national and international programmes and postdoc fellowships through co-funding
Bringing science closer to the public within the European Researchers' Night
MultiCAST HAS BEEN GRANTED UNDER A POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS (PF) ACTION
OBJECTIVE OF POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS
The objective of PFs is to support researchers’ careers and foster excellence in research. The Postdoctoral Fellowships action targets researchers holding a PhD who wish to carry out their research activities abroad, acquire new skills and develop their careers. PFs help researchers gain experience in other countries, disciplines and non-academic sectors.
TYPES OF POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP
There are 2 types of Postdoctoral Fellowships:
European Postdoctoral Fellowships. They are open to researchers moving within Europe or coming to Europe from another part of the world to pursue their research career. These fellowships take place in an EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country and can last between 1 and 2 years. Researchers of any nationality can apply.
Global Postdoctoral Fellowships. They fund the mobility of researchers outside Europe. The fellowship lasts between 2 to 3 years, of which the first 1 to 2 years will be spent in a non-associated Third Country, followed by a mandatory return phase of 1 year to an organisation based in an EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country. Only nationals or long-term residents of the EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries can apply.
Both types of fellowships may also include short-term secondments anywhere in the world during the fellowship (except during the return phase of a Global Fellowship).
In an effort to build bridges between the academic and non-academic sector, researchers can receive additional support to carry out a placement of up to 6 months in a non-academic organisation based in an EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country. This placement needs to take place at the end of their fellowship.
For Postdoctoral Fellowships in research areas covered by the Euratom Research and Training Programme, researchers need to be nationals or long-term residents of an EU Member State or a Euratom Associated Country. The beneficiary organisation recruiting the researcher also needs to be established in an EU Member State or Euratom Associated Country.
