Co-funding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) supports new or existing doctoral programmes and postdoctoral fellowship schemes.

The aim of the action is to spread the best practices of the MSCA including international, inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary research training, as well as international and cross-sectoral mobility of researchers at all stages of their career.

Proposed programmes can be completely open or can focus on specific disciplines. Notably, this focus can apply when the programmes are based on national or regional Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation ("RIS3" strategies). In this case, the range of covered disciplines should still allow reasonable flexibility for the researchers to define their topic.

The MSCA co-funding is provided in the form of a COFUND allowance per researcher-month. Funding synergies with Cohesion policy funds are strongly encouraged.

COFUND can take the form of Doctoral Programmes or Postdoctoral Programmes.

Indicative timeline

• 16 December 2025: Launch of the call for proposals (TBC)
• 8 April 2026: Deadline for submitting proposals (TBC)
• September 2026: Notification of call results to applicants (TBC)
• December 2026: Grant agreement signature for successful projects (TBC)
• January 2027: First EU-funded projects start (TBC)

Indicative budget

EUR 105.46 million (TBC)

How to apply

Learn about the next steps to apply for funding under this call.

Full call details

For full details of this call, visit the call page on the EU Funding & Tenders portal.