MSCA Seal of Excellence awarded to 2939 outstanding postdoctoral researchers
This recognition will allow MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships applicants to seek alternative funding for their excellent projects.
The European Commission awarded Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Seal of Excellence certificates to 2,939 applicants under the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024 call. These applicants submitted excellent proposals but did not receive funding due to insufficient budget.
The proposals that received the certificate had host organisations in 30 countries.
This bar chart shows the number of proposals that received the Seal of Excellence certificate per country of host organisations. The top countries are the United Kingdom with 600 proposals, Spain with 373 proposals, Italy with 360 proposals, France with 282 proposals and Germany with 263 proposals.
High quality applications
Postdoctoral Fellowships are highly competitive. The fourth call of the scheme under Horizon Europe received a total of 10,360 proposals, of which 1,696 applicants received funding.
The MSCA Seal of Excellence is a quality label awarded to applicants under MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships and MSCA COFUND actions who scored 85% or higher in the assessment.
The Seal of Excellence is a guarantee of the outstanding value of the research project, recognized by a comprehensive and thorough assessment process. Beneficiaries can use this award to apply for alternative funding for their research.
Thanks to the MSCA Seal of Excellence, other funding bodies can use the Horizon Europe evaluation process if they wish. A proposal which has earned the MSCA Seal of Excellence may be supported by national and regional support programmes.
As of 2025, 18 European countries have such support schemes in place at different levels, with the Croatian government and the French region of Brittany opening the most recent funding schemes.
Next steps
Applicants with an evaluation score equal or above 85% automatically receive their Seal of Excellence certificate, to help them in securing alternative funding from national or regional authorities.
Awardees have received a notification in the Funding and Tenders Opportunities Portal, where they can download their Seal of Excellence certificate from the “Process documents” section.
Please contact your supervisor or the host organization to which you submitted your application if you are not able to access the Portal.
The European Commission advises recipients to consult the list of available support at national/regional level for MSCA Seal of Excellence holders. MSCA National Contact Points in your host country can also help finding alternative funding sources.
Next funding round coming soon
The next call for MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships will open on 8 May 2025.
See more information on how to apply.
Last updated: