New MSCA Seal of Excellence scheme kicks off in Italy

Following the success of the first call for MSCA Seal of Excellence holders last year, the Collegio Carlo Alberto (CCA) has introduced a second call for proposals under the “TRAPEZIO – Paving the way to research excellence and talent attraction” initiative. 

The scheme aims to support researchers who have been awarded a Seal of Excellence under a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowships call, providing them with the opportunity to develop their research projects in Italy.

This call is part of the Compagnia di San Paolo’s strategy for strengthening the competitiveness of Piedmont and Liguria in research and innovation through initiatives that promote the mobility of international researchers to these regions. 

Through this funding, Seal of Excellence holders can carry out their research at eligible host institutions, thereby reinforcing Italy’s position as an attractive destination for scientific talent.

About the call

CCA seeks applications from Seal of Excellence holders who wish to implement their project at the Collegio Carlo Alberto in the area “Economic Sciences” (ECO) or “Social Sciences and Humanities” (SOC) even if CCA was not indicated as the project host institution in the original application.

The call for proposals is open to

• universities
• public and private non-profit research organizations
• public or private research hospitals
• hospital trusts and university hospital trusts

with active operational offices in Piedmont and/or Liguria.

The deadline for applications is 31 March 2025.

Collegio Carlo Alberto will then select the most promising applications to be considered for the Compagnia di San Paolo’s TRAPEZIO call.

How to apply

Eligible institutions interested in hosting researchers with the MSCA Seal of Excellence are encouraged to review the full details of the call and the eligibility criteria. 

The funding scheme is designed to ensure that promising research projects, which could not be funded under the original MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships call, still have the opportunity to be carried out with alternative support.

The full details and eligibility conditions in English are published on a dedicated website.

About the MSCA Seal of Excellence 

The MSCA Seal of Excellence is a quality label awarded to applicants under Postdoctoral Fellowships and COFUND who achieved a high score in their applications (85% or higher) but unfortunately were not awarded funding due to budgetary constraints. 

The MSCA Seal of Excellence 

• underlines the value of these projects and aims to support applicants in securing alternative funding
• allows other funding bodies such as national, regional, and local authorities, public and private institutions to support MSCA proposals that have been awarded the Seal of Excellence and to take advantage of the Horizon Europe evaluation process.