The European Commission will award €260 million to 1,249 post-doctoral researchers to work at top universities, research centres, private and public organisations and small and medium-sized enterprises.

The European Research Executive Agency (REA) received 8,039 applications for this call, 15.8% of which were selected for funding.

The Commission will award

• €221.40 million to 1,110 researchers through European Postdoctoral Fellowships, allowing them to carry out their projects in the EU or countries associated to Horizon Europe
• € 39.07 million for Global Postdoctoral Fellowships, allowing 139 researchers to carry out research outside the EU or countries associated to Horizon Europe, mostly in the United States, Switzerland, Canada and Japan, before returning back to Europe

Women are 42% of the awardees. Selected applicants represent nearly 80 nationalities and will work in 45 countries in Europe and the rest of the world.

The projects selected span all scientific disciplines

• social sciences and humanities (25.2%)
• life sciences (21.7%)
• information sciences and engineering (13.3%)
• chemistry (14.4%)
• physics (11.35%)
• environment and geosciences (10.2%)
• mathematics (2.15%)
• economic sciences (1.7%)

Among the successful applicants, three postdoctoral fellows have been selected in the field of nuclear research as part of the cooperation between the MSCA and the Euratom Research and Training Programme 2021-2025.

An overview of the evaluation results, cut-off scores and statistics has been published on MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2023 call page of the Funding and Tenders Opportunities Portal.

Once grant agreements are finalised, the complete list of funded projects will be published on the same page and on CORDIS.

Next steps for successful applicants

Host organisations and researchers have received letters informing them of the outcome of the selection process. They should be able to access the results of the evaluation in their personal area of the Funding and Tenders Opportunities Portal.

The letter contains all the instructions about the next steps to prepare the grant agreement with the European Research Executive Agency (REA). The first projects will start at the earliest in April 2024.

Successful applicants with a host organisation based in the United Kingdom will not be eligible to receive funding, since the UK’s association to Horizon Europe applies for award procedures implementing the 2024 budget and onwards.

These applicants should nevertheless be eligible to apply for funding under the UK’s Horizon Europe guarantee.

576 projects are on the reserve list and may be contacted  at a later stage if funding is available.

MSCA Seal of Excellence recipients

1,737 applicants with an evaluation score equal to or above 85%, but whose proposal could not be funded due to insufficient budget, will be awarded an MSCA Seal of Excellence to help them  secure alternative funding from national or regional authorities.

The certificates will be awarded around mid-April 2024. Awardees will receive a notification on the Funding and Tenders Opportunities Portal. Once available, the Seal of Excellence certificate can be downloaded from the “Process documents” section.

We advise recipients to consult  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.

ERA fellowships

50 additional fellowships will go to excellent researchers in low research and innovation performing countries in the European Union and associated countries (“Widening Countries”) under the ERA Fellowships, mostly in Portugal, Czech Republic, Cyprus, and Greece.

Selected applicants will receive the results of the ERA Fellowships call together with the letter informing them of the results of MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships. The letters provide detailed instructions on the next steps for the preparation of the grant agreement with the European Research Executive Agency (REA).

Applicants should be able to access the results of the evaluation by accessing their personal area on the Funding and Tenders Opportunities Portal.

Next funding round coming soon

The next call for MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships will open on 23 April 2024.

For more information please see how to apply.