The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions announce €1.25 billion to support cutting-edge research
The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions will fund doctoral and postdoctoral programmes and collaborative research and innovation projects with various calls in 2024, supporting around 10,000 researchers.
The European Commission has announced new calls under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) in 2024. This year, the MSCA will provide organisations with over €1.25 billion to fund cutting-edge research through excellent doctoral and postdoctoral programmes, collaborative research and innovation projects and research fellowships.
These projects will support, provide jobs and train around 10,000 talented researchers from all over the world, at all stages of their career and in all disciplines. Supported researchers will be able to carry out their research whilst acquiring new skills and developing their careers in and outside academia, in the EU and beyond.
Through its funding programmes, the MSCA are setting high standards for researchers’ careers and continue to achieve a long-lasting impact on European research and innovation systems and organisations, boosting cooperation beyond academia and increasing their global attractiveness and visibility.
The calls follow the adoption of the revised 2023-2025 Horizon Europe Work Programme this month.
This year funding round will kickstart with the opening of the Postdoctoral Fellowships, COFUND and Feedback to Policy calls this week.
Postdoctoral Fellowships
Postdoctoral Fellowships helps experienced researchers acquire new skills, develop their careers, and gain international, interdisciplinary, and inter-sectoral experience by working abroad. These prestigious fellowships are a stepping stone in researchers’ careers, allowing them to carry out cutting-edge research and to cooperate with leading scientific teams and figures.
The 2024 Postdoctoral Fellowships call will have a budget of €417.2 million.
The call opened on 23 April 2024 and closed on 11 September 2024.
COFUND
COFUND helps organisations create or enhance their own doctoral training and postdoctoral fellowship programmes in EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries, with the goal of recruiting researchers and attracting international talent. This includes international, inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary research training and career development of researchers at all career stages.
The Commission co-funds a significant share of these programme’s costs, which recipient institutions need to top up with their own funding sources. This scheme spreads the MSCA’s best practices by promoting high standards and excellent working conditions.
The 2024 COFUND call will have a budget of €104.8 million.
The call opened on 23 April 2024 and closed on 26 September 2024.
Doctoral Networks
Doctoral Networks implement programmes to recruit and train doctoral candidates in academia and other sectors, including industry, businesses, and public administrations. The scheme includes the development of joint degrees, including a possible European degree, and industrial doctorates, training doctoral candidates in academia and other sectors, including industry and business.
The 2024 Doctoral Networks call will have a budget of €608.6 million.
The call opened on 29 May 2024 and closes on 27 November 2024.
Staff Exchanges
Staff Exchanges develop international, inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary exchanges and knowledge sharing at all stages of the innovation chain through collaborative projects. The scheme helps participating organisations turn ideas into innovative products, services or processes.
The 2024 Staff Exchanges call will have a budget of €99.5 million.
The call opening will be published on 19 September 2024 and close on 5 February 2025.
MSCA4Ukraine
The MSCA will also dedicate an additional €10 million to support displaced researchers from Ukraine through MSCA4Ukraine. Since 2023, the scheme has allowed 125 displaced researchers from Ukraine to train and work in 21 countries.
The extra budget will enable around 50 more new fellows, including doctoral candidates and postdoctoral researchers, to continue their work safely in academia, businesses, research centres and public institutions based in the EU and countries associated to Horizon Europe.
The MSCA4Ukraine call is now closed. Interested host organisations and researchers were able to access the call documents and apply directly via the MSCA4Ukraine website.
Coordination and support actions
Feedback to Policy
The "Feedback to Policy" initiative will foster stronger thematic links between MSCA projects, raising the visibility of their contribution to key EU policy priorities and exploring ways to maximise the programme’s impact.
The 2024 Feedback to Policy call will award a budget of maximum €2 million.
The call opened on 25 April 2024 and closed on 3 September 2024.
Attend our upcoming information days on 25 April 2024 and 29 May 2024.
Cooperation among MSCA National Contact Points
This project will facilitate the trans-national co-operation between National Contact Points (NCPs) for the MSCA, including those established in non-EU countries, building on the current MSCA-NET project.
The goal is to identify and share good practices in order to raise the general standard of support to applicants. This is possible also by considering the diversity of actors and experiences.
The call will award a budget of maximum €2 million. The call opened on 16 May 2024 and closed on 4 September 2024.
International Cooperation
The goal of this call is to support international cooperation within the MSCA under Horizon Europe. The chosen project will coordinate existing promotion channels at local level and ensure consistency with formal research and innovation policy dialogues at bilateral and regional levels.
This call will award a budget of maximum €2 million. The call opened on 14 May 2024 and closed on 4 September 2024.
Researchers at Risk
This call will provide customised support to researchers at risk, based on the needs already identified in previous national and EU initiatives.
After two MSCA-funded projects to strenghten capacity and networking of the organisations supported. This action will build on their results and lessons learned. It will also put a stronger focus on training and networking needs of researchers at risk.
This call will award a budget of maximum €1.5 million. It opened on 12 September 2024 and closes on 14 January 2025.
Background
The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) fund excellent research and innovation and equip creative researchers with new knowledge and skills, through training and exposure across borders, fields and socio-economic sectors. The programme is a cornerstone of the European Research Area, fostering researchers’ careers and transversal skills development across borders.
The programme promotes the uptake of the principles of the Charter for Researchers and the objectives of the European framework for research careers by improving recruitment and working conditions and setting standards for researchers. The MSCA also make a notable contribution to the reform of research assessment systems, promoting a broad definition of excellence and diverse career paths, in line with the European Commission’s commitment to the process initiated by the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA).
This article was originally published on 6 February 2024 and updated on 23 April 2024 to reflect an updated call calendar.