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Published:  23 Mar 2022

MSCA awards €242m to the 2021 Postdoctoral Fellowships applicants

The European Commission will support a total of 1156 experienced post-doctoral researchers.

The action provides support to excellent individual researchers to implement an original and personalized research project, while developing their skills through advanced training, international, interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral mobility.

Funding for top-notch researchers

The European Commission will support a total of 1156 experienced post-doctoral researchers with €242 million to work at top universities, research centres, private organisations and small and medium-sized enterprises in Europe and the rest of the world. The European Research Executive Agency (REA) received 8356 applications for this call.

The Commission will award €206 million to 1025 researchers through European Postdoctoral Fellowships, allowing them to carry out their projects in the EU or countries associated to Horizon Europe.

The Commission earmarked €36 million for Global Postdoctoral Fellowships, allowing 131 researchers to carry out research outside the EU or countries associated to Horizon Europe, mostly in the United States, China, Canada and Australia, before returning back to Europe.

Female applicants represent 43% of the awardees.

Most of the projects selected are in the fields of

  • social sciences and humanities (24%)
  • life sciences (22%)
  • chemistry (14%)
  • environment and geosciences (12%)

Among successful applicants, 5 postdoctoral fellows have been selected in the field of nuclear research as part of the new cooperation between MSCA and the Euratom Research and Training Programme 2021-2025. The Euratom programme will support projects in this field of research with a financial contribution of €1 million.

An overview of the evaluation results, cut-off scores and statistics has been published on the page of the call MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2021. Once the 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

Letters on the results of the evaluation have been sent out via the Funding and Tender Opportunities Portal to inform host organizations and applicants of the outcome of the selection.

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

Please contact your supervisor or host organization with whom you submitted your application if you cannot access the results.

The letter sent out to the successful applicants 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 2022.

Successful applicants with a host organisation based in a country in the process of associating to Horizon Europe will not be eligible if the association agreement does not apply by the time of the signature of the grant agreement. The signatures of the grant agreements in this call are expected by 14th June at the latest.

Projects in the reserve list may be contacted until all grants for the call have been signed.

MSCA Seal of Excellence recipients

Applicants with an evaluation score equal or above 85%, but whose proposal could not be funded due to insufficient budget will be awarded an MSCA Seal of Excellence to support them in securing alternative funding from national or regional authorities.

The certificates will be awarded by early May 2022. Awardees will receive a notification in the Funding and Tenders Opportunities Portal. Once available, the Seal of Excellence certificate can be downloaded from the “Process documents” section

Please contact your supervisor or host organization with whom you submitted your application if you cannot access the portal.

Recipients are advised 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.

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 new ERA Fellowships, mostly in Portugal, Czech Republic, Greece, Slovenia and Poland.

The ERA Fellowships funded under the Widening Participation and Spreading Excellence part of the Horizon Europe Work Programme are the successor of the Widening Fellowships, which have successfully encouraged increased participation from these countries.

Selected applicants 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 space on the Funding and Tenders Opportunities Portal.

Next funding round is coming soon

The next call for MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships will open on 12 May 2022.

You will find more information on the MSCA website on how to apply.

Tagged in:  MSCA
Published:  23 Mar 2022