MSCA opens €16.3 million for MSCA and Citizens

The 2025 call for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) and Citizens opened on 17 June 2025 and will close on 22 October 2025.

This call will dedicate €16.25 million to fund over 40 projects organising

• two successive editions of the European Researchers’ Night in 2026 and 2027
• the implementation of Researchers at Schools activities over the course of two consecutive years

About MSCA and Citizens

MSCA and Citizens brings research and researchers closer to the public at large, with a focus on families, pupils and students, and social groups that do not have easy access to and thus are less inclined to engage in STEAM fields (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) or research activities.

It does so through

• the European Researchers’ Night, the largest science engagement and communication event taking place across the EU and countries associated to Horizon Europe.
  It takes place every year on the last Friday of September and attracts over 1.5 million visitors. Events combine education with entertainment through exhibitions, hands-on experiments, science shows, simulations, debates, games, competitions, quizzes, etc.
• Researchers at Schools, which supports activities and direct interaction between researchers and primary and secondary education pupils throughout the year

Aim of the initiatives

The European Researchers’ Night and Researchers at Schools aim at

• fostering exchanges between researchers and society
• increasing awareness of research and innovation activities and boosting public recognition of science and research education
• showing the role of the researcher for society and the economy, as well as the impact of researchers’ work on citizens’ daily lives
• raising the interest of young people in research and scientific careers

These activities will address various audiences, attracting people regardless of their science capital.

Key novelties in the call for proposals  

This call includes important novelties. 

1. The ceiling amount per project has been increased to reflect inflation and rising costs for organising events.
2. The call reflects the bottom-up nature of the MSCA and no longer prescribes specific political topics to be covered during the events.
3. A new evaluation procedure will strengthen the European dimension of this action. 

In the first round, the best projects per eligible country will be selected, granted that they pass the excellence threshold. The remaining budget will then be allocated to the best projects regardless of the country they reside in during the second phase. 

This gives excellent projects across Europe a chance to be part of this unique transnational celebration of science.

Indicative timeline

17 June 2025: call opens for proposals

22 October 2025: deadline to submit proposals

February 2026: notification of call results to applicants (TBC)

March-May 2026: grant agreement signature for successful projects (TBC)