MSCA opens €104.8m call to co-fund doctoral and postdoctoral programmes
COFUND gives organisations a unique opportunity to attract talent through their own doctoral and postdoctoral fellowship programmes.
The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Co-funding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) 2024 call is open as of today. The deadline for submission of proposals is 26 September 2024.
Under this call, the European Commission will award €104.8 million to support institutional, regional, national and international training and career development programmes for researchers.
COFUND allows organisations to create or strenghten their own doctoral and postdoctoral programmes, with the goal of recruiting researchers and attracting international talent, by co-funding a significant part of their cost.
Organisations benefitting from such funding need to top it up with their own sources. Synergies with Cohesion policy funds and the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) are strongly encouraged.
Forms of COFUND projects
Doctoral Programmes
- offering doctoral candidates research training activities to develop and broaden their skills and competences
- leading to the award of a doctoral degree
Postdoctoral Programmes
- funding individual advanced research training and career development fellowships for postdoctoral researchers
Proposed programmes can cover any research disciplines ("bottom-up"), but can also focus on specific disciplines, notably when they are based on national or regional Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3 strategies).
Who can apply?
A single organisation in an EU Member State or a Horizon Europe associated country applies.
As of January 2024, the United Kingdom is associated to the Horizon Europe programme. United Kingdom organisations will therefore be able to apply and receive funding under this year’s call under the same conditions as EU Member States and other countries associated to Horizon Europe.
Other partners such as
- government entities
- regional authorities
- funding agencies
- universities
- research organisations
- enterprises
can be included in the project to host and train researchers,
Organisations based outside these countries can join COFUND projects as associated partners to host and train doctoral and postdoctoral researchers.
Spreading best practices
COFUND spreads the MSCA’s best practices by promoting high standards in the selection and recruitment process and excellent working and employment conditions for researchers.
It promotes sustainable training and international, interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral mobility to
- train researchers and innovators in academia and beyond
- allow them to enlarge their networks and share knowledge to carry out cutting-edge research
- provide them with new knowledge, skills, career development perspectives and employability
- boost their creativity and entrepreneurship
Organisations can use the programmes to attract international talent, increase their research and innovation capacities and contribute to the local, regional and/or national socio-economic ecosystems. This will also enhance their overall attractiveness.
Funded programmes will have to consider important aspects such as
- open science
- communication
- community engagement
- entrepreneurship
- gender
- ethics
- high-quality supervision
Indicative timeline
23 April 2024: opening of the call for proposals
26 September 2024: deadline to send proposals
March 2025: notification of call results to applicants
March-May 2025: grant agreement signature for successful projects
May 2025: first EU-funded projects start
Find out more and apply
Find out more and apply to the COFUND 2024 call
Consult our 6-step guide to prepare your application for the COFUND 2024 call
Check the call documents and guidance on the Funding and Tenders Opportunities Portal
Find partners through the MSCA Matchmaking Platform
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