Several countries make funding available for MSCA Seal of Excellence holders
These schemes offer alternative funding for MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships applicants who presented excellent projects but could not be funded due to budget constraints.
11 EU Member States (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Cyprus, France, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Sweden) have set up 15 funding schemes to support applicants for Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowships who obtained a Seal of Excellence certificate.
Recently, the European Commission awarded Seal of Excellence certificates to 1,737 applicants for Postdoctoral Fellowships in 2023.
Thanks to the MSCA Seal of Excellence, other funding bodies, organisations, regional and national governments can use the Horizon Europe evaluation process and support excellent proposals.
Several of these schemes have currently opened funding calls for certificate holders or will open them in the coming months.
Austria
Academy of Sciences
The “Seal of Excellence Postdoctoral Fellowship@OeAW” programme supports promising researchers who applied for an MSCA European Postdoctoral Fellowship with the Austrian Academy of Sciences as host institution.
Funding of up to €200,000 per researcher will enable international talents to realise their creative and innovative potential and to implement their research as well as career development plan at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, fostering excellence through training, supporting mobility and equipping researchers with new skills and competences.
The next call for applications will open in May, with a foreseen deadline in June 2024.
Learn about the Seal of Excellence Postdoctoral Fellowship@OeAW
University of Graz
The University of Graz supports applicants under the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships call who submitted an application with this organisation.
Up to three applicants will be awarded a up to one-year postdoctoral position at the university.
The university will contact eligible applicants directly. Therefore, no open call will be published.
Belgium
Since 2018, the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) supports researchers who have been awarded a Seal of Excellence. Fellowships are awarded to the eight highest ranking researchers who applied to European Fellowships with an FWO eligible Flemish host institution and were ranked on the reserve list, for a duration of 24 months.
Eligible candidates will receive a direct invitation to submit an application for a Seal of Excellence fellowship at FWO with one of the eligible host organisations.
This year, invitations will be sent as of 1 March 2024 and the deadline to apply will be one week after candidates have received the invitation.
Bulgaria
The Bulgarian Science Fund offers funding opportunities under the national scientific programme “Petar Beron Research and Innovation with Europe”.
Applicants to MSCA European Fellowships who received an evaluation score of 80% or above but were not funded by the Commission, with a host organisation in Bulgaria and proposals submitted during the last three calls can apply. Applications will be evaluated by independent external experts, in line with the criteria and procedures of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions.
The next call will open in July, with a deadline on 30 September 2024.
Czech Republic
Proposals evaluated with a score of 70% or above (therefore including proposals who did not obtain a Seal of Excellence certificate) under MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships, but which could not be funded due to budget constraints, are eligible for funding under the Operational Programme John Amos Comenius (2021-2027), funded under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
This initiative supports the international mobility of researchers, i.e. researchers leaving the Czech Republic for a host institution in an EU Member State/Horizon Europe Associated Country and vice-versa, i.e. researchers with a host institution in the Czech Republic.
Beyond incoming and outgoing researchers, Postdoctoral Global Fellowships submitted under Horizon Europe with a host institution in the Czech Republic are also supported.
Yearly calls open in March. The next deadline for applicants is 30 August 2024.
Cyprus
The Cypriot Research and Innovation Foundation (RIF) is responsible for the “Horizon 2020 – 2nd Opportunity MSCA” programme under the “RESTART 2016-2020” funding scheme. This includes funding earmarked for MSCA applicants who have received an evaluation score greater or equal to 85% but could not be funded by the European Commission due to budget constraints.
A call is currently open within the RESTART programme to support MSCA Seal of Excellence recipients who applied to European Postdoctoral Fellowships with a host organisation based in Cyprus. Selected projects can last up to 24 months and up to 30 if they include an industry placement in Cyprus.
The deadline for applications is 26 April 2024.
Find out more about the Cypriot Research and Innovation Foundation (RIF)
France
The Sorbonne University will start in April the “Seal of Excellence@SU” initiative, which aims to fund projects that have been awarded a MSCA Seal of Excellence, starting in 2024.
Selected candidates will be offered a two-year Sorbonne University contract. Within three years, they will be required to submit an ERC project proposal with Sorbonne University as host institution.
The next call for applications will open in April 2024 for researchers who have been awarded a Seal of Excellence under the 2023 MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships call.
More information will be published soon.
Italy
University of Genoa
With the "Seal of Excellence - Attraction of talents @UniGe" initiative, the University of Genoa aims to support Seal of Excellence holders who applied to Postdoctoral Fellowships with this university as beneficiary organisation.
The total budget available is €200,000. The contribution assigned to each selected proposal amounts to €38,470, for a duration of 12 months. Applications can be sent within four months of receiving the Evaluation Summary Commission report.
The current call for applications will close on 31 August 2024 or earlier if funds are exhausted.
Learn more about Seal of Excellence - Attraction of talents @UniGe (in Italian)
University of Pisa
The University of Pisa created the “MSCA Seal of Excellence @UNIPI” call for applications to attract young researchers to carry out research projects of a high international standard. This scheme is aimed at researchers of any nationality, who submitted a project proposal under Postdoctoral Fellowships with the University of Pisa as a beneficiary.
The University will award up to five two-year research fellowships to Seal of Excellence holders, for an annual amount of €40,000, and will allocate an additional €10,000 to the organisation hosting the researcher.
The next deadline is 30 April 2024.
Read about MSCA Seal of Excellence @UNIPI
University of Padova
Through a dedicated call for applications, the “MSCA Seal of Excellence @UniPD” funding programme assigns a grant of €50,000 per year to projects with the University of Padova as their planned host institution.
The 2024 call is currently open and will close on 30 April 2024.
Find out more about MSCA Seal of Excellence @UniPD
Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation
Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation published a second call for proposals “TRAPEZIO – Paving the way to research excellence and talent attraction” to fund researchers who have been awarded a Seal of Excellence under a MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships call.
The initiative aims to offer them the opportunity to develop their research project at a host institution in Piedmont or Liguria, therefore supporting high quality international projects in the field of research and attracting talented researchers to Italy.
The call for proposals is aimed at universities, public and private non-profit research organisations, public or private research hospitals, hospital trusts and university hospital trusts with active operational offices in Piedmont and/or Liguria.
The next deadline for the submission of applications is 31 May 2024.
Discover more about TRAPEZIO – Paving the way to research excellence and talent attraction
Lithuania
The Ministry of Education, Science and Sport of the Republic of Lithuania published a call to support MSCA Seal of Excellence recipients, as well as MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships applicants whose proposals scored above a threshold of 70%.
The call will be funded from the Recovery and Resilience Facility and the national budget of the Republic of Lithuania.
The deadline for applications is 30 April 2026.
Learn more about the MSCA Seal of Excellence in Lithuania (in Lithuanian)
Poland
The Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA) set up the “ULAM Programme – Seal of Excellence” to support MSCA Seal of Excellence recipients with host national scientific institutions based in this country. Calls for proposals are held every year.
The 2024 call is currently open and will close on 15 May 2024.
Slovakia
The Government of the Slovak Republic established a scheme for MSCA Seal of Excellence holders and applicants with a high score who applied to Postdoctoral Fellowships (excluding Global Fellowships) under Horizon Europe. The scheme targets both holders of the MSCA Seal of Excellence and applicants whose proposals were evaluated with a minimum score of 70%.
It is open to applicants who were planning to carry out their project in Slovakia, but also to those whose original host organisation was in another country and are willing to carry out their project in Slovakia.
The 2024 call is currently open and will close on 30 April.
Find out more about the MSCA Seal of Excellence in Slovakia (in Slovak)
Sweden
The Swedish Research Council provides funding to recipients of the MSCA Seal of Excellence who applied for European Postdoctoral Fellowships projects with a host organisation based in Sweden. The number of funded Seal of Excellence projects is limited and subject to the available budget.
The funding must only be used to support activities in Sweden, and the grant period is 12–24 months, depending on the project duration specified in the original proposal.
The Swedish Research Council contacts directly the researchers and eligible organisations that will be hosting these projects, and who shall apply for the grant.
About the MSCA Seal of Excellence
The MSCA Seal of Excellence is a quality label awarded to applicants for MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships who scored 85% or higher in the assessment. The Seal is a guarantee of the outstanding value of the research project, recognized by a comprehensive and thorough assessment process. Beneficiaries and researchers can use this award to obtain alternative funding for their research.