Horizon Europe (2021-2027): Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
On 2 February 2021, the European Commission announced the official launch of Horizon Europe, the new EU Research and Innovation programme that runs from 2021 – 2027 with an estimated budget of 95.5B euros.
The „Excellent Science“ pillar bundles the bottom-up funding programmes within Horizon Europe, among those the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), the European mobility measures since 1997. MSCA is the European Union’s flagship programme to support scientific excellence and cooperation across countries, sectors and research fields. 6.6B euros will be awarded in the next 7 years.
The MSCA is the reference programme for doctoral and postdoctoral training, contributing to:
- highly skilled research-based human capital able to detect and tackle upcoming challenges, communicate scientific evidence to policymakers and the public, and work across disciplines
- researchers provided with skills needed in the labour market, to innovate and to convert knowledge and ideas into products and services for economic and social benefit
- the development of excellent doctoral programmes enhancing the global attractiveness and visibility of institutions involved in them
- promotion of the EU’s global attractiveness for talent
The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions comprise five funding schemes:
- Doctoral Networks (structured doctoral training)
- Staff Exchanges
- Postdoctoral Fellowships (individual research project)
- COFUND (co-funding of postdoctoral and doctoral programmes)
- MSCA & Citizens (public outreach event)
The European Commission is introducing age limits to reduce the numbers of applications and offering new incentives for involving industry. All of this will affect the application process and who will benefit from the grants. Still crucial for all MSCA is the mobility rule: The fellow must not have resided or carried out their main activity in the country of the recruiting beneficiary for more than 12 months immediately before their recruitment date.
The official MSCA Work Programme and the first calls are supposed to be published on 18th May 2021.
Contact:
Ricarda Blumentritt
Göttingen International
Phone: +49 (0)551 39 21320
Email: ricarda.blumentritt@zvw.uni-goettingen.de