Marie Sklodowska-Curie actions – grants for the mobility of research staff

Marie Sklodowska-Curie actions (MSCAs) have been put in place to support the career development of researchers. €6.16 million of funding is available to individual researchers and innovation staff, as well as to universities, research institutions, businesses (SMEs and large industry) and other socio-economic players from across the world.

The Marie Sklodowska-Curie actions (MSCAs) aim to provide researchers with new skills for innovation and a wider range of competences. The objective is to support the career development and training of researchers in all scientific disciplines and at all stages of their careers through worldwide and cross-sector mobility. There are four different types of actions to apply for which will have a total budget of €6.16 million for the period 2014-2020. These MSCAs are open to individuals as well as businesses and institutions from the research and innovation sectors worldwide. They follow a “bottom-up” approach meaning that the specific topics are not predetermined by the programme. MSCAs come under the "Excellent Science" pillar of Horizon 2020.

Four different MSCAs

There are four different Marie Sklodowska-Curie actions which can receive funding:

Innovative Training Networks (ITN):

ITNs are collaborative research projects (research training and/or doctoral programmes) implemented by European partnerships of universities, research institutions, and non-academic organisations. Non-European organisations can participate as additional partners so that candidates can gain experience from outside Europe during their training.

Individual fellowships (IF):

IFs refer to the mobility - international and intersectoral - of experienced researchers. The IF grants allow researchers to spend up to two years (covering salary, allowance, overheads and research costs) in another organisation. Proposals are judged on their research quality, the researcher's future career prospects, and the support offered by the host organisation.

Research and Innovation Staff Exchanges (RISE):

RISE actions support the short-term mobility of research and innovation staff at all career levels and also allow administrative and technical staff to take part. RISE is open to partnerships of universities, research institutions and non-academic organisations. It supports both the international and intersectoral cooperation.

Co-funding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND):

COFUND programmes offer additional funding for new or already existing regional, national and international programmes dealing with research training and career development. These programmes foster transnational and cross-sectoral mobility of researchers at all stages of their career.

How to apply

Funding decisions for MSCAs will be made on the basis of proposals which are submitted following the official calls published on the Participant portal of the European Commission. Information on how to apply for a MSCAs can be found on the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions website. An overview of all funding schemes is provided in the Horizon 2020 work programme for 2014-2015, which is published on the Participant Portal of the European Commission.

The MSCA calls in 2015

In 2015 the following calls will be published:

• MSCA-ITN-2015
  
  • 2015 Call for Marie Skłodowska - Curie Innovative Training Networks (ITN)
  • Deadline: 13 January 2015
• MSCA-IF-2015
  
  • Call for Marie Skłodowska - Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
  • Deadline: 10 September 2015
• MSCA-RISE-2015
  
  • Call for Marie Skłodowska - Curie Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE)
  • Deadline: 28 April 2015
• MSCA-COFUND-2015
  
  • Call for Marie Skłodowska - Curie Co-funding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND)
  • Deadline: 1 October 2015

Please see the EIP-AGRI factsheets on Funding Opportunities and Horizon 2020 for information on other sources of funding.