Horizon Europe is the European Union (EU) funding programme for the period 2021 – 2027, which targets the sectors of research and innovation. The programme’s budget is around € 95.5 billion, of which € 5.4 billion is from NextGenerationEU to stimulate recovery and strengthen the EU’s resilience in the future, and € 4.5 billion is additional aid.

The objective of the present call is to provide fellowships to excellent researchers, undertaking international mobility. Applications will be made jointly by the researcher and a beneficiary in the academic or non-academic sector.

The EU contribution for MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships will take the form of unit contributions, as stipulated in Decision of 11 March 2021 authorising the use of lump sum contributions and unit contributions for Marie Skłodowska Curie actions under the Horizon Europe Programme.

• Education and training
• Research, Technological Development and Innovation

• Educational Institutions
• Researchers/Research Centers/Institutions

Given the specific nature of MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships, the following exceptions and additional eligibility criteria apply. This section also contains eligibility conditions, which apply during action implementation but cannot be verified at proposal stage.

• All domains of research and technological development are eligible for funding (including areas of research covered by the Euratom Research and Training Programme 2021-2025).
• Proposals involving the same recruiting organisation (and for Global Postdoctoral Fellowships also the associated partner hosting the outgoing phase) and individual researcher submitted to the previous call of MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships under Horizon Europe and having received a score of less than 70% must not be resubmitted the following year.
• Only one proposal per individual researcher can be submitted. In case of several proposals involving the same individual researcher, only the last submitted one will be considered eligible.
• If proposals with the same research objectives and work plan are submitted for different researchers, only the first submitted one will be considered eligible.

Participating organisations:

• Applications must be submitted by a single independent legal entity, established in an EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country. This is a mono-beneficiary action.
• The associated partner hosting the outgoing phase in Global Postdoctoral Fellowships must include a letter of commitment in the proposal to ensure their active participation in the action.
• Applications in the research areas of research covered by the Euratom Research and Training Programme 2021 2025 must be submitted by a single independent legal entity, established in an EU Member State or a country associated to the Euratom Research and Training Programme 2021-2025. Nuclear-related proposals submitted by entities established in other countries will be ineligible.
• Affiliated entities are not allowed to participate as they cannot claim costs in MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships.
• International organisations with headquarters in an EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country will be deemed to be established in this Member State or Associated Country.
• The beneficiary must employ and supervise the researcher during the action.

Recruited researchers:

• Supported fellows must be postdoctoral researchers at the date of the call deadline, i.e. in a possession of a doctoral degree. Applicants who have successfully defended their doctoral thesis but who have not yet formally been awarded the doctoral degree will also be considered as postdoctoral researchers and will be considered eligible to apply. The successful defence must be unconditional (no further requirements/corrections that need to be addressed) and take place before the call deadline. Supporting documentation may be requested.
• At the call deadline, supported researchers must have a maximum of 8 years full time equivalent experience in research, measured from the date of award of the doctoral degree. Years of experience outside research and career breaks (e.g. due to parental leave), will not count towards the amount of research experience. For nationals or long-term residents of EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries who wish to reintegrate to pursue their research career in EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries, years of experience in research in third countries will not be considered in the above maximum.
• Recruited researchers must comply with the following mobility rule: they must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of the beneficiary (for European Postdoctoral Fellowships), or the host organisation for the outgoing phase (for Global Postdoctoral Fellowships) for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before the call deadline.

Researchers wishing to reintegrate from a third country must either be based in a third country at the call deadline or have moved directly from a third country to an EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country within the last 12 months before the call deadline.

For ‘International European Research Organisations’ (IERO), ‘international organisations’, or entities created under Union law, the researchers must not have spent more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before the call deadline, in the same appointing organisation.

Compulsory national service, short stays such as holidays and time spent as part of a procedure for obtaining refugee status under the Geneva Convention are not taken into account.

• Supported researchers can be of any nationality. However, researchers going to a third country (‘Global Postdoctoral Fellowship) or researchers who wish to reintegrate to Europe (i.e. in an EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country), must be nationals or long-term residents of EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries. Long-term residence means a period of legal and continuous residence within EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries of at least five consecutive years. Absences of less than six consecutive months and no more than ten months over the whole period are permitted when calculating the five years.

Researchers who are refugees in an EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country according to the Geneva Convention may also apply to both European and Global Postdoctoral Fellowships, irrespective of whether they are long-term residents or not, if they fulfil the other eligibility conditions.

• Applicants in the research areas covered by the Euratom Research and Training Programme 2021-2025 must recruit nationals or long-term residents of an EU Member State or a country associated to the Euratom Research and Training Programme 2021-2025.

Research and Innovation Foundation

29a Andrea Michalakopoulou, 1075 Nicosia,
P.B. 23422, 1683 Nicosia
Telephone: +357 22205000
Fax: +357 22205001
Email: support@research.org.cy
Website: https://www.research.org.cy/en/

Contact Persons:
Dr. Angelos Dantos
Scientific Officer
Email: antantos@research.org.cy

Dr. Ioannis Theodorou
Scientific Officer
Email: itheodorou@research.org.cy

Myrto Anastasiadou
Scientific Officer
Email: manastassiadou@research.org.cy

MSCA Contact:

https://marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/contact

• Funding&Tenders
• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Work Programme 2023-2025, page 35