[OGAP-l] Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action (MSCA) - application deadlines and conditions of individual subprograms 2025 + MSCA Fellowships CZ (English version)

Pátek Únor 7 22:32:06 CET 2025

Dear colleagues,

the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action (MSCA) 2025 Calls within the Horizon Europe programme have been announced.

MSCA offers, within the framework of Pillar 1 of Horizon Europe "Excellent Science", opportunities for further education (including a mobility element) especially for young researchers at Ph.D. level or postdocs. In addition to individual funding of postdocs, MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships, MSCA enables also support for the creation of training networks for doctoral students within consortia of several institutions or companies (MSCA Doctoral Networks), or co-financing of new or existing study programmes for doctoral students and postdocs at one institution (MSCA COFUND).

COFUND requires co-financing from the institution involved; Postdoctoral Fellowships and Doctoral Networks are fully funded by the EU.

MSCA also includes the MSCA and Citizens programme, which serves to support activities primarily connected to the European Researchers' Night. This sub-programme is offered each second year - including 2025.

The last MSCA programme is MSCA Staff Exchanges, which enables staff mobility in scientific field to gain new experience and knowledge. The programme is intended for scientific and technical employees.

Details on all MSCA programmes in the 2025 Call can be found below.

We expect that call for the Czech national complementary funding of MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - MSCA Fellowships CZ financed from the Operational Programme Johann Amos Comenius (OP JAK) - will be offered once again next year (spring 2026). Thus, we recommend to pay attention to the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships programme, as the national funding from OP JAK is available for all non-EU funded MSCA PF applicants rated above 70% and thus greatly increases the chances of success in the allocation of funding.

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Ph.D. students who will finish their doctoral studies by 10/09/2025 and postdocs can apply for MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships (MSCA PF) with an application deadline on September 10, 2025.
Call 2025: https://marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/calls/msca-postdoctoral-fellowships-2025 and https://rea.ec.europa.eu/funding-and-grants/horizon-europe-marie-sklodowska-curie-actions/msca-postdoctoral-fellowships_en
General information on MSCA PF: https://marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/actions/postdoctoral-fellowships

In addition to the EU rules, submissions are also governed by the relevant Rector's Directive at Charles University (CU): https://cuni.cz/UKEN-1446.html - i.e. foreign candidates who want to apply for the MSCA PF at CU must obtain the approval of the Rectorate (RUK). Registration is sent to RUK via the Department of Grants and Projects (OGAP) until 1 August 2025.

In the frame of MSCA PF, postdoctoral fellows apply for 12-24 months of financial support to work at a foreign workplace.
It is possible to apply for support both for candidates from Charles University going abroad and foreign applicants who would like to carry out their postdoctoral fellowship at CU.
Internships can take place both in Europe and associated countries of Horizon Europe as well as in third countries not associated with Horizon Europe.

A distinction is made between European Postdoctoral Fellowships and Global Postdoctoral Fellowships.
In the first case, the host institution is in Europe and the duration of the internship is 12-24 months. Candidates from all over the world can apply.
In the case of the Global variant, European citizens and long-term residents can apply for fellowships at workplaces outside Europe and countries associated with Horizon Europe. The fellowship in abroad lasts again 12-24 months, but there is also a mandatory return phase of 12 months at the home workplace in the sending country.
At the time of application, the applicant must hold a Ph.D. and have a maximum of 8 years of full-time research experience since obtaining it. The project proposal is prepared by the future fellow in cooperation with the potential supervisor at the host institution; the topic is not limited. The applicant writes the vast majority of the application - but the supervisor must arrange with the applicant the focus of the fellowship and its conditions.

In the case of Widening countries, which include also the Czech Republic, it is possible to apply for support from the Widening budget of the ERA Fellowships and thus increase the chance of the application being successful. For the application to ERA Fellowships, the classic MSCA PF application on EU Portal is used; the applicant only needs to mark there that they are also interested in being included in the ERA Fellowships selection process.

If the MSCA PF project proposal was well evaluated (above 70%), but did not receive the EU funding, in the Czech Republic it is possible to subsequently submit an application for alternative funding from the Operational Programme Johann Amos Comenius (OP JAK) - MSCA Fellowships CZ. This funding should also be available in 2026.

(N.B.: It is also possible to support MSCA COFUND projects from OP JAK.)

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Other support options from MSCA programme are:
1) MSCA and Citizens - application deadline: October 22, 2025 (call will be open on June 17, 2025)

This subprogramme is about supporting activities aimed at popularisation of science, in the first place European Researchers' Night and Researchers at Schools.
The funding scheme is only offered each second year, including 2025. The financing is for a period of 2 years, in current call for 2026-2027.

General information on MSCA and Citizens: https://marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/actions/msca-citizens

Call 2025: https://marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/calls/msca-and-citizens-european-researchers-night-and-researchers-at-schools-2026-2027 and https://rea.ec.europa.eu/funding-and-grants/horizon-europe-marie-sklodowska-curie-actions/msca-and-citizens_en<https://rea.ec.europa.eu/funding-and-grants/horizon-europe-marie-sklodowska-curie-actions/msca-and-citizens_en?prefLang=cs>

2) MSCA Doctoral Networks - deadline: November 25, 2025 (the call will open on May 28, 2025)

This programme offers an opportunity to create a consortium for the preparation of Ph.D. students with partner universities or other research institutions as well as businesses. The Doctoral Network is intended to offer a possibility of further education for a group of approx. 10-15 Ph.D. students - these should be ideally hosted equally between all participating institutions. Each participating institution must host at least 1 Ph.D. student as part of a fellowship for 3-36 months. In addition to the standard programme, there is also the option of Industrial Doctorates, where a training with the involvement of businesses/companies is added, and Joint Doctorates, in which doctoral students aim to obtain a joint doctoral diploma from several institutions involved in the project. The programme typically lasts for 4 years, individual internships for doctoral students 3-36 months (Joint Doctorates are for 5 years). The application for support is submitted by a consortium of min. 3 institutions from min. 3 programme countries (EU and associated countries of HE), of which at least 1 must be a member of the EU. Ph.D. students apply to already existing Doctoral Networks; they can search for places available for example via the EURAXESS portal.
General information on MSCA DN: https://marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/actions/doctoral-networks

Call 2025: https://marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/calls/msca-doctoral-networks-2025 and https://rea.ec.europa.eu/funding-and-grants/horizon-europe-marie-sklodowska-curie-actions/msca-doctoral-networks_en

3) MSCA COFUND - deadline: June 24, 2025

In this case, it is possible for one institution to create a programme for hosting doctoral students or postdocs (with stays of at least 3 months) for a total project duration of a maximum of 5 years, with the condition of hosting at least 3 young researchers during this time. It can also be support for an existing programme for the education of doctoral students or postdocs - but MSCA support can only be used for new applicants, not already existing programme participants. Funding from MSCA is limited to the support (i.e. scholarship or salary) of the given young researchers; the rest of the programme is co-financed (hence the name COFUND) by the institution that organizes the programme. Ph.D. candidates or postdocs apply to an already existing MSCA COFUND programme. They can search for vacancies for example through the EURAXESS portal. If the project proposal receives the Seal of Excellence, but cannot be financed due to a lack of funds from EU sources, in the Czech Republic it is possible to apply for financing from the Operational Programme Johann Amos Comenius (OP JAK).
General information on MSCA COFUND: https://marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/actions/cofund
Call 2025: https://marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/calls/msca-cofund-2025 and https://rea.ec.europa.eu/funding-and-grants/horizon-europe-marie-sklodowska-curie-actions/msca-co-funding-regional-national-and-international-programmes-cofund_en

The differences between MSCA Doctoral Networks and MSCA COFUND are nicely summarized for example by this video of Luxembourg production on the topic of "Financing early career researchers":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfm56Jpm2c4

In both cases, as well as by MSCA PF, the following "mobility rule" applies: the applicant must not have lived in the country where they apply to for MSCA fellowship for more than 12 months in the last 36 months (3 years) prior to the application deadline.

4) MSCA Staff Exchanges - deadline: October 8, 2025 (call will open on March 27, 2025)

This programme is aimed at the exchange of academic and technical staff involved in scientific or innovation projects in order to gain and share experience from a foreign workplace for a period of 1 month to 1 year. Both academic and scientific institutions, as well as companies, can participate. The project can last for a total of up to 4 years and the application is submitted by a consortium of partners. There must be at least 3 participating institutions, min. 2 of them from EU countries or countries associated with Horizon Europe. For support within one sector (e.g. only academic institutions or only companies), it is a condition that one of the partners is from a non-associated HE country. As far as cooperation in the academic sector only is concerned, interdisciplinary exchanges (max. 1/3 of the mobilities) should take place in EU countries and HE associated countries and the remaining 2/3 of the mobilities outside these countries, which may already be in the same field.

General information on MSCA Staff Exchanges: https://marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/actions/staff-exchanges

Call 2025: https://marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/calls/msca-staff-exchanges-2025 and https://rea.ec.europa.eu/funding-and-grants/horizon-europe-marie-sklodowska-curie-actions/msca-staff-exchanges_en

Recording from a Czech-Slovak information day on MSCA SE in March 2023 (the infoday was held in English): https://www.horizontevropa.cz/en/news/yiifnews/1805

If you have any questions about any of these programmes, we are at your disposal.

Best regards,

Ivana Herglová

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PhDr. Ivana Herglová, Ph.D.
Oddělení podpory grantů a projektů
Matematicko-fyzikální fakulta Univerzity Karlovy
Ke Karlovu 3, 121 16  Praha 2
tel: 951 551 682
www.mff.cuni.cz<http://www.mff.cuni.cz>

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