09/09/2026

The goal of MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships is to enhance the creative and innovative potential of researchers holding a PhD and who wish to acquire new skills through advanced training, international, inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary mobility. MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships will be open to excellent researchers of any nationality. The scheme also encourages researchers to work on research and innovation projects in the non-academic sector and is open to researchers wishing to reintegrate in Europe, to those who are displaced by conflict, as well as to researchers with high potential who are seeking to restart their careers in research. Through the implementation of an original and personalised research project, MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships aim to foster excellence through training and mobility and to equip researchers with new skills and competences in order to identify solutions to current and future challenges. Postdoctoral researchers are encouraged to engage with society at large to make the results of their research visible to citizens and to involve citizens, civil society and end-users in co-creation of research content when relevant. Proposals under this Action should contribute to the following expected impacts: - Enhance the creative and innovative potential of researchers holding a PhD and wishing to diversify their individual competences and skills through advanced training, international, interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral mobility while implementing excellent research projects across all sectors of research; - Strengthen Europe's human capital base in R&I with better trained, innovative and entrepreneurial researchers; - Enhance the quality of R&I contributing to Europe's competitiveness and growth; - Contribute to Europe's attractiveness as a leading destination for R&I and for good working conditions of researchers; - Facilitate knowledge transfer and brain circulation across the ERA; - Foster the culture of open science, innovation and entrepreneurship.

HORIZON EUROPE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions (MSCA) The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), part of Horizon Europe, are the European Union’s flagship funding programme for doctoral education and postdoctoral training of researchers. There are 5 types of MSCA targeting different objectives: 1) Doctoral Networks (DN): supporting programmes to train doctoral candidates in academic and non-academic organisations. DN aim to train creative, entrepreneurial, innovative and resilient doctoral candidates, able to face current and future challenges and to convert knowledge and ideas into products and services for economic and social benefit. DN will equip researchers with the right combination of research-related and transferable competences and provide them with enhanced career perspectives in both the academic and non-academic sectors through international, interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral mobility combined with an innovation-oriented mind-set. 2) Postdoctoral Fellowships (PF): supporting career perspectives and excellence of postdoctoral researchers. The goal of PF is to enhance the creative and innovative potential of researchers holding a PhD, wishing to acquire new skills through advanced training, international, interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral mobility. PF are open to excellent researchers of any nationality, including researchers wishing to reintegrate in Europe, researchers who are displaced by conflict as well as researchers with high potential aiming for a career restart in research. The scheme also encourages researchers to work on research and innovation projects in the non-academic sector. 3) Staff Exchanges (SE): encouraging collaborations between organisations through staff exchanges. SE promote innovative international, inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary collaboration in research and innovation through exchanging staff and sharing knowledge and ideas at all stages of the innovation chain. 4) COFUND: co-funding of regional, national and international programmes. 5) MSCA and Citizens: bringing research and researchers closer to the public at large, through the European Researchers’ Night.

https://ec.europa.eu/research/mariecurieactions/msca-actions_en