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MSCA COFUND 2025

European Comission

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Summary

Opens:

23 January 2025

Closes:

24 June 2025

Amount :-

Estimated total funding amount:

Estimated number of awards:

Who can apply:

For profit

Individuals

Not for profit (incl. NGOs)

Public sector

R&D and Higher Education

Locations:

Afghanistan

Albania

Algeria

Angola

Argentina

Armenia

Aruba

Austria

Azerbaijan

Bangladesh

Belarus

Belgium

Belize

Benin

Bhutan

Bolivia

Bonaire

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Botswana

Bulgaria

Burkina Faso

Burundi

Cambodia

Cameroon

Cape Verde

Central African Republic

Chad

Colombia

Comoros

Costa Rica

Croatia

Cuba

Curaçao

Cyprus

Czechia

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Denmark

Djibouti

Dominica

Dominican Republic

East Timor

Ecuador

Egypt

El Salvador

Equatorial Guinea

Eritrea

Estonia

Eswatini

Ethiopia

Faroe Islands

Fiji

Finland

France

French Polynesia

French Southern and Antarctic Territories

Gabon

Gambia

Georgia

Germany

Ghana

Greece

Greenland

Grenada

Guatemala

Guinea

Guinea-Bissau

Guyana

Haiti

Honduras

Hungary

Iceland

Indonesia

Iran

Iraq

Ireland

Israel

Italy

Jamaica

Jordan

Kazakhstan

Kenya

Kiribati

Kosovo

Kyrgyzstan

Laos

Latvia

Lebanon

Lesotho

Liberia

Libya

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Madagascar

Malawi

Malaysia

Maldives

Mali

Malta

Marshall Islands

Mauritania

Mauritius

Micronesia

Moldova

Mongolia

Montenegro

Morocco

Mozambique

Myanmar

Namibia

Nepal

Netherlands

New Caledonia

Nicaragua

Niger

Nigeria

North Korea

North Macedonia

Norway

Pakistan

Palestine

Panama

Papua New Guinea

Paraguay

Peru

Philippines

Poland

Portugal

Republic of Côte d'Ivoire

Republic of the Congo

Romania

Rwanda

Saba

Saint Barthélemy

Saint Lucia

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Samoa

Sao Tome and Principe

Senegal

Serbia

Sierra Leone

Sint Maarten

Slovakia

Slovenia

Solomon Islands

Somalia

South Africa

South Sudan

Spain

Sri Lanka

St. Eustatius

St. Pierre and Miquelon

Sudan

Suriname

Sweden

Syria

Tajikistan

Tanzania

Thailand

Togo

Tonga

Tunisia

Turkey

Turkmenistan

Tuvalu

Uganda

Ukraine

Uzbekistan

Vanuatu

Venezuela

Vietnam

Wallis and Futuna

Yemen

Zambia

Zimbabwe

Categories: Arts, Culture and Heritage

Research, Development and Innovation - - - Social Sciences

Overview

ExpectedOutcome :

Projects results are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:

For supported doctoral candidates or postdoctoral researchers

Deeper and more diverse set of research-related and transferable skills and competences;
Improved employability and career prospects both within academia and beyond;
New mind-sets and approaches to R&I work forged through international, inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary experience;
Enhanced networking and communication capacities with scientific peers, as well as with the general public that will increase and broaden the research and innovation impact.

For participating organisations

Enhanced quality and sustainability of research training;
Increased global attractiveness, visibility and reputation of the participating organisation(s);
Stronger R&I capacity and output among participating organisations;
Increased contribution of the participating organisations to the local, regional and/or national socio-economic ecosystems;
Regular feedback of research results into teaching and education at participating organisations. Scope :

Applicants submit proposals for new or existing doctoral or postdoctoral programmes with an impact on the enhancement of human resources in R&I at regional, national or international level. These programmes will be co-funded by MSCA COFUND.

Proposed programmes can cover any research disciplines ("bottom-up"), but exceptionally can also focus on specific disciplines, notably when they are based on national or regional Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3 strategies). In this case, the range of covered disciplines should allow reasonable flexibility for the researchers to define their topic.

Funding synergies with Cohesion policy funds and the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) are strongly encouraged[1],[2].

A Career Development Plan must be jointly established by the supervisor and each recruited researcher upon recruitment. In addition to research objectives, this Plan comprises the researcher's training and career needs, including training on transferable skills, teaching, planning for publications and participation in conferences and events aimed at opening science and research to citizens. The Plan must be established at the beginning of the recruitment and should be revised (and updated where needed) within 18 months.

COFUND takes the form of:

A) Doctoral programmes

Doctoral programmes offer research training activities to allow doctoral candidates to develop and broaden their skills and competences. They will lead to the award of a doctoral degree in at least one EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country. The training activities should be based on the EU Principles on Innovative Doctoral Training.

Substantial training modules, including digital ones, addressing key transferable skills and competences common to all fields, fostering good scientific conduct such as research integrity, and fostering the culture of Open Science, innovation and entrepreneurship will be supported. They will include, inter alia, training on the use of collaborative tools and approaches, opening access to publications and to other research outputs including data, FAIR data management, societal engagement and citizen science.

On top of compulsory international mobility, applicants are encouraged to include elements of cross-sectoral mobility and interdisciplinarity into their programmes. Collaboration with a wider set of associated partners, including from the non-academic sector, will be positively taken into account during the evaluation. These organisations may provide hosting or secondment opportunities or training modules in research or transferable skills.

Particular attention is paid to the quality of supervision and mentoring arrangements as well as career guidance. The selection procedure for doctoral candidates must be open, transparent and merit-based, in line with the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers. The vacancy notice (to be widely advertised internationally, including on the EURAXESS[3] website) must mention if the published rates include all employer and employee's taxes and contributions. If possible, the gross salary (net salary + employee’s taxes and contributions) should be published.

B) Postdoctoral Programmes

Postdoctoral Programmes fund individual advanced research training and career development fellowships for postdoctoral researchers. The programmes should offer training to develop key transferable skills and competences common to all fields, foster good scientific conduct such as research integrity, foster innovation and entrepreneurship and promote and (where appropriate) reward Open Science practices (open access to publications and to other research outputs including data, FAIR data management, societal engagement and citizen science, etc.).

Postdoctoral Programmes should have regular selection rounds following fixed deadlines or regular cut-off dates, allowing fair competition between researchers. The selection procedure for postdoctoral candidates must be open, competitive, merit-based and with a transparent international peer review, in line with the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers. The vacancy notice (to be widely advertised internationally, including on the EURAXESS website) must mention if the published rates include all employer and employee's taxes and contributions. If possible, the gross salary (net salary + employee’s taxes and contributions) should be published.

On top of compulsory international mobility, applicants are encouraged to include elements of cross-sectoral mobility and interdisciplinarity into their programmes. Researchers will be able to freely choose a research topic and the appropriate organisation to host them, fitting their individual needs.

[1]https://ec.europa.eu/research/regions/index.cfm?pg=synergies

[2] The Recovery and Resilience Facility supports reforms and investments undertaken by Member States. The aim is to mitigate the economic and social impact of the coronavirus pandemic and make European economies and societies more sustainable, resilient and better prepared for the challenges and opportunities of the green and digital transitions.

[3]https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/

Eligibility

General conditions

Admissibility conditions: described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes

Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System

Eligible countries: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes

A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide .

Other eligibility conditions: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes
Financial and operational capacity and exclusion: described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes
Evaluation and award:

Award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes
Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual
Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement: described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes