Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) provides excellent and innovative research training as well as attractive career and knowledge-exchange opportunities through cross-border and cross-sector mobility of researchers to best prepare them to face current and future societal challenges. In addition, the MSCA enable research-focused organisations (universities, research centres, and companies) to host talented foreign researchers and to create strategic partnerships with leading institutions worldwide.
Types of MSCA:
• Innovative Training Networks (ITN): ITNs support competitively selected joint research training and/or doctoral programmes, implemented by European partnerships of universities, research institutions, and non-academic organisations. The research training programmes provide experience outside academia, hence developing innovation and employability skills;
• Individual Fellowships (IF): these actions support the mobility of researchers within and beyond Europe – as well as helping to attract the best foreign researchers to work in the EU. The grant usually covers two years’ salary, a mobility allowance, research costs and overheads for the host institution. Individual researchers submit proposals for funding in liaison with their planned host organisation. Proposals are judged on their research quality, the researcher’s future career prospects, and the support offered by the host organisation. Fellows can also spend part of the fellowship elsewhere in Europe, and those restarting their career in Europe benefit from special eligibility conditions;
• Research and Innovation Staff Exchanges (RISE): these actions support short-term mobility of research and innovation staff and they are open to partnerships of universities, research institutions, and non-academic organisations both within and beyond Europe;
• Co-funding (COFUND): the MSCA offer additional funding to regional, national and international activities that finance fellowship or doctoral programmes involving mobility to or from another country for research training and career development;
• The European Researchers’ Night (NIGHT): it is a Europe-wide public event to stimulate interest in research careers, especially among young people.