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Funding opportunities under Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

List of national and regional support programmes for Seal of Excellence holders under Marie- Skłodowska-Curie Actions

What you can find on this page

The list below provides regularly updated information we receive about available support at national/regional level for MSCA proposals with a Seal of Excellence.

A number of other countries have suggested that recipients may wish to contact the National Contact Point  in your host country to check if there are funding possibilities available.

National Contact Points

Available support at national/regional level

Austria

The Seal of Excellence Postdoctoral Fellowship@OeAW Programme supports promising researchers who applied for an MSCA-European Postdoctoral Fellowship with the Austrian Academy of Sciences as host institution and who were awarded a Seal of Excellence but did not receive funding. The Austrian Academy of Sciences is the first institution in Austria to take advantage of the European Commission’s high quality evaluation process, to recognize the Seal of Excellence Award and to provide alternative funding to excellent researchers. The funding of up to € 200.000 per researcher will enable international talents to realise their creative and innovative potential and to implement their research as well as career development plan at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, therefore fostering excellence through training, supporting mobility and equipping researchers with new skills and competences in order to identify solutions to current and future challenges.

More information

Belgium (Flanders)

Since 2018, the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) supports researchers who have been awarded a Seal of Excellence under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions Postdoctoral European Fellowships (MSCA PF EF). Fellowships are made available to FWO eligible candidates on the reserve list with a maximum of 8 highest ranked candidates.

Candidates have to submit an application for a Seal of Excellence fellowship at FWO with a main host institution as affiliation acceptable to the FWO under its postdoctoral researcher regulation.

This top of candidates on the reserve list will be awarded a FWO postdoctoral fellowship for a duration of 24 months.

More information on the FWO website.

Bulgaria

The Bulgarian Science Fund offers opportunities for funding under the national scientific programme Petar Beron Research and Innovation with Europe. Applicants to MSCA European Fellowships who received an evaluation score of 80% or above but were not funded by the Commission, with a host organisation in Bulgaria and proposals submitted during the last three calls before the national call can apply to the national call for submission of proposals which will be evaluated by independent external experts in line with the criteria and procedures of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions.

More information (in English)

Czechia

The proposals which obtain a score of 70% or above in the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships call under Horizon Europe, but are not proposed for funding under MSCA due to the lack of budget, are eligible for funding under the Operational Programme John Amos Comenius (2021-2027), funded under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). It is a continuation of the successful funding scheme under the previous Operational Programme Research, Development and Education (2014-2020).

This national initiative supports international mobility of researchers, i.e. researchers leaving the Czech Republic for a host institution in an EU Member State/Horizon Europe Associated Country (departures from the Czech Republic), and vice-versa, i.e. researchers choosing their host institution in the Czech Republic (arrivals in the Czech Republic). In addition to incoming and outgoing mobilities, MSCA Postdoctoral Global Fellowships submitted under Horizon Europe with a host institution in the Czech Republic are also supported.

In addition, from the 2021-2027 programme period, the Czech Republic also intends to support MSCA COFUND projects which received the MSCA Seal of Excellence.

The first national call was launched in August 2022. Additional calls will be launched in March 2023, March 2024, March 2025 and March 2026.

The provider of this national funding scheme is the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (MEYS).

More information on the website of the Operational program John Amos Comenius (in Czech)

Cyprus

The Cypriot Research and Innovation Foundation (RIF) is responsible for a Programme called “Horizon 2020 – 2nd Opportunity” under the “RESTART 2016-2020” funding scheme. This includes funding earmarked for MSCA applicants who have received an evaluation score greater or equal to 85/100, but were not funded by the European Commission due to budget exhaustion (Below Available Budget).  

A call is currently open within the RESTART programme to support MSCA Seal of Excellence recipients who applied to European Postdoctoral Fellowships with a host organisation based in Cyprus. Selected projects can last up to 24 months and up to 30 if they include an industry placement in Cyprus. The deadline for applications is 27 April 2023.

More information

France

The French Hauts-de-France region earmarked a budget of EUR 9,7 million from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to fund research and innovation projects that have been recognised excellent projects at European level, including projects that have been awarded the MSCA Seal of Excellence. Eligible beneficiaries are higher education institutions, research organisations, technical centers as well as businesses.

The projects need to be innovative and address one of the thematics of the region's Smart Specialisation Strategy. They must be mainly carried out in the region and be in line with the regional research and innovation policy. Projects are selected on a "first come, first served" basis until exhaustion of the funding.

More information (in French)

Germany

The State of Hessen is the first regional entity in Germany to offer funding opportunities to researchers holding a Seal of Excellence for MSCA European Postdoctoral Fellowships. The regional funding scheme (as part of the regional fast-track synergy fund HESSEN HORIZON) is open to applications submitted by a university or research institute situated in Hessen.

The State of Hessen is home to some of Germany's leading universities and research institutes, and offers excellent research opportunities for MSCA fellows in a broad range of fields, including digitization, climate research and health. Hessen strives to attract talents and has therefore recently introduced its fellowship programme for all research areas. Upon application at the Hessian Ministry of Research and the Arts, two researchers can be granted a fellowship financed by the state of Hessen. The amount of the fellowship allowance corresponds with the MSCA allowance fixed in the respective Commission MSCA Work Programme.

The Hessian Ministry of Research and the Arts receives applications of incoming researchers willing to carry out their two year - research project in Hessen at universities or research institutes. Applications can be submitted by the university or research institute to the Ministry as soon as MSCA applicants have received their Seal of Excellence certificate from the Commission.

More information (in German)

Italy

Funded under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, the Italian Ministry of Research launched a new initiative to support 400 young researchers who have obtained the MSCA Seal of Excellence in the 24 months prior to the publication of the call (August 2022). Applicants must have a minimum of 2 years and a maximum of 7 years full-time equivalent experience in research, measured from the date of award of the doctoral degree. The projects must constitute a readjustment of the original proposal (“First Submission”) which obtained the Seal of Excellence and be submitted by an eligible beneficiary (State or non-State universities, university institutions; or public research bodies supervised by the Ministry of University and Research, with operational headquarters throughout the national territory). More information (in Italian and English)

Since 2018, the University of Trento (UniTrento) holds annual internal MSCA PF - Seal of Excellence calls which aim to support researchers who obtained the SoE in the MSCA-PF call by funding annual research grants at UniTrento (in the Department/Center identified in the proposal). The annual grant will be aimed at the implementation of the research activity and the revision of the MSCA-PF project proposal to be resubmitted in the next call. The calls are open to MSCA-PF applicants with UniTrento as Host Institution, and who has been awarded the Seal of Excellence. More information

The University of Padova supports MSCA Seal of Excellence awardees. Through a dedicated call for applications, the MSCA Seal of Excellence @UniPD funding programme assigns a grant of 50,000 Euro per year to projects that have the University of Padua as their planned Host Institution and, despite not being funded, have obtained the MSCA Seal of Excellence. More information (in English)

The Politecnico di Milano supports the best 5 MSCA European postdoctoral fellows hosted by Politecnico di Milano, not funded by the European Commission but awarded with the MSCA Seal of Excellence in 2022. The 5 best Seal of Excellence awardees will be offered a Postdoc position for 2 years with 40.000€/year (gross amount) as salary and 20.000€ for start-up fund for research activities, training and networking. More information (in English)

The Sapienza University (Università di Roma) supports MSCA Seal of Excellence holders through the Seal of SAPIExcellence initiative, providing 4 fellowships amounting to €50,000 each, for a total of €200,000 per year, to be granted to Sapienza proposals submitted under the MSCA PF call that have been awarded the "Seal of Excellence" by the evaluation Panel. The €50,000 fellowship will allow a €40,000 employment contract for each researcher and €10,000 to cover expenses directly related to the research activities (i.e., purchase of laboratory equipment, consumables, travel expenses, etc.). More information

The Fondazione Regionale Per La Ricerca Biomedica (Regione Lombardia) holds annual calls to fund recipients of the MSCA Seal of Excellence under the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships call. More information: in English and in Italian.

The University of Siena launches annual calls for researchers who received the MSCA Seal of Excellence for proposals submitted under the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships call. The University of Siena intends to support researchers for projects in the following academic areas: Economics, Law and Political Science; Humanities, History, Philosophy and Arts; Biomedical and Medical Sciences; and Experimental Sciences. The calls are also open to researchers who did not apply with UNISI as the project host institution.

This year, the MSCA SoE@UNISI 2023 initiative at University of Siena shall award 3 eighteen-month fellowships to 3 researchers who obtained the European Commission’s MSCA Seal of Excellence for a project submitted to the HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01-01 Call. Each project shall be awarded 80,000 Euros. More information in Italian

Since 2018, the province of Bolzano supports MSCA Seal of Excellence recipients. To receive funding from the Province of Bolzano, such projects must be implemented at one of the local research performing institutions. Project proposals that were prepared and submitted for evaluation with a host institution outside the Province of Bolzano and received the Seal of Excellence are also eligible for this provincial funding if the fellow finds a suitable host institution and supervisor in the Province. Furthermore, researchers that have received either a MSCA Individual/Postdoctoral Fellowship or a MSCA Seal of excellence in the Province can apply to the international mobility scheme launched by the Province every year with a follow-up project for an additional two-year grant. More information (in German and Italian)

Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation launched a second Call for Proposals “TRAPEZIO – Paving the way to research excellence and talent attraction” to fund researchers who have been awarded the Seal of Excellence in response to a European Commission “Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions – Horizon 2020 European Individual Fellowships and Horizon Europe Postdoctoral Fellowships” call. The initiative aims to offer SoE holders the opportunity to develop their research project at a Host Institution in Piedmont or Liguria, therefore supporting high quality international projects in the field of research, enhancing the best project proposals and attracting talented researchers to Italy. The Call for Proposals is aimed at the following entities with active operational offices in Piedmont and/or Liguria: Universities, Public and Private Non-Profit Research Organizations, Public or Private Research Hospitals, Hospital Trusts and University Hospital Trusts. The next deadline for the submission of applications is 31 May 2024.

More information

Lithuania

The Ministry of Education, Science and Sport of the Republic of Lithuania launched a call to support MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships (PF) Seal of Excellence recipients, as well as MSCA-PF applicants whose proposals scored above a threshold of 70%. The call will be funded from the Recovery and Resilience Facility and the national budget of the Republic of Lithuania. The deadline for applications is 30 April 2026.

More information (in Lithuanian)

Poland

The Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA) launched the Ulam Programme – Seal of Excellence to support MSCA Seal of Excellence recipients in 2020. The Ulam Programme – Seal of Excellence is dedicated to researchers and national scientific institutions whose proposals were awarded the Seal of Excellence in the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships call. Calls for proposals are held every year.

More information (in English)

Romania

As a first example of synergies with the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the Romanian Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitalisation launched a competition call to support holders of Seal of Excellence certificates received under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) as from 2020, provided that their research project is carried out at a Romanian host institution. In case the original project was to be carried out at a foreign research organization, the researcher has to relocate their project within a research institution in Romania in order to be eligible under this scheme.

50 recipients of the MSCA Seal of Excellence for excellent Individual/Postdoctoral Fellowships shall receive a grant to carry out Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe research projects. As the projects have already been evaluated and received a Seal of Excellence certificate under the MSCA, the grants will be selected on a first come/first served basis.

More information

Slovakia

The Government of the Slovak Republic opened a new scheme for MSCA Seal of Excellence holders and applicants with a high score who applied to Postdoctoral Fellowships (excluding Global Fellowships) under Horizon Europe, but failed to be funded due to budget constraints. The scheme targets both holders of the MSCA Seal of Excellence and applicants whose proposals were evaluated with a minimum score of 70%. It is open to applicants who were planning to carry out their project in Slovakia, but also to those whose original host organisation was in another country, and are willing to carry out their project in Slovakia.

The deadline to submit proposals is 31 December 2023. More information (in Slovak)

Slovenia

Since 2016, the Slovenian Research Agency supports projects submitted by Slovenian organisations and which were awarded the MSCA Seal of Excellence. Since 2022, this scheme also supports Seal of Excellence awardees who did not apply with a Slovenian institution, but who wish to carry out their project at a Slovenian institution.

In addition, a new initiative funded from Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) funds provides funding to successful Slovenian researchers who have been awarded the MSCA Seal of Excellence when applying with a host organisation abroad under the Individual or Postdoctoral Fellowships calls since 2019. Slovenian applicants who were not awarded the MSCA Seal of Excellence under these calls, but have received more than 70 evaluation points can also apply for this call and may be funded depending on the available budget.  This initiative also supports the reintegration of successful applicants to the MSCA Individual and Postdoctoral Fellowships calls for their return to Slovenia after completing their project at the host organisation abroad.

Finally, Slovenia is the first country to support COFUND projects which have been awarded the MSCA Seal of Excellence with national funding, starting from this year.

More information here and here (in Slovene)

Spain

The Institute of Health Carlos III has launched a scheme ISCIII-HEALTH for MSCA Seal of Excellence holders who applied to the 2021 call for Postdoctoral Fellowships under Horizon Europe or the 2020 call for Individual Fellowships under Horizon 2020. The scheme is the third example of using the Recovery and Resilience Facility to support MSCA Seal of Excellence holders. The initiative will dedicate 6 million EUR for young researchers to carry out outstanding projects in Biomedicine and Life Sciences and Technologies in Spanish organisations working in these fields. Selected projects will be granted up to 177.000 EUR for projects lasting up to two years.

Applications must be submitted by the host organisation of the original proposal, which will hire the postdoctoral researcher.

More information (in Spanish)

Sweden

The Swedish Research Council provides funding to recipients of the MSCA Seal of Excellence to European Postdoctoral Fellowships projects to be hosted by Swedish organisations, but who could not be financed under the MSCA due to budget constraints. The number of funded Seal of Excellence projects will be limited and will depend on the available budget.

More information (in English)

The Swedish Research Council is funding Post Doctoral European Fellowship reserve candidates

Switzerland

Since 2018, the "Seal of Excellence Fund" (SELF) is an internal grant of the University of Bern to employ excellent international researchers at postdoctoral level whose MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships applications with the University of Bern were not funded, but awarded the MSCA Seal of Excellence. SELF provides matching funds to the financial support of the institute to employ these researchers for a minimum of 6 months (and max. 2 years) at the University of Bern. More information

Attention: The University of Bern (UBERN) SELF scheme is currently suspended as Switzerland is currently considered a third country in Horizon Europe. Please consult the SELF webpage to know about the possible future resumption of the scheme.

Recipients of the Seal with any other Swiss host institute are encouraged to resubmit in the next call and to contact the NCP for the proposal preparation.

Alternative funding sources for experienced researchers interested in pursuing research in Switzerland (although not specifically targeting or prioritising SoE holders) include, for example, calls by the Swiss National Science Foundation or the Swiss Government Excellence Scholarships.

Additional information for other host countries without specific measures for Seal recipients

Austria

In addition to the above, Austria provides funding for experienced researchers through different national programmes.

These funding schemes are not restricted to MSCA Seal of Excellence candidates and neither are MSCA Seal of Excellence candidates prioritised. Applications are peer reviewed and subject to specific eligibility criteria.

The Austrian Science Fund (FWF) is Austria's central funding organisation for basic research and offers the following mobility programmes

We also recommend consulting the Austrian Database for Scholarships and Research Grants

Belgium (Wallonia-Brussels Federation)

Wallonia-Brussels Federation has no specific funding schemes for recipients of the MSCA PF Seal of Excellence.

Recipients of the MSCA PF Seal of Excellence who fulfil the specific eligibility requirements are encouraged to apply to funding schemes of the Fund for Scientific Research – FNRS, in particular the mandate for postdoctoral researcher. These funding schemes are not restricted to MSCA Seal of Excellence candidates and neither are MSCA Seal of Excellence candidates prioritised. Applications are peer reviewed.

Applicants are also encouraged to visit EURAXESS Belgium for more information on research jobs and funding in Belgium.

Finland

Finland has no relevant national/regional funding scheme available for MSCA IF candidates with the Seal of Excellence.

Recipients of the seal are encouraged to resubmit in the next call and, where appropriate, contact the national contact point for the proposal preparation.

Alternative funding sources for experienced researchers interested in pursuing research in Finland (although not specifically targeting or prioritising Seal of Excellence holders) include, for example, calls by the Academy for Finland.

Germany

Germany has no relevant national funding scheme available for MSCA IF candidates with the Seal of Excellence.

Recipients of the Seal of Excellence are encouraged to resubmit in the next call and, where appropriate, contact the national contact pointy for the proposal preparation.

Experienced researchers willing to pursue research in Germany should visit Research in Germany for further information on alternative funding schemes.

The listed funding schemes are not restricted to recipients of the Seal of Excellence, neither are Seal of Excellence recipients given priority in the application process.

Ireland

There are a range of fellowship opportunities in Ireland provided by government research funding agencies and other bodies.

Most notably, there are a number of fellowship programmes running in Ireland that are co-funded by the MSCA COFUND programme. Our three main national research funding agencies (see below) also offer fellowship programmes that are fully funded by the Irish government.

Applications are subject to rigorous international peer review and each programme has its own specific eligibility criteria which must be adhered to.

Please note that these programmes are not exclusive to Seal of Excellence holders, neither are Seal of Excellence holders prioritised in the assessment process. However, Seal of Excellence holders are encouraged to include information on their Seal of Excellence award in their application as evidence of their track record.

More information on current and forthcoming MSCA COFUND programmes in Ireland

National Funders

Please note that the list of opportunities above is not exhaustive.

Applicants are encouraged to visit EURAXESS Ireland for more information on research jobs and funding in Ireland.

Norway

Norway has no relevant national or regional funding scheme available for MSCA IF candidates with the Seal of Excellence.

Recipients of the MSCA Seal of Excellence are encouraged to resubmit their proposal in the next call and, where appropriate, contact the local EU-advisor at the host organisation or the national contact point for the proposal preparation.

Norway provides funding for experienced researchers through national programmes. The Research Council of Norway has annual calls for "Researcher projects for young talents" and "Three-year Researcher Project with International Mobility". Applications must be sent from a Norwegian university or research institution. The funding schemes are not restricted to MSCA Seal of Excellence candidates and neither are MSCA Seal of Excellence candidates prioritized. Applications are peer reviewed and subject to specific eligibility criteria.

More information

Spain

In Spain there are no specific mechanisms or budgetary allocations for funding MSCA Seal of Excellence recipients . At this moment we are not aware of such instruments at regional and/or institutional level.

The Research and Innovation State Agency runs different national funding schemes supporting researchers. Seal of Excellence can apply to National Programme for the Promotion of Talent and Its Employability calls, but will not be prioritised.

For further information on funding calls at national level, please consult the Researcher Career Path created by the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology.

United Kingdom

The UK has no plans to introduce a specific funding scheme for recipients of the MSCA Seal of Excellence.

The UK provides funding for early-career researchers through a variety of funding schemes provided by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the National Academies.

These funding schemes are not restricted to MSCA Seal of Excellence candidates and neither are MSCA Seal of Excellence candidates prioritised. Applications are peer reviewed and subject to specific eligibility criteria. Further details are available at

UK Research and Innovation UKRI

National Academies

Contact

If you need more information, please EAC-MSCA-SEALatec [dot] europa [dot] eu (contact us)