MSCA COFUND 2025

The MSCA COFUND 2025 grant program, part of the Horizon Europe initiative, aims to co-fund doctoral and postdoctoral training programs to improve researcher mobility, career development, and interdisciplinary collaboration across Europe. It targets entities based in EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries, allowing a variety of applicants including universities, research institutes, government entities, regional authorities, funding agencies, and enterprises. Although the application must come from a single legal entity, collaboration with additional partners is encouraged.

The funding mechanism is based on a grant structure, where the EU provides co-funding that must be supplemented by the institutions through their own or external resources. The total budget for this grant is approximately €101.82 million, with project funding largely dependent on the number of researchers involved, up to a maximum of €10 million per beneficiary. The call is open until June 24, 2025, with a single-stage application process that does not require pre-proposals.

Eligible applications can cover any research discipline, adhering to a bottom-up approach while allowing focus on specific areas aligned with regional Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation. The programs are designed to support both doctoral and postdoctoral researchers, emphasizing transferable skills training, scientific integrity, innovation, and Open Science practices.

The initiative has a competitive dimension, with high success rates indicated by the awarding of a Seal of Excellence for proposals scoring over 85%, although the exact success rates are not specified. Co-funding is mandatory, requiring institutions to provide matching financial resources.

The application procedures emphasize transparency and merit-based selection, requiring a Career Development Plan that addresses research objectives and career needs for each recruited researcher. Given the emphasis on enhancing human resources in research and innovation, the program aims to foster sustainable research ecosystems and contribute to socio-economic development.

In summary, the MSCA COFUND 2025 program supports institutions in developing or enhancing doctoral and postdoctoral training schemes with a focus on mobility, interdisciplinary research, and alignment with EU objectives. The call is significant for boosting Europe’s attractiveness as a destination for research and maintaining competitive talent within the EU.

The HORIZON-MSCA-2025-COFUND-01-01 call, part of the Horizon Europe Programme, aims to co-fund doctoral and postdoctoral programmes to enhance human resources in Research and Innovation (R&I) at regional, national, or international levels. This initiative, known as MSCA COFUND, seeks to spread the best practices of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), including international, inter-sectoral, and interdisciplinary research training, as well as promoting the mobility of researchers at all career stages.

The call encompasses two main types of actions:

A) Doctoral Programmes: These programmes offer research training activities designed to develop and broaden the skills and competences of doctoral candidates. Successful completion of these programmes leads to the award of a doctoral degree in at least one EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country. The training is based on the EU Principles on Innovative Doctoral Training. Key components include substantial training modules (including digital modules) that address transferable skills, research integrity, Open Science practices, innovation, and entrepreneurship. These modules cover collaborative tools, open access to publications and research outputs, FAIR data management, societal engagement, and citizen science. International mobility is compulsory, and cross-sectoral mobility and interdisciplinarity are encouraged. Collaboration with non-academic partners is viewed positively, with opportunities for hosting, secondments, and training in research or transferable skills. The quality of supervision, mentoring, and career guidance is emphasized. The selection process must be open, transparent, and merit-based, adhering to the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers. Vacancy notices should be widely advertised internationally, including on the EURAXESS website, and must specify whether published rates include all employer and employee taxes and contributions, with a preference for publishing the gross salary.

B) Postdoctoral Programmes: These programmes fund individual advanced research training and career development fellowships for postdoctoral researchers. The focus is on developing transferable skills and competences, fostering research integrity, promoting innovation and entrepreneurship, and rewarding Open Science practices. Programmes should have regular selection rounds with fixed deadlines to ensure fair competition. The selection procedure must be open, competitive, merit-based, and involve transparent international peer review, in line with the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers. Vacancy notices should be widely advertised internationally, including on the EURAXESS website, and must specify whether published rates include all employer and employee taxes and contributions, with a preference for publishing the gross salary. International mobility is compulsory, and cross-sectoral mobility and interdisciplinarity are encouraged. Researchers have the freedom to choose their research topic and host organization.

Expected outcomes for supported researchers include deeper skills, improved employability, new mindsets through diverse experiences, and enhanced networking. For participating organizations, expected outcomes include enhanced research training quality, increased attractiveness and visibility, stronger R&I capacity, greater contribution to socio-economic ecosystems, and regular feedback of research results into teaching.

The scope of the call allows proposals for new or existing programmes that enhance human resources in R&I. While the call is generally "bottom-up" (covering any research discipline), it can also focus on specific disciplines based on national or regional Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3). Funding synergies with Cohesion policy funds and the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) are strongly encouraged. A Career Development Plan must be established jointly by the supervisor and the researcher upon recruitment, covering research objectives, training, career needs, publications, and public engagement. This plan should be revised within 18 months.

Researchers working in fields covered by the Euratom Research and Training Programme 2021-2025 are ineligible.

Instructions for completing the budget table in Part A of the proposal require beneficiaries to list Associated Partners (APs) and their financial contributions. Implementing Partners (IPs) are not listed in Part A. The beneficiary encodes their own financial input and any financial support from IPs. APs indicate any financial support they intend to provide.

The call aims to enhance talent circulation, align practices with MSCA policies, improve researcher career attractiveness, strengthen Europe's human capital, increase Europe's attractiveness as an R&I destination, enhance R&I quality, establish sustainable collaborations, and foster open science, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

General conditions for admissibility, eligibility, financial and operational capacity, evaluation, award, and legal/financial setup are detailed in the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes. Specific conditions are described in the call topic.

Application forms are available in the Submission System, including a standard application form (HE MSCA COFUND) and evaluation forms (HE MSCA). Guidance is provided in the HE Programme Guide, Model Grant Agreements (HE Unit MGA, Lump Sum MGA, Operating Grants MGA), and the MSCA-COFUND-2025 Guide for Applicants. Additional documents include the HE Main Work Programmes, EU Financial Regulation, and rules for legal entity validation.

The budget for the call in 2025 is 105,557,658 EUR. The call follows a single-stage submission process, with the opening date on January 23, 2025, and the deadline on June 24, 2025, at 17:00:00 Brussels time.

Partner search announcements can be viewed and edited by LEARs, Account Administrators, or self-registrants.

The call provides access to the Electronic Submission Service, requires careful review of all provisions, and offers support through the Online Manual, Horizon Europe Programme Guide, Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ, Research Enquiry Service, National Contact Points (NCPs), Enterprise Europe Network, IT Helpdesk, European IPR Helpdesk, CEN-CENELEC/ETSI Research Helpdesks, the European Charter for Researchers, and Partner Search Services.

In summary, this MSCA COFUND call provides funding for organizations to establish or enhance doctoral and postdoctoral programmes. It emphasizes international and interdisciplinary research training, researcher mobility, and the development of transferable skills. The goal is to boost the quality and attractiveness of research careers in Europe, strengthen Europe's human capital base, and foster a culture of open science and innovation. Applicants should carefully review the call documents and guidelines to ensure their proposals align with the objectives and requirements of the MSCA COFUND program.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types are entities established in EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries that manage doctoral or postdoctoral programmes. Collaboration with associated partners, including from the non-academic sector, is encouraged.

Funding Type: The funding type is a grant, specifically complementary funding for doctoral or postdoctoral programmes. It is a co-funding action (COFUND).

Consortium Requirement: While not explicitly stated as a requirement, collaboration with associated partners, including those from the non-academic sector, is positively taken into account during the evaluation. Therefore, a consortium is beneficial, but a single applicant might be possible.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The geographic eligibility for applicants is EU Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries. 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.

Target Sector: The target sector is research and innovation (R&I), specifically focusing on enhancing human resources in R&I. The program covers all research disciplines ("bottom-up"), but can exceptionally focus on specific disciplines based on national or regional Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3 strategies). The program supports doctoral and postdoctoral training, fostering good scientific conduct, Open Science, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

Mentioned Countries: EU Member States, Horizon Europe Associated Countries, and non-EU/non-Associated Countries (third countries) that have made specific provisions for funding participants in Horizon Europe projects.

Project Stage: The project stage targets new or existing doctoral and postdoctoral programmes.

Funding Amount: The total budget for the call is EUR 105,557,658. The indicative number of grants is not specified.

Application Type: The application type is an open call with a single-stage submission process.

Nature of Support: Beneficiaries will receive money in the form of a grant to co-fund their doctoral and postdoctoral programmes.

Application Stages: The application process is a single-stage process.

Success Rates: The success rates are not specified in the provided text.

Co-funding Requirement: Yes, this is a co-funding action (COFUND), meaning that the EU funding is complementary and requires funding from other sources. The beneficiary must encode in the column ‘Own resources’ its own financial input to the programme, and in the column ‘Financial contribution’ the financial support coming from IPs (if applicable). The beneficiary must indicate for the APs – each in its relevant row - in the column ‘Financial contribution’ any financial support they intend to provide for the proposal.

Summary:

The HORIZON-MSCA-2025-COFUND-01 call, under the Horizon Europe program, aims to co-fund doctoral and postdoctoral programmes to enhance human resources in research and innovation. The call is open to entities in EU Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries. The program encourages international, inter-sectoral, and interdisciplinary research training, as well as mobility for researchers. The total budget is EUR 105,557,658, and the application deadline is June 24, 2025. The call supports two types of actions: doctoral programmes and postdoctoral programmes. Doctoral programmes should offer research training activities based on the EU Principles on Innovative Doctoral Training, while postdoctoral programmes should fund individual advanced research training and career development fellowships. Applicants must submit proposals for new or existing programmes, and collaboration with associated partners is encouraged. The selection procedure for doctoral and postdoctoral candidates must be open, transparent, and merit-based, in line with the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers. The call emphasizes the importance of a Career Development Plan for each recruited researcher, which should include research objectives, training, and career needs. The call also promotes Open Science practices, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Researchers working in any of the fields covered by the Euratom Research and Training Programme 2021-2025 are not eligible for funding under HORIZON-MSCA-COFUND-2025.