MSCA Choose Europe for Science 2027

MSCA COFUND co-finances new or existing doctoral programmes and postdoctoral fellowship schemes with the aim of spreading the best practices of the MSCA including international, inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary research training, as well as international and cross-sectoral mobility of researchers at all stages of their career.

In practice, MSCA COFUND provides complementary funding for doctoral or postdoctoral programmes managed by entities established in EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries. Those co-funded programmes must follow MSCA’s good practice in terms of international recruitment and minimum standard of employment for the recruited fellows as described in the European Charter for Researchers.

MSCA Choose Europe for Science co-funded programmes additionally aim to address brain drain and precarity of researchers' careers in order to make Europe more attractive to the most promising young talents. The scheme will allow applicants to link MSCA grants to competitions leading to long-term attractive positions in universities and other research performing organisations.

Expected impact

Proposals under this Action should contribute to the following expected impacts:

• Enhance talent and knowledge circulation across the R&I landscape, through international, inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary mobility, including by supporting regional or national smart specialisation strategies when appropriate;
• Align practices with MSCA policies based on the European Charter for Researchers;
• Improve the attractiveness of researchers’ careers notably through better working and employment conditions as well as access to concrete long-term career prospects;
• Strengthen Europe's human capital base in R&I by training highly-skilled researchers;
• Increase Europe's attractiveness as a leading R&I destination;
• Enhance the quality of R&I contributing to Europe's sustainable competitiveness;
• Establish sustainable collaboration between academic and non-academic organisations;
• Foster the culture of open science, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Expected Outcome:

For supported researchers:

• Concrete career prospects and increased career stability;
• Deeper and more diverse set of research-related, academic and transferable skills and competences, leading to greater autonomy.

For participating organisations:

• Better alignment of research and Human Resources practices, including recruitment, career accession and progression systems, at participating organisation(s) with the European Charter for Researchers and the Council Recommendation of 18 December 2023 on a European framework to attract and retain research, innovation and entrepreneurial talents in Europe and the Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment;
• Increased global attractiveness, visibility and reputation of the participating organisation(s);
• Stronger R&I and teaching capacity and output;
• Increased contribution to the local, regional and/or national socio-economic ecosystems;
• Stronger synergies across institutional research, management and teaching structures.

Scope:

The objective of this scheme is to tackle brain drain and precarity of researchers' careers to make Europe more attractive to the most promising young talents. Applicants submit proposals for talent recruitment programmes that will provide researchers holding a doctoral degree with excellent research and academic opportunities, potentially coupled with management activities, to lead them to concrete and attractive career prospects. This will have an impact on the enhancement of human resources in R&I at institutional, regional, national or international level. These programmes will be co-funded by MSCA Choose Europe for Science.

The programmes will be divided into two phases. An EU-funded phase (24-36 months) in which the EU funding will cover direct and indirect costs related to the implementation of the programme and a phase funded fully by the beneficiary (24 months) in which the applicant is expected to set salaries attractive at a national level and ensure availability of the necessary internal or external funds to implement the project. Applicants should specify the order of the two phases in their proposals.

Proposed programmes can cover any research disciplines. The selection procedure for candidates must be open, merit-based and with a transparent international peer-review in line with the European Charter for Researchers^[1]. Alignment with the principles outlined in the Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment^[2] is also encouraged. Selection criteria should be based primarily on excellence. Additional selection criteria require clear alignment with local human resources needs identified in the relevant institutional, regional or national strategies. These must be described in the proposal and must be listed in the vacancy notice (to be widely advertised internationally, including on the EURAXESS website^[3]) alongside the gross salaries applicable to the two programme phases (net salary + employee’s taxes and contributions). Selected fellows will be able to define their own research topic at their host institution(s) and take on teaching or management tasks where relevant. The programmes should aim at offering excellent working conditions to researchers, including salary, professional resources, and career development.

The career development should incorporate transversal skills but also job-specific skills and, where relevant, language courses to ensure that the training is in line with the career opportunities offered following the fellowship. These opportunities must include concrete and attractive long-term career prospects, such as pathways towards open-ended contracts, which can be subject to assessment and evaluation. There must be a fair, equal, inclusive, transparent, structured career accession and progression system providing access to these opportunities in line with the Council Recommendation of 18 December 2023 on a European framework to attract and retain research, innovation and entrepreneurial talents in Europe, the European Charter for Researchers in its annex and the Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment.

A Career Development Plan must be maintained throughout the period of the Choose Europe for Science programme. This Plan comprises the researcher's career development needs, including training on languages, transferable skills, teaching, planning for publications and participation in conferences and events. The Plan should outline the projected career progression paths in the host institution.

[1] Council Recommendation of 18 December 2023 on a European framework to attract and retain research, innovation and entrepreneurial talents in Europe

[2] agreement_final.pdf (coara.eu)

[3] EURAXESS |