MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025
Quick Facts
Email me updates on this grant
Get notified about:
- Deadline changes
- New FAQs & guidance
- Call reopened
- Q&A webinars
We'll only email you about this specific grant. Unsubscribe anytime. No spam.
Ready to Apply?
Get a personalized assessment of your eligibility and application strategy
See in 5 min if you're eligible for MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 offering max €343.6M funding💰 Funding Details
Funding Description
What the Grant Funds
- Individual fellowships that cover 100 % of the eligible costs for a personalised research & training project carried out by one postdoctoral researcher.
- Two schemes:
1. European Fellowships (EF) – 12–24 months in an EU Member State or Horizon-Europe Associated Country.
2. Global Fellowships (GF) – 12–24 months in a non-associated Third Country (outgoing phase) plus a mandatory 12-month return phase in Europe.
- Optional add-ons:
- Secondments (≤ 1⁄3 of project duration; ≤ 1⁄3 of outgoing phase for GF).
- Non-academic placement (up to 6 months, at the end of the fellowship, in an EU/AC organisation from the non-academic sector).
Unit Costs (Horizon Europe MSCA rates)
| Cost category | Monthly amount (EUR) |
|---------------|----------------------|
| Researcher: Living allowance* | 5 080 |
| Researcher: Mobility allowance | 600 |
| Researcher: Family allowance** | 660 |
| Institutional: Research, training, networking | 1 000 |
| Institutional: Management & indirect costs | 650 |
*Multiplied by the country correction coefficient (CCC) of the host country.
**Paid when the researcher has family obligations at any time during the action.
Total Budget Envelope
- EF budget line: €343.65 million (2025 call)
- GF budget line: €60.64 million (2025 call)
Eligibility Snapshot
- Researcher: PhD awarded, ≤ 8 years full-time research experience post-PhD (deductions for career breaks etc. possible).
- Mobility rule: Cannot have resided or worked in the host country > 12 months in the 36 months before the call deadline (applied to outgoing host for GF).
- Host organisation: Legal entity in EU or Associated Country (EF host & GF return host). Outgoing partner for GF may be anywhere in the world, but not EU/AC.
- Gender Equality Plan (GEP): Mandatory for public bodies, HEIs and research organisations in EU/AC.
- Resubmissions: Proposal scored < 70 % in the previous call with same researcher & recruiting organisation is ineligible.
Key Dates (2025 Call)
- Call opens: 09 April 2025
- Deadline: 10 September 2025 – 17:00 CET
- Results expected: January 2026 (indicative)
- GA preparation & start: Spring 2026
---
📊 At a Glance
Get Grant Updates
Get notified about:
- Deadline changes
- New FAQs & guidance
- Call reopened
- Q&A webinars
We'll only email you about this specific grant. Unsubscribe anytime. No spam.
🇪🇺 Strategic Advantages
EU-Wide Advantages and Opportunities under MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025
1. Single Market Access
• Hosting a fellow instantly plugs the beneficiary into the EU´s €16-trillion single market of 450+ million consumers.
• Results validated in one Member State benefit from the mutual recognition principle, shortening time-to-market across 30+ countries (EU + Associated).
• Fellows can test business models in multiple demand-side innovation initiatives (e.g. Innovation Procurement, EU4Health, Digital Europe sandboxes) without additional licensing barriers.
2. Cross-Border Collaboration & Brain Circulation
• Mandatory mobility, optional secondments (up to one-third) and non-academic placements foster tri-sectoral teams that transcend national silos.
• Global Fellowships create two-way knowledge corridors with leading labs in third countries, while guaranteeing reintegration and retention within the ERA.
• ERA Fellowships channel talent specifically to widening countries, re-balancing the R&I landscape and expanding partners’ geographic reach.
3. Alignment with Flagship EU Policies
• Green Deal: projects addressing climate, energy or circular economy can dovetail with Horizon Europe Cluster 5/6, LIFE and Innovation Fund pipelines.
• Digital Europe & Data Strategy: fellows can access European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking, GAIA-X nodes and common data spaces.
• Health Union & Mission Cancer: direct pathways to Europe-wide clinical trial networks (EMA, ECRIN) and Mission Cancer platforms.
• New European Innovation Agenda: the fellowship´s entrepreneurship training matches Agenda flagship 1 (funding scale-ups) and flagship 4 (talent).
4. Regulatory Harmonisation & Researcher Rights
• Employment contracts must follow the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct, levelling working conditions irrespective of national labour law differences.
• Open Science, GDPR, Horizon Europe IP rules and unit-cost funding create predictable, uniform compliance across all participating states.
5. Access to Europe’s Innovation Ecosystem
• ESFRI landmark infrastructures, Digital Innovation Hubs and EIT Knowledge & Innovation Communities are open to MSCA fellows at reduced or zero cost.
• Standardisation fast-tracks via CEN-CENELEC and ETSI research helpdesks, easing Europe-wide adoption of project outputs.
• Fellows gain visibility on EURAXESS, facilitating recruitment and collaboration far beyond the host country.
6. Funding Synergies & Leverage
• Seal of Excellence (>85 score) unlocks national or regional top-up funding and Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) instruments.
• Complementary calls: ERC Starting/Consolidator Grants (scientific deepening), EIC Pathfinder/Transition (commercialisation), COST Actions (networking), Interreg (territorial pilots), Erasmus+ Alliances (education spill-overs).
• Unit-cost model simplifies blending with private investment (e.g. EIB InnovFin, InvestEU) without double funding risk.
7. Scale, Visibility & Impact
• Pan-European dissemination through Open Research Europe, CORDIS and European Science Media Hub maximises citation and societal uptake.
• Harmonised data-management (FAIR) and the EU´s Open Data Portal enable immediate re-use across borders, accelerating cumulative innovation.
• Positive evaluation weight for citizen-science engagement fits perfectly with Conference on the Future of Europe follow-up actions.
8. Actionable Recommendations for Applicants
1. Build a consortium of at least one widening-country partner to become eligible for ERA Fellowship upgrades and score diversity points.
2. Embed a six-month non-academic placement in an EIT KIC company to demonstrate market pull and TRL progression.
3. Reference specific EU policy targets (e.g. Fit-for-55, Data Act, Chips Act) in the Excellence and Impact sections to show alignment.
4. Plan secondments at an ESFRI facility to evidence access to world-class infrastructure without new capital expenditure.
5. Flag potential use of Seal of Excellence to attract regional Smart Specialisation (S3) vouchers, ensuring sustainability post-grant.
6. Incorporate European Standardisation deliverables (CEN Workshop Agreement, Technical Specification) as measurable outputs.
7. Use EURAXESS, Enterprise Europe Network and National Contact Points for partner search, IP advice and exploitation mentoring.
By strategically exploiting these EU-wide advantages, MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship proposals can significantly boost their evaluation scores, long-term impact and the competitiveness of both researchers and host organisations across Europe.
🏷️ Keywords
Ready to Apply?
Get a personalized assessment of your eligibility and application strategy
See in 5 min if you're eligible for MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 offering max €343.6M funding