All actions: Do beneficiaries applying for MSCA have to provide Letters of Commitment with their applications?

Letters of Commitment are for entities not signing the Grant Agreement.

Beneficiaries submit the proposal and sign the Grant Agreement in case the proposal has been funded. Their commitment is already covered by the submitted application so they do not need to provide a Letter of Commitment. If a Letter of Commitment is not explicitly requested, it is not necessary to provide it.

PF: If a third country national has been working/ living in a Member State/ Associated Country and applies for a Global Fellowship, would they be able to come back to the same Member State/ Associated Country for the return phase?

There is no problem about returning to the Host Institution considering that they are recruited from Europe during the outgoing phase. However, this third country national needs to meet the long-term residence requirement to submit a Global Fellowship proposal.

PF: Is there a limit to the times a researcher can apply for a Postdoctoral Fellowship with different projects?

There are no restrictions on the number of submitted proposals per researcher in different calls. However, only one proposal per researcher may be submitted within the same call.

COFUND: What can beneficiaries and implementing partners do with non-spent person months?

As a general rule, REA encourages a redistribution of non-spent person months between beneficiary/ implementing partners. Additional doctoral/ postdoctoral contracts may be offered if the number of remaining months is sufficient. In this case either an additional position is included in a regular call or a new call is put in place to ensure necessary visibility and transparency. It is also possible to extend contracts of already recruited fellows, provided the internal rules of their employers allow such an extension. Moreover, if several partners/ fellows are interested in such an extension, adequate procedures should be put in place at programme level to ensure equal treatment to all fellows.

 

PF: In case of part-time PF implementation, does the pro-rata principle for funding applies to researchers’ unit cost categories or to all costs (also including institutional)?

Part-time allocation affects all the cost categories and extends the calendar duration of the grant agreement proportionally.

 

PF: Could a research break due to Covid lock-downs count as a career break and thus be deducted from the 8 years of research experience eligibility criteria?

According to the Guidelines on the calculation of 8-years research experience in Postdoctoral Fellowships under Horizon Europe, “The rule of the 8 years full-time equivalent experience in research after the PhD can be extended (in days) for the following reasons: […] Career break; Time spent not working in research (career breaks are not included in this section). The period spent in a non-research position should be completely deducted from the FTE experience in research. However, for a period spent in a research position, the time spent outside of your main research activity (including teaching) could be deducted as a percentage of FTE provided that it can be documented by e.g. work contract/job description and quantified based on documentation/proof which the host organisation (beneficiary) needs to keep for their records (not to be included in the proposal).” 

Considering the above, if a researcher could not engage in research due to force majeure (such as COVID-19), two theoretical options emerge:

-          If their employment contract was suspended, and no work was performed, that period is deductible.

-          If the employment contract remained active (not suspended) and the researcher conducted non-research tasks, deductions can be made based on a percentage of full-time equivalent (FTE).

In both scenarios, it’s essential for the beneficiary to maintain pertinent evidence such as work contracts or job descriptions. Deductions should be quantified based on documented proof, although this evidence is not to be included in the proposal but rather retained for the host organisation’s records in case of audits.

All actions: Is it possible for researchers to undertake additional professional activities above the 1.0 full-time equivalent where national legislation allows them to?

While it may previously have been possible for researchers to conduct additional activities on top of the 1.0 FTE (e.g., performed during evenings or weekends), this practice has changed. In addition to this, the MSCA legal framework is very clear as to the obligation of the researcher to work “exclusively on the action” and does not allow for derogations unless part-time for professional reasons has been agreed (MSCA Financial Guide – p. 11 (Doctoral Networks), 14 (Postdoctoral Fellowships), 21 (COFUND)).

Teaching is allowed in the frame of 1.0 FTE if it does not jeopardise the implementation of the action and as long as it is described in Annex 1 of the Grant Agreement.

For Staff Exchanges the same approach is applied. The full-time dedication means that no additional work commitments can be performed during the secondment. In Staff Exchanges it is referred to full-time secondments and full-time dedications to the project R&I activities during the secondment.

 

PF: Where can applicants check whether the fellow who submitted a MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship proposal agreed to the proposal to participate in the ERA Fellowships?

The ERA Fellowships question is only visible once the applicants include the PIC of the Host institution from a widening country. That’s why it does not appear in the standard application form.

In the downloaded version of the submitted proposal applicants can see this question and answer, under Other questions – question #5. It can be seen which of the two options, “yes” or “no”, the fellow has checked.

PF: Is the United Kingdom eligible to host the outgoing phase in Global Fellowships for the 2024 Postdoctoral Fellowships call?

The United Kingdom entered into an agreement with the European Union in 2023, resulting in its classification as an associated country eligible to apply as a full beneficiary in MSCA. Consequently, the UK is no longer categorised as a third country, and, as such, it is no longer eligible to host the outgoing phase in Global Fellowships for the 2024 Postdoctoral Fellowships call.

The specific eligibility conditions for Postdoctoral Fellowships in the research areas covered by the Euratom Research and Training Programme 2021-2025 do not provide any derogation regarding the outgoing phase of Global Postdoctoral Fellowships. Therefore, the United Kingdom cannot host the outgoing phase of a Euratom MSCA Global Fellowship.

Please note that, as the UK is not associated to EURATOM, organisations there cannot host EURATOM European Fellowships – you can find more information here.

All actions: How can applicants withdraw their redress request?

To withdraw a redress request, it is enough to write the SEP Helpdesk team (email: EC-FUNDING-TENDER-SERVICE-DESK@ec.europa.eu).