SE: How can an umbrella organisation send a staff member on secondments when the staff member is hired by different organisations within the umbrella organisation?

The type of relationship between the seconded staff member and the sending organisation (i.e. employment contract, fellowship or other) is NOT relevant as long as:

− it complies with national law

− it complies with internal practices and

− during the secondment it confers legal authority on the sending beneficiary (or associated partner) that enables them to ensure compliance with the Grant Agreement obligations.

As regards staff having contracts with different entities within an umbrella organisation - if the umbrella organisation can justify that the fellow / staff member is assimilated to their own staff under national law or internal practices, then that individual can be considered as a staff member of the beneficiary and so be seconded.

If this is not the case, then the entity holding the contract may be added as an Associated partner linked to a beneficiary, provided the relevant conditions are fulfilled (legal or capital link – longstanding research agreement / collaboration going beyond the project duration).

SE: Is it possible to involve volunteers from NGOs in Staff Exchange secondments?

The type of relationship between the seconded staff member and the sending organisation (i.e. employment contract, fellowship or other) is NOT relevant as long as:

− it complies with national law

− it complies with internal practices and

− during the secondment it confers legal authority on the sending beneficiary (or associated partner) that enables them to ensure compliance with the Grant Agreement obligations.

Volunteers’ contracts generally do not fulfil the required condition of eligibility as the person is not assimilated as ‘staff’ under national legislation and the entity is lacking the legal authority to ensure compliance with Grant Agreement obligations.

If the entity can prove that the staff eligibility condition is fulfilled, then the fellow / staff member can be seconded in MSCA Staff Exchanges.

Se: Is it possible to travel from a country other than the beneficiary’s country of origin?

In general, yes, staff can travel either from their place of origin or from the country in which they are located.

Staff can also move from one place to another place according to the secondment plan without the need to return to their place of origin: e.g. Argentina-Italy (first secondment), then Spain (second secondment) and finally Argentina (return).

As for the tickets, dates can be different, and the mobility can be combined with holidays. Beneficiaries encode the date of the secondments where the staff member was active in the R&I activities of the project (travel day of departure included).

Please note that in case of audit, beneficiaries must provide supporting documents as evidence of the mobility, staff eligibility, and R&I activity in the project.

SE: How should the mobility declaration in MSCA Staff Exchanges be submitted in case of long-distance trips where airfare prices are more favourable for trips longer than 30 days? How many days of deviation can be accepted as part of that 1-month secondment?

For MSCA Staff Exchanges grants, beneficiaries encode the date of the secondments only (not the unit cost or duration).

For deviations, the project coordinator is advised to contact their project officer to discuss the specific case.   

PF: Are researchers with Medical Doctor degrees eligible to apply for the Postdoctoral Fellowships?

As indicated in footnote 90 on p. 82 of the MSCA 2026-2027 Work Programme: A medical doctor degree will be accepted only when it corresponds to a doctoral degree or if the researcher can demonstrate their appointment in a position that requires doctoral equivalency (e.g. professorship appointment). Medical doctor degrees corresponding to basic medical training as defined in Annex V of Directive 2005/36/EC will not be considered a doctoral degree.

PF: Should stays as a “visiting researcher” be calculated toward the mobility rule?

According to the MSCA mobility rule, the researcher must not have resided and/or carried out their main activity or studies in the country of the future beneficiary for more than 12 months in the 36 months before the call deadline.

Having said that, if a visiting researcher’s stay in country A involves the researcher spending the majority of their working time (above 50 %) on research, teaching or other academic duties there, this period would normally be considered part of their main activity in that country for the purposes of the mobility rule.

On the other hand, if the stay was secondary to their primary employment — for example, a researcher who made a short research visit to country A while they maintained their main employment contract and spent the majority of their working time with their main employer outside of country A — then the time spent in country A would not be considered as part of their main activity. This reflects the general interpretation that the mobility rule focuses on where the researcher principally carried out their work or studies during the reference period.

In practical terms, this means that a visiting researcher’s three-month stay in country A that did not constitute the researcher’s main professional activity (i.e. the researcher remained employed and primarily active with their home institution abroad) would generally not count towards their main activity in country A for the mobility rule. If, however, during that period the researcher was effectively based in country A and carried out the bulk of their work there, then those three months would count toward the 12-month threshold.

PF: A Postdoctoral Fellowship applicant has been diagnosed with a disorder and will need medical treatment and medicine. Is it possible to request additional financial support and should the applicant disclose their diagnosis in the application form?

On p. 103 of the 2026-2027 MSCA Work programme it is written that “The special needs allowance contributes to the additional costs for the acquisition of special needs items and services for researchers with disabilities, whose long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments are certified by a competent national authority, and of such nature that their participation in the action may not be possible without them (e.g. assistance by third persons, adaptation of work environment, additional travel/transportation costs).”

If the abovementioned conditions are respected, then the applicant should be eligible for the special needs allowance.

Applicants can find more detailed information on the procedure to request the special needs allowance on p.38 of the MSCA financial guide.

PF: For Doctoral Networks it is specified that the secondment costs must be reimbursed for secondments of six months or less, but a duration is not specified for Postdoctoral Fellowships. Does it mean that in PF it is mandatory to reimburse secondments costs whatever the duration?

For MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships, the costs related to secondments, non-academic placements (NAP), and - where applicable - the outgoing phase of Global Fellowships (e.g. researcher travel costs, course or conference attendance expenses, etc.) must be covered by the Research, Training and Networking (RTN) contribution, provided that these activities are eligible, foreseen in the Grant Agreement, and carried out within the allowed duration.

Consequently, there is no flexibility to exclude or withhold reimbursement of such costs solely on the basis of their duration, as long as the activities comply with the maximum lengths set out in the Work Programme and are included in the Grant Agreement (Description of Action). The absence of a specific duration limit for Postdoctoral Fellowships in the MSCA Financial guide should therefore be understood as allowing coverage for the full eligible period, rather than implying that reimbursement is optional.

PF: Which unit contribution covers the secondments costs in a Postdoctoral Fellowship?

On p. 36 of the MSCA Financial guide, it is written that:

“The research, training and networking contribution covers costs related to the training and research expenses of researchers/staff members as well as costs related to the transfer of knowledge and networking activities (e.g. costs for participation in conferences, trips related to work on the action, training or language courses, seminars, lab material, books, library records, publication costs, visa-related fees, even if incurred before the recruitment date) as well as:

− MSCA-DN: additional costs arising from each secondment of six months or less, which requires mobility from the place of residence (e.g. travel and accommodation costs)

− MSCA-PF: additional costs arising from secondments, non-academic placements and outgoing phase in MSCA-PF GF.”

DN: Some institutions enroll PhD candidates in doctoral programmes only once a year (in October) but job contracts based on the Doctoral Networks Grant Agreement can start earlier. Can beneficiaries apply for funding of person-months before October if the fellow is involved in project activities and has signed a job contract?

Projects decide when they should recruit the doctoral candidates (usually around M6 but they have some flexibility between M1 and M12 of the project). The moment a fellow is recruited, the recruiting beneficiary becomes eligible to receive the corresponding institutional costs ((i) research, training & networking, (ii) management & indirect costs). However, the candidate should be well informed and agree to start the PhD later.

Please note that the PhD enrollment is an obligation in the Doctoral Networks.