DN: Is it possible to allocate fees/ funding to the members of the ‘external advisory group’ and from which budget category?

For MSCA there are unit cost categories B1 (for research, training and networking) and B2 (for management and overheads).

Institutional costs (B1) are designed to cover research, training and networking costs that contribute directly to the researcher’s career development in the spirit of the action and (B2) are covering management costs and overheads. The use of institutional costs should help the consortium implement the action by covering all research expenses, training and networking activities foreseen in the Description of Action for the benefit of the recruited researchers. This is the reason why the eligibility of institutional costs is linked to the eligibility of the MSCA fellows.

In order to achieve the said objectives, there is some flexibility as regards the use of the budget (redistributions of institutional costs within the consortium are allowed, unused amounts can be used to increase the salary of a researcher or organise additional trainings, etc.). The optimisation of the budget and the appropriate use of the institutional costs for the benefit of the recruited researchers is the sole responsibility of the consortium whose primary obligation is to implement the action as described in Annex 1 and in the spirit of the Work programme. The proper implementation of the action will be assessed by the Research Executive Agency (REA) during the course and at the end of the action.

In conclusion, the costs for the external advisory board could be covered by the institutional costs. If so, they should be budgeted under category B1/ B2. As stated above, the granting authority does not require a report on the use of institutional costs.