SE: A Doctoral Candidate’s scholarship ends in Month X, while the thesis defence will take place in Month Z. According to internal organisation rules, the person retains Doctoral Candidate status until the thesis defence. During this period, however, Doctoral Candidates no longer receive a scholarship, although they may undertake missions funded through their supervisors’ research funds. Will a secondment of such a Doctoral Candidate be considered eligible and reimbursable in MSCA Staff Exchanges?

If being registered as a PhD candidate in a concrete country/organisation is sufficient to be considered as a staff member, they are eligible, even if they do not have a working contract.

Furthermore, this organisation must be in the consortium, must have signed the MSCA-Staff Exchanges Grant Agreement, and must send their staff (i.e., PhD candidate) within the project duration.

On the specific issue of thesis defence pending, the PhD candidate must still be a staff member of their sending organisation while on secondment.

‘Staff’ means there is a contractual link that gives the sending organisation the legal means in terms of control, supervision, and instructions to impose on the secondee compliance with the Grant Agreement obligations (e.g. full-time work for the activities of the project, IPR, visibility of EU funds, confidentiality, etc.).

Beneficiaries should also consider all other eligibility criteria mentioned in the relevant and applicable Work Programme.

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.   

All Actions: Is it possible to edit the already submitted critical risks statements, or should the coordinator delete and replace them in the tab if changes are needed?

The risks have been already indicated at the Grant Agreement Preparation phase and, therefore, are automatically displayed in this tab. No more risks can be added at this stage of the flow.

However, in the continuous reporting module, the coordinator should update the risk section (materialisation / mitigation). If a new risk has occurred, they would need to add an Unforeseen risk.

All Actions: If there is a deviation during the implementation period that has resulted in an amendment, should this be reported as a deviation in the periodic report as well?

If an amendment took place, it is no longer considered as a deviation.

SE: Can a project manager of a Staff Exchanges project be sent on a secondment in their project manager role?

If they are involved in R&I activities at the institution and in the project, they can go on secondment. If the activities foreseen are purely administrative, the secondment is not eligible. The activities carried out in a Staff Exchange secondment should always be R&I-related.

SE: Within an ongoing MSCA Staff Exchanges project there is a meeting planned in a non-associated third country. How can the costs associated with this event be paid?

If it is a country automatically eligible for funding, the project Coordinator will receive funds for staff secondments to the EU Member States and Associated Countries (contributions for seconded staff members + institutional contributions).

The “Research, training and networking contribution”, which includes, e.g., organising meetings, conferences, etc., is divided among all the project partners based on the Consortium Agreement (to be negotiated before the Grant Agreement is signed). The Consortium Agreement also defines how the funds are transferred to third countries. In addition, if there are associated partners in the consortium, it is recommended to sign a Partnership Agreement – p. 139 in the MSCA Work Programme 2023-2025:

“When associated partners are involved, beneficiaries are encouraged to sign a partnership agreement with them to regulate the internal relationship between all participating organisations. The partnership agreement(s) must comply with the grant agreement”.

 

So, the third country partner can organise any project activities (presented in Annex 1 of the Grant Agreement), and the way it will receive money from the coordinator should be regulated in the Consortium Agreement. More information can be seen on p. 24 of the MSCA Financial Guide:

“5.1 Limitations on transfers of units

Unit transfers between beneficiaries

In MSCA-DN and MSCA-SE, beneficiaries may transfer units between themselves, provided that such transfer does not imply any substantive or important change to the action description as set out in Annex 1 of the GA (see Article 5.5 HE Unit MGA).

This means that they may in principle redistribute person-months between them, compared to the original planning set out in Annex 2 of the GA, without an amendment if there is no substantial change. But to note that redistributions of person-months will also have an impact on the institutional unit contributions (since those are directly linked to the person-months declared for recruited researchers/seconded staff members; see details below).

Redistributions of institutional unit contributions within the consortium should be done via an internal agreement.”

SE: An employee with part of the working time financed from institutional sources and another part financed from national project funding will work exclusively on a MSCA Staff Exchanges project during their secondment, with no additional work commitments. Can the employee retain the salary within the total working time during the secondment?

The FTE (or the working time) is an element resulting from the national legislation.

On the one hand, the obligation included in the GA is twofold:

a)      exclusive dedication (i.e., only activities indicated in the technical annex) and

b)     full-time dedication regardless of the working time (i.e., no part-time).

If both conditions are fulfilled the secondment is in principle eligible.

On the other hand, the obligation is referring to the “research activities” of the project: this means that, as long as the staff member is dedicated full-time to these activities (those latu sensu included in the description of the project), then it is allowed.

It is the responsibility of the beneficiary to ensure that the research activities performed are consistent with the description of the Staff Exchanges project, even if (partially) funded elsewhere, provided that this will not result in double funding.

SE: Is a PhD student required to terminate a parallel employment contract during their secondment if this contract is synergic with the Staff Exchanges project they participate in?

If the activities under the employment contract are synergic with the MSCA Staff Exchanges project, the fellow could retain their current working arrangements, contract, and PhD stipend. However, if the activities under the employment contract are not synergic with the MSCA Staff Exchanges project, or if they result in double funding, then these working arrangements should be modified to ensure full commitment to the MSCA Staff Exchanges project during the secondment.

SE: If in a Staff Exchanges project a beneficiary does not implement any of the planned outgoing mobilities, but only hosts incoming mobilities from third countries’ associated partners, would it still be considered as a beneficiary?

In the case of a running grant and until the signature of an amendment, the beneficiary will remain beneficiary. The cost claim would be set to 0 except if they host secondments from third countries eligible for funding.

At Grant Agreement preparation stage they would be moved to the role of Associated partners in the consortium.

SE: Do non-working days of a university affect the calculation of the secondment costs?

Applicants should not exclude non-working days, as this can result in the one-month secondment not being eligible; however, the secondments must always be proofed by documentation (boarding passes - MSCA Financial Guidelines, p. 41)

“− for MSCA-SE:

− proof that the secondment was eligible (e.g. agreement for the secondment, travel documents and/ or access rights for the host organisation's premises to show the duration of the secondment, lab books, registration documents, scientific articles, library records to demonstrate engagement in research and innovation activities)”

SE: Are the Staff member unit costs for the 2023 Staff Exchanges call different from the 2024 Staff Exchanges call?

Yes, they are. The unit costs in the 2023 call were 2300 EUR and the unit costs in 2024 are 2710 EUR. Unit costs were updated in version 2.0 of the 2023-2025 MSCA Work Programme that was published on 17.04.2024; the previous version (1.0) is available at the Funding and Tenders portal, under Reference documents here.

All actions: Is VAT included in the budget allocated for MSCA grants? Can it be claimed separately where eligible?

Non-deductible VAT is eligible for reimbursement under Horizon Europe, including MSCA. This would mean that VAT incurred on purchasing consumables or subcontracting activities that would fall under the Institutional unit costs category of MSCA grants could be eligible, provided it aligns with national VAT regulations.

However, beneficiaries should bear in mind that institutional costs in MSCA are calculated based on unit costs and not as actual costs.

All actions: Has the MSCA DESCA template been finalised and is it available online?

It is published on KoWi’s (EU Liaison Office of the German Research Organisations) website; direct link: https://www.kowi.de/en/Portaldata/2/Resources/kowi/2023-06-13_DESCA_Horizon_Europe_AP_MSCA_final.docx

Link to page: https://www.kowi.de/en/kowi/proposal-project/project-implementation-1/msca-projects/msca-projects.aspx

The model Consortium Agreement for Doctoral Networks and Staff Exchanges projects was drawn up by BAK AG Recht (Working Group on Legal Affairs of the Federal Working Group of EU Officers at Universities in Germany) on the basis of the DESCA Consortium Agreement for Horizon Europe.

SE: Is it possible that the allowance for a seconded staff is paid aside from the salary and not taxed?

This depends on the national taxation law and on the institutional regulations.

SE: Is teleworking during a secondment in the frame of a MSCA Staff Exchanges project allowed?

Once the fellow moved to the place where the hosting organisation is established, they are intended to be subjected to the same conditions of the staff of the hosting organisation. The MSCA financial guide foresee the following obligation towards the seconded staff (p. 16):

‘Ensure that the researchers enjoy at the place of the implementation at least the same standards and working conditions as those applicable to local researchers holding a similar position.’

Therefore, if national law or internal practice of the hosting organisation allows limited teleworking, this is not in contrast with Staff Exchanges rules, as long as the transnational mobility took place. However, the possibility of teleworking should be consistent with the type of tasks foreseen in the Grant Agreement and its annexes to be performed during the secondment.

SE: What is the maximum travel duration allowed in a Staff Exchanges project to go from the country of main residence to the country of the secondment?

There is no time limit duration for the travel to the place of the secondment. However, the travel time should be reasonable and proportional to the distance.

Any issue with exceptional duration of the travel (e.g., >1 day) should be reported to the Project Officer for assessment and approval.

 

All actions: Can beneficiaries with general accounts in currencies other than the Euro use a different rate from the reported on the ECB website average daily exchange rate calculated over the corresponding reporting period?

With regard to the exchange rate, applicants can find the required information in the AGA (Annotated Grant Agreement) Article 21.3:

“Beneficiaries with general accounts established in a currency other than the euro must convert the costs recorded in their accounts into euro, at the average of the daily exchange rates published in the C series of the Official Journal of the European Union (ECB website), calculated over the corresponding reporting period.

If no daily euro exchange rate is published in the Official Journal for the currency in question, they must be converted at the average of the monthly accounting exchange rates published on the European Commission website (InforEuro), calculated over the corresponding reporting period.

Beneficiaries with general accounts in euro must convert costs incurred in another currency into euro according to their usual accounting practices.

Beneficiaries with general accounts established in a currency other than the euro must convert the costs recorded in their accounts into euro:

1.                  either at the end of the corresponding reporting period:

2.                  using the average of the daily exchange rates published either by the EU in the C series of the Official Journal of the European Union (ECB website) or by Oanda over the corresponding reporting period or

3.                  if no daily euro exchange rate is published for the currency in question, using the average of the monthly accounting exchange rates published on the European Commission website (InforEuro) over the corresponding reporting period

4.                  or for each month separately over the corresponding reporting period:

5.                  using the monthly accounting exchange rate published, for that month, on the European Commission website (InforEuro)

6.                  or for each day separately over the corresponding reporting period:

7.                  using the accounting exchange rate published, for that day, either by the EU in the C series of the Official Journal of the European Union (ECB website) or by Oanda.

Beneficiaries with general accounts in euro must convert costs incurred in another currency into euro according to their usual accounting practices.”