The applicant cannot resubmit their 2024 GF proposal, as of 2025 Switzerland is an Associated Country in Horizon Europe, meaning that Swiss institutions are eligible to participate as host organisations in the European Fellowships. The candidate may apply for a European fellowship, instead of Global.
For complete information about the Swiss state, applicants can check this dedicated webpage.
If the project is funded but the exceptional funding denied, then the maximum grant amount would be reduced by the amount of the requested amount for the third country, and funding available for less doctoral candidates. The third country can still participate but with their own funds, as associated partners. Please note that in the very rare event that they are funded and the exceptional funding granted, the doctoral candidates hosted in the third country would still need to be enrolled in a PhD programme in a MS/ AC.
Please note that in case the exceptional funding is not granted/ positively assessed by the experts, the proposal is still assessed as it is and the third country participation is NOT disregarded but assessed as if they were participating with their own funds.
Switzerland has national funding to complement Doctoral Networks funding and to recruit PhD candidates (not official MSCA fellows, but Swiss funded PhD candidates joining the Network). Swiss organisations are advised to join as ‘Associated Partner’ and not to take the risk of trying to be an exceptional beneficiary and to be ‘essential to implement the project’. There have been cases where Swiss partners were recognised as essential to implement a Doctoral Networks project and got the status of a beneficiary. It can happen, but it is always risky.
As a non-EU country, Switzerland has to negotiate the association to Horizon Europe. Currently, Switzerland has the status of a third country. Organisations based in Switzerland can participate in MSCA Doctoral Networks (former ITN), MSCA Staff Exchanges and COFUND as ‘Associated Partners’. The Swiss project partner will not be funded by the European Commission but by the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation. Furthermore, as long as this status remains unchanged, researchers with a Swiss host institution are not eligible to apply to the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships. Switzerland is eligible as host country for the outgoing phase of a Global Fellowship. However, Swiss nationals are NOT eligible for participation in MSCA Global Fellowships unless they are long-term residents of an EU Member State or a country associated to Horizon Europe.
More info can be found here.
Factsheet with up-to-date information can be found here.
