Planning to apply for a MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship? Supervisors and fellowship candidates sign up by 23 May

The first Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowship Call under Horizon Europe is expected to be published 18 May 2021 with a deadline on 15 September 2021. Dates are tentative and subject to the final adoption of the Horizon Europe work programme.

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships (previously MSCA Individual Fellowship) provide grants for experienced researchers to support their mobility, research projects and training both within and outside of Europe. The fellowship is applied in cooperation with the planned host organisation. The scheme covers all research areas. It is targeted at researchers with a doctoral degree and a maximum of 8 years of research experience after the PhD by the time of the call deadline. Mobility is a must in MSCA: the researcher must not have resided in the country of the beneficiary, in this case Finland, for more than 12 months in the 36 months before call deadline.

MSCA Postodoctoral Fellowship (MSCA PF) proposal is prepared and submitted by the individual researcher together with the supervisor of the host organisation. Research and Project Services has published a dedicated website marketing University of Oulu as a host institution for MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships. The website also outlines the support process available for applicants. Research groups and supervisors can use the page when contacting their networks and potential candidates.

All supervisors and potential applicants planning to submit MSCA PF as UOULU as their host institution can register to be included in the support process by answering to a short Webropol questionnaire by 23 May. The applicants will be asked to provide a short description of the research idea (max. 2000 characters). All information provided will be kept confidential. The Research and Project Services will assess the technical eligibility of the applicants against the MSCA PF eligibility criteria. During May and June, the Research and Projects Services will organise MSCA PF info sessions and support the proposal preparations until the September deadline.

In addition to the in-house support, the fellowship applicants and supervisors are encouraged to participate to the Horizon Europe MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships and Doctoral Networks: info session for applicants organised 28.5.2021 10:00-12:00 EEST by the Finnish National Contact Points. The first part of the event will be dedicated to MSCA PF and is useful as a general introduction.