Eligibility Criteria – Who can apply to an MSCA?

You should make sure you comply with the following eligibility criteria before preparing the application:
  • Supported fellows must be postdoctoral researchers at the date of the call deadline, i.e. in a possession of a doctoral degree before 13 September 2023, defined as a successfully defended doctoral thesis, even if the doctoral degree has yet to be awarded.
  • At the call deadline, researchers must have a maximum of 8 years full-time equivalent experience in research, measured from the date that the researcher was in a possession of a doctoral degree and certified by appropriate documents. Years of experience outside research and career breaks (e.g. due to parental leave), will not be considered.
  • Recruited researchers must comply with the mobility rule: they must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of the selected Host Institution for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before the call deadline. Compulsory national service and short stays such as holidays are not considered.
  • For researchers wishing to reintegrate from a third country, there must be a direct mobility to an EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country.
  • Only one proposal per individual researcher can be submitted. In case of several proposals involving the same individual researcher, only the last submitted will be considered eligible.
  • If proposals with the same research objectives and workplan are submitted for different researchers, only the first submitted one will be considered eligible.
  • Supported researchers can be of any nationality. However, researchers going to a third country (Global Postdoctoral Fellowship) or researchers who wish to reintegrate to Europe, must be nationals or long-term residents of EU Member States or Associated Countries. Long-term residence means a period of continuous residence within the country of at least five consecutive years (periods of absence should be shorter than six consecutive months and do not exceed in total ten months within this period).