The Commission announced new calls for proposals under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions’ (MSCA) Staff Exchanges and Co-funding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) strands. The 2021 COFUND call, with a total budget of €89 million, will close on 10 February 2022, whereas the 2021 Staff Exchanges call, with a budget of €72.5 million, will close on 9 March 2022. Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, said: “The future of science in Europe lies in researchers. The pandemic has shown us again how crucial highly skilled researchers are. These two calls opening today offer excellent opportunities for researchers, institutions, regions and countries, to boost research in Europe.” MSCA COFUND provides funding to organisations in EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries for new or existing doctoral and postdoctoral programmes. The action supports training and career development through co-funding mechanisms, and promotes excellent working conditions for researchers, and sustainable training and international, interdisciplinary, inter-sectoral mobility. MSCA Staff Exchanges support short-term international and inter-sectoral exchanges of staff members involved in research and innovation activities. The aim is to develop sustainable collaborative projects between different organisations from the academic and non-academic sectors (in particular SMEs), based in Europe and beyond. The calls follow the adoption of the Horizon Europe 2021-2022 work programme. The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions are the EU’s flagship funding programme under Horizon Europe for excellent doctoral education and postdoctoral training. They contribute to excellent research, boosting jobs, growth and investment by equipping researchers with new knowledge and skills, and foster research cooperation across borders, sectors and disciplines. The MSCA also fund the development of excellent doctoral and postdoctoral training programmes and collaborative research projects worldwide. More information can be found here.
