MSCA COFUND 2026

Expected Outcome

Projects results are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:

For supported doctoral candidates or postdoctoral researchers

• Deeper and more diverse set of research-related and transferable skills and competences;
• Improved employability and career prospects both within academia and beyond;
• New mind-sets and approaches to R&I work forged through international, inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary experience;
• Enhanced networking and communication capacities with scientific peers, as well as with the general public that will increase and broaden the research and innovation impact.

For participating organisations

• Enhanced quality and sustainability of research training;
• Increased global attractiveness, visibility and reputation of the participating organisation(s);
• Stronger R&I capacity and output among participating organisations;
• Increased contribution of the participating organisations to the local, regional and/or national socio-economic ecosystems;
• Regular feedback of research results into teaching and education at participating organisations

Scope

Applicants submit proposals for new or existing doctoral or postdoctoral programmes with an impact on the enhancement of human resources in R&I at regional, national or international level. These programmes will be co-funded by MSCA COFUND.

Proposed programmes can cover any research disciplines ("bottom-up"), but exceptionally can also focus on specific disciplines, notably when they are based on national or regional Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3 strategies). In this case, the range of covered disciplines should allow reasonable flexibility for the researchers to define their topic.

Funding synergies with Cohesion Policy Funds and other EU funding sources are strongly encouraged.

A Career Development Plan must be jointly established by the supervisor and each recruited researcher upon recruitment. In addition to research objectives, this Plan comprises the researcher's training and career needs, including training on transferable skills, teaching, planning for publications and participation in conferences and events aimed at opening science and research to citizens. The Plan must be established at the beginning of the recruitment and should be revised (and updated where needed) within 18 months.

COFUND takes the form of:

A) Doctoral programmes

Doctoral programmes offer research training activities to allow doctoral candidates to develop and broaden their skills and competences. They will lead to the award of a doctoral degree in at least one EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country. The training activities should be based on the EU Principles on Innovative Doctoral Training.

The doctoral programmes should develop substantial training modules, addressing key transferable skills and competences common to all fields, including digital ones (e.g. generative AI) and fostering the culture of Open Science, knowledge valorisation[1], and when applicable innovation and entrepreneurship as well as good scientific conduct such as research integrity. In particular, doctoral programmes should adequately prepare doctoral candidates to pursue a career in research and adequately prepare them for increased research collaboration and information-sharing made possible by new (digital) technologies (e.g. collaborative tools, opening access to publications and to other research outputs including data, FAIR data management, societal engagement and citizen science, etc.).

On top of compulsory international mobility, applicants are encouraged to include elements of cross-sectoral mobility and interdisciplinarity into their programmes. Collaboration with a wider set of associated partners, including from the non-academic sector, will be positively taken into account during the evaluation. These organisations may provide hosting or secondment opportunities or training modules in research or transferable skills.

Particular attention is paid to the quality of supervision and mentoring arrangements as well as career guidance. The selection procedure for doctoral candidates must be open, transparent and merit-based, in line with the European Charter for Researchers. The vacancy notice (to be widely advertised internationally, including on the EURAXESS[2] website) must mention if the published rates include all employer and employee's taxes and contributions. If possible, the gross salary (net salary + employee’s taxes and contributions) should be published.

B) Postdoctoral Programmes

Postdoctoral programmes fund individual advanced research training and career development fellowships for postdoctoral researchers. The programmes should offer training to develop key transferable skills and competences common to all fields, including digital ones (e.g. generative AI), and foster the culture of Open Science, knowledge valorisation[1], and when applicable innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as good scientific conduct such as research integrity. In particular, the postdoctoral programmes should empower fellows to pursue a career in research and adequately prepare them for increased research collaboration and information-sharing made possible by new (digital) technologies (e.g. collaborative tools, opening access to publications and to other research outputs including data, FAIR data management, societal engagement and citizen science, etc.).

Postdoctoral programmes should have regular selection rounds following fixed deadlines or regular cut-off dates, allowing fair competition between researchers. The selection procedure for postdoctoral candidates must be open, merit-based and with a transparent international peer review, in line with the European Charter for Researchers. The vacancy notice (to be widely advertised internationally, including on the EURAXESS website) must mention if the published rates include all employer and employee's taxes and contributions. If possible, the gross salary (net salary + employee’s taxes and contributions) should be published.

On top of compulsory international mobility, applicants are encouraged to include elements of cross-sectoral mobility and interdisciplinarity into their programmes. Researchers will be able to freely choose a research topic and the appropriate organisation to host them, fitting their individual needs.

[1] “Knowledge valorisation” is the process of creating social and economic value from knowledge by linking different areas and sectors and by transforming data, know-how and research results into sustainable products, services, solutions and knowledge-based policies that benefit society” (EUR-Lex - 32022H2415 - EN - EUR-Lex).

For more guidance on specific areas of knowledge valorisation, see the European Commission’s Codes of Practice on intellectual assets management, on standardisation, on industry-academia co-creation and on citizen engagement for knowledge valorisation

[2] https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/

[3] “Knowledge valorisation” is the process of creating social and economic value from knowledge by linking different areas and sectors and by transforming data, know-how and research results into sustainable products, services, solutions and knowledge-based policies that benefit society” (EUR-Lex - 32022H2415 - EN - EUR-Lex).

For more guidance on specific areas of knowledge valorisation, see the European Commission’s Codes of Practice on intellectual assets management, on standardisation, on industry-academia co-creation and on citizen engagement for knowledge valorisation