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The Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) contribute to excellent research, boosting jobs, growth and investment by equipping researchers with the new knowledge, skills and international and intersectoral exposure to fill the top positions of tomorrow and solve current and future societal challenges.

The objective of Doctoral Networks (MSCA DN) is to implement doctoral programmes through partnerships with organisations from different sectors across Europe and beyond to train highly skilled doctoral candidates, stimulate their creativity, enhance their innovation capacities and boost their employability in the long term. 

This call 2024 will dedicate €608.6 million to fund over 160 projects in all scientific fields and the training and skills development of 2,400 doctoral candidates.

Doctoral Networks are open to international consortia of universities, higher education institutions, research institutions and infrastructures, private sector organisations —including industry, businesses and small and medium-sized enterprises—,    public sector organisations —including national, regional, and local governments, agencies and museums— and other socio-economic actors from different countries across Europe and beyond.

Consortia should include at least three independent legal entities, each established in a different EU Member State (MS) or Horizon Europe Associated Country (AC) and with at least one of them established in an EU Member State; on top of this minimum, other organisations from any country in the world can also join*; specific conditions apply to Industrial and Joint Doctorates.

In addition, Associated Partners can be established anywhere in the world and in any sector even in Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Panama and Uruguay. Associated partners don't directly claim costs and don't recruit PhD candidates. They can host secondments for up to 1/3 of the researcher’s total recruitment period.

Full details on the MSCA DN Guide for Applicants, like the difference between Beneficiaries and Associated Partners.

*Organisations from LAC (and from everywhere else) can join any consortia to submit a proposal.

They are eligible for funding and can be beneficiaries in a MSCA DN project when they are established in EU MS, AC or low- and middle-income non-associated countries included in the list of countries eligible for funding provided in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.

=> In Latin America and the Caribbean, the countries automatically eligible for institutional funding by the European Commission are: Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Paraguay, Peru, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic). 

Legal entities established in countries not listed in the Programme Guide (Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Panama, Uruguay) will be eligible for funding if their participation is considered essential for implementing the action by the granting authority. Nevertheless, they are eligible to participate as partner organisation.

As of 2022, resubmission restrictions will apply for applications that received a score below 80% the previous year.

IMPORTANT: once selected, the Doctoral Networks offer PhD vacancies. Individual researchers of any nationality are eligible to apply to these PhD positions that are advertised on the EURAXESS Jobs portal.

Types of Doctoral Networks

Doctoral Networks implement doctoral programmes that respond to well-identified needs in various research and innovation areas, expose the researchers to the academic and non-academic sectors, and offer research training, as well as transferable skills and competencies relevant for innovation and long-term employability.

There are three types of Doctoral networks:

Besides standard Doctoral Networks, incentives have been introduced to promote two specific types of doctorates as well.

• Standard Doctoral Networks that promote international, interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral cooperation to train PhD candidates in various scientific areas, with a focus on promoting entrepreneurial mind-sets, research-related and transferable skills and long-term career prospects within and outside academia.

• Industrial Doctorates. They train PhD candidates and develop their skills outside academia, including in industry and business. Doctoral candidates also benefit from joint industry-academia supervision. These programmes foster the close cooperation between the academic and non-academic worlds and are ideal catalysts for technology transfer and for nurturing innovation.

• Joint Doctorates. They provide a highly integrated type of international, inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary collaboration in doctoral training leading to a joint doctoral degree or multiple doctoral degrees awarded by the participating institutions. PhD candidates must be enrolled in a joint programme and be jointly supervised.

What does the funding cover?

All areas of research may be funded and Doctoral Networks can last for up to four years. The duration of each fellowship is between three and 36 months. Each beneficiary must recruit at least one doctoral candidate and can also organise secondments for them anywhere in the world. Funding to recruit additional researchers is proposed as an incentive for Industrial and Joint Doctorates.

Researchers funded by Doctoral Networks must not have a doctoral degree at the date of their recruitment; can be of any nationality; should be enrolled in a doctoral programme during the project; should spend at least 50% of their time outside academia, for Industrial Doctorates; should comply with the mobility rules (in general, they must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of the recruiting organisation for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before their recruitment date)

The EU provides support for each recruited researcher in the form of a living allowance; a mobility allowance;  if applicable, family, long-term leave and special needs allowances. 

In addition, funding is provided for research, training and networking activities, management and indirect costs.

Deadline: Wednesday 27 November 2024

Further information: 

• website of the call

• guide for applicants

• additional resources via Euraxess LAC

(via Euraxess LAC)

La Vicerrectoría de Investigación no tiene más información acerca de esta convocatoria distinta a la publicada en los enlaces de esta nota.

[Boletín SIUN 681, 6/7 de junio de 2024]