Research Support Office

If you’re interested in applying for MSCA, please contact EU Pre-Award Team at RSO-EU-funding@glasgow.ac.uk

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie (MSCA) Actions fund excellent research and innovation and equip researchers at all stages of their career with new knowledge and skills, through mobility across borders and exposure to different sectors and disciplines; actions provide funding to support doctoral and postdoctoral training via the following funding schemes:

MSCA Doctoral Networks (DN) implement doctoral programmes, by partnerships of universities, research institutions and infrastructures, businesses including SMEs, and other socio-economic actors from different countries across Europe and beyond.

Next Submission deadline: 25 Nov 2025

Modes of implementations:

• Standard doctorates
• Industrial doctorates
• 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.

MSCA doctoral networks at University of Glasgow The Project Management Office (PMO) have extensive experience supporting large multi-partner doctoral networks.  Get in touch with Project Manager Katie Wright to discuss your proposal development and post-award support needs.

MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships (PF) action targets researchers holding a PhD who wish to carry out their research activities abroad, acquire new skills and develop their careers. PFs help researchers gain experience in other countries, disciplines and non-academic sectors.

Next Submission deadline: 10 Sept 2025

There are 2 types of Postdoctoral Fellowships:

• European Postdoctoral Fellowships take place in an EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country and can last between 1 and 2 years. Researchers of any nationality can apply.
• Global Postdoctoral Fellowships lasts between 2 to 3 years, of which the first 1 to 2 years will be spent in a non-associated Third Country, followed by a mandatory return phase of 1 year to an organisation based in an EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country. Only nationals or long-term residents of the EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries can apply.

Both types of fellowships may also include:

• short-term secondments anywhere in the world during the fellowship (except during the return phase of a Global Fellowship).
• placement of up to 6 months in a non-academic organisation based; this placement needs to take place at the end of their fellowship.

MSCA Staff Exchanges (SE) action funds short-term international and inter-sectoral exchanges of staff members from at least three organisations with aim is to develop sustainable collaborative projects between different organisations from the academic and non-academic sectors (in particular SMEs). Exchanged staff benefit from new knowledge, skills and career development perspectives, while participating organisations increase their research and innovation capacities.

Next Submission deadline: 5 February 2025 and 8 October 2025

Staff Exchanges projects can last up to four years. The grant funds the mobility of seconded staff members from one month to one year.

Staff funded by Staff Exchanges

• can be researchers at any career stage, from PhD candidates to postdoctoral researchers, as well as administrative, technical or managerial staff involved in research and innovation activities
• can be of any nationality
• must be engaged in, or linked to, research and innovation activities at their sending organisation for at least one month prior to the secondment
• should return to their sending organisation after the secondment.

Seconded staff receives

• a top-up allowance (for travel, accommodation, subsistence costs), which is on top of the salary paid by their organisation
• a special needs allowance, if applicable

Funding is also provided for research, training and networking activities as well as management and indirect costs.

MSCA Co-Funding (COFUND) action provides funding for regional, national and international programmes for training and career development, through co-funding mechanisms.

Next Submission deadline: 24 June 2025

There are 2 types of COFUND:

1. Doctoral Programmes.They 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.
2. Postdoctoral Programmes.They fund individual advanced research training and career development fellowships for postdoctoral researchers.

A beneficiary can receive a maximum of €10 million per call.

What does the funding cover?

COFUND projects should last for up to five years and should recruit at least 3 researchers; funding helps host organisations cover for each supported researcher.

Researchers involved in COFUND projects:

• can be of any nationality
• are supported during a minimum of 3 months
• should comply with the mobility rules
• can go on short term secondments
• for COFUND Doctoral Programmes
• must not have a doctoral degree
• should be enrolled in a doctoral programme during the project
• for COFUND Postdoctoral Programmes
• must have a doctoral degree.
• should not already be permanently employed by the organisation hosting them.

The EU offer a 'Partner Search' tool to help you find potential partners (you must be a registered ECAS user).

Visit our Resources area for a range of tools to support your application.

If you’re interested in applying for MSCA, please contact EU Pre-Award Team at RSO-EU-funding@glasgow.ac.uk

COST funds interdisciplinary research networks called COST Actions. These Actions bring together researchers, innovators and other professionals including industry specialists, who are based in Europe and beyond, to collaborate on research topics for a period of 4 years.

The Open Call 2025 is open - deadline is 21 October 2025 at 12:00 (noon) CEST

Costing approval is not required as no budget forecast is requested when submitting a proposal however, please contact our EU Pre-Award Team RSO-EUfunding@glasgow.ac.uk to discuss Peer Review of your application. The amounts are variable from a grant period to another and depends, among others, on the size of the network and overall budget available to COST. 

COST Info Day 2024 Recording and Slides. Next online COST info day is on 18 Feb 2025, register in here.

The funding a COST Action receives covers the expenses of networking activities rather than research. As such is used to organise and fund:

• Events (working group meetings, workshops and conferences)
• Short-term Scientific Missions to visit an institution or laboratory 
• Training Schools offer intensive training 
• Conference grants aimed at in particular at young researchers from Inclusiveness Target Countries
• Communication activities to share outcomes 
• Virtual networking tools (Virtual Networking Support (VNS) Grant and Virtual Mobility (VM) Grants).

COST activities shall be effective and impactful, which requires COST to strive for excellence, focusing on progressing the state-of-the-art and development of breakthroughs. On a matter of principle, topics of the COST activities shall be defined following a bottom-up approach.

COST Action proposals must represent a Network of Proposers from at least 7 different COST Full or Cooperating Members among which at least 50% shall be from COST Inclusiveness Target Countries.

COST Actions are:

• Pan-European: the COST inter-governmental framework spans over 41 Full Members, one Cooperating Member, and one Partner Member;
• Bottom-up: in terms of S&T fields and topics, COST welcomes any novel, original and innovative idea;
• Open: in terms of participation, COST Actions can grow in size;
• Unique: as a platform to coordinate national research funding and resources within a well defined framework;
• Multi-, Inter- and Transdisciplinary: bridging different research communities, disciplines, fields and methodologies;
• Output and Impact-Oriented: COST Actions are monitored against their expected output and impact.

COST 2024 Open Call attracted record number of submissions

Open Call oc-2024-1 initial analysis

On 24 October 2024 Open Call (oc-2024-1) for new COST Action proposals was closed. Interim analysis shows:

• Highest number of proposals ever submitted to a COST Open Call: a 62% increase when compare to oc-2023-1.
• Over 35,000 main and secondary proposers involved.
• 41 COST Member Countries submitted to this collection as a main proposer. Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Germany have the highest number of main proposers.
• Strong gender balance: largest ever number of women main proposers.
• Very interdisciplinary with 53% of proposals having two or more main fields of science.