MSCA Choose Europe for Science 2027
Horizon Europe · Grant topic
Summary
Not an R&D call a Polish company can use, by Scindu's rule.
Supports researcher career prospects, stability and skills through programmes submitted by a single eligible European entity, strengthening institutional research and teaching capacity.
- Who can apply
- Companies can lead: SME, large company, startup, research org, university.
- Amount
- €51,320,085Indicative budget
- Deadline
- 06 Apr 2027 02:00 CESTin 164 days
- Status
- Forthcomingopens 8 Dec 2026
Machine-classified from the call text; check eligibility at the source.
Description
Expected Outcome:
For supported researchers:
• Concrete career prospects and increased career stability;
• Deeper and more diverse set of research-related, academic and transferable skills and competences, leading to greater autonomy.
For participating organisations:
• Better alignment of research and Human Resources practices, including recruitment, career accession and progression systems, at participating organisation(s) with the European Charter for Researchers and the Council Recommendation of 18 December 2023 on a European framework to attract and retain research, innovation and entrepreneurial talents in Europe and the Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment;
• Increased global attractiveness, visibility and reputation of the participating organisation(s);
• Stronger R&I and teaching capacity and output;
• Increased contribution to the local, regional and/or national socio-economic ecosystems;
• Stronger synergies across institutional research, management and teaching structures.
Scope:
The objective of this scheme is to tackle brain drain and precarity of researchers' careers to make Europe more attractive to the most promising young talents. Applicants submit proposals for talent recruitment programmes that will provide researchers holding a doctoral degree with excellent research and academic opportunities, potentially coupled with management activities, to lead them to concrete and attractive career prospects. This will have an impact on the enhancement of human resources in R&I at institutional, regional, national or international level. These programmes will be co-funded by MSCA Choose Europe for Science.
The programmes will be divided into two phases. An EU-funded phase (24-36 months) in which the EU funding will cover direct and indirect costs related to the implementation of the programme and a phase funded fully by the beneficiary (24 months) in which the applicant is expected to set salaries attractive at a national level and ensure availability of the necessary internal or external funds to implement the project. Applicants should specify the order of the two phases in their proposals.
Proposed programmes can cover any research disciplines. The selection procedure for candidates must be open, merit-based and with a transparent international peer-review in line with the European Charter for Researchers[1]. Alignment with the principles outlined in the Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment[2] is also encouraged. Selection criteria should be based primarily on excellence. Additional selection criteria require clear alignment with local human resources needs identified in the relevant institutional, regional or national strategies. These must be described in the proposal and must be listed in the vacancy notice (to be widely advertised internationally, including on the EURAXESS website[3]) alongside the gross salaries applicable to the two programme phases (net salary + employee’s taxes and contributions). Selected fellows will be able to define their own research topic at their host institution(s) and take on teaching or management tasks where relevant. The programmes should aim at offering excellent working conditions to researchers, including salary, professional resources, and career development.
The career development should incorporate transversal skills but also job-specific skills and, where relevant, language courses to ensure that the training is in line with the career opportunities offered following the fellowship. These opportunities must include concrete and attractive long-term career prospects, such as pathways towards open-ended contracts, which can be subject to assessment and evaluation. There must be a fair, equal, inclusive, transparent, structured career accession and progression system providing access to these opportunities in line with the Council Recommendation of 18 December 2023 on a European framework to attract and retain research, innovation and entrepreneurial talents in Europe, the European Charter for Researchers in its annex and the Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment.
A Career Development Plan must be maintained throughout the period of the Choose Europe for Science programme. This Plan comprises the researcher's career development needs, including training on languages, transferable skills, teaching, planning for publications and participation in conferences and events. The Plan should outline the projected career progression paths in the host institution.
[1] Council Recommendation of 18 December 2023 on a European framework to attract and retain research, innovation and entrepreneurial talents in Europe
[2] agreement_final.pdf (coara.eu)
[3] EURAXESS |
Who can apply, in detail
- Applicant types
- SME, Large company, Startup, Research org, University
- Purpose
- Training and people
- R&D relevance
- 2 of 3
- Poland eligible
- Yes
- Country limit
- Applicant and implementing partners must be established in EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries.
- Region
- Any
- Consortium
- Single applicant
- Readiness level (TRL)
- —
- Topics
- Researcher career stability
- Research talent attraction
- Researcher recruitment
- Institutional research capacity
Machine-classified from the call text; check eligibility at the source. 23 Oct 2026
Conditions
Typed facts extracted from the source documents by Scindu's grant-data review. Each value keeps its own conditions. Unknown means unstated, not zero or unlimited.
- Applicant type
- Applications must be submitted by a single entity established in an EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country; affiliated entities may not participate as beneficiaries.
- Other condition
- The action maximum is 60 months for a 48-month fellowship and 72 months for a 60-month fellowship, including researcher selection and recruitment; researchers must be recruited within the first 12 months. The EU-funded phase is 24 or 36 months respectively, followed by 24 months funded by the beneficiary.
- Other condition
- During the phase fully funded by the beneficiary, monthly gross remuneration may differ from the EU-funded phase but must remain attractive and competitive at national level; no numeric floor or ceiling is given.
- Other condition
- The EU contribution is limited to EUR 10 million per beneficiary for this call; if two or more successful applications total more than EUR 10 million within the call, the applicant must decide which proposals to implement.
- Other condition
- Each Choose Europe for Science programme must recruit at least three researchers; proposals with fewer are ineligible.
- Other condition
- At least three researchers must be recruited in each Choose Europe for Science programme; this is a minimum recruited-researcher headcount, not a consortium-member cap.
- Partner requirement
- Implementing partners must be established in an EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country and all involved implementing partners must be identified in the proposal.
- Project duration, maximum
- 72 month
Action maximum is 60 months for a 48-month fellowship and 72 months for a 60-month fellowship; recruitment time is included.
- Staff restriction
- Supported researchers must hold a doctoral degree by the vacancy-notice deadline. For IEROs, international organisations and entities created under Union law, mobility is measured against the same appointing organisation (no more than 12 months in the relevant 36-month period), rather than the recruiting country. Compulsory national service, short stays, and time obtaining refugee status or EU temporary protection are excluded from the mobility calculation; researchers who have Geneva Convention refugee status or EU temporary protection at recruitment are exempt. A medical-doctor degree qualifies only if equivalent to a doctorate or the researcher demonstrates appointment in a role requiring doctoral equivalency; basic medical training does not qualify.
Amounts and costs
- Indicative budget
- €51,320,085
Topic budget as stated in the portal's budget table. Lump-sum and per-project limits are in the call conditions.
- Eligible cost
- Eligible costs are unit contributions. In the EU-funded phase, the living allowance is a gross-gross per-person-month amount, including compulsory employer and employee social-security contributions and direct taxes adjusted by country correction coefficient; mobility allowance is additional, and family allowance is paid when the stated family-obligation condition applies. The beneficiary funds the final 24-month phase.
Rates and allowances
An allowance, cap or unit contribution is not a guaranteed salary.
- Unit contribution · Family allowance · person€660/ person_month
Conditional EU-funded phase family allowance, payable if the researcher has or acquires the family obligations defined in the Work Programme; not a universal salary component.
- Minimum · Salary · person€4,921/ person_month
Calculated during EU-funded phase for a Poland-based beneficiary: EUR 6,350/month living allowance x Poland CCC 77.5% = EUR 4,921.25, gross-gross: the allowance includes compulsory national deductions such as employer and employee social-security contributions and direct taxes. This does not apply to the beneficiary-funded phase or cap salary.
- Unit contribution · Mobility allowance · person€710/ person_month
Fixed EU-funded phase mobility allowance for each recruited researcher, payable in addition to living allowance; it covers additional private mobility-related costs, not professional project costs.
Personnel and services
Researcher
Required staff
At least three researchers per programme. Fellowship length is 48–60 months; the action may run up to 60 months for a 48-month fellowship or 72 months for a 60-month fellowship, including recruitment time; researchers must be recruited in the first 12 months. EU-funded phase lasts 24 or 36 months respectively, followed by 24 months funded by the beneficiary.
Source documents
Call facts
- Opens
- 8 Dec 2026
- Deadline model
- Single-stage
- Programme
- Horizon Europe · 2021 - 2027
- Call
- HORIZON-MSCA-2027-COFUND-02 · MSCA Choose Europe for Science 2027
- Types of action
- HORIZON TMA MSCA Cofund Postdoctoral programme
- Source
- ec.europa.eu
- Checked
- 23 Oct 2026
- Portal updated
- 7 Oct 2026
- Review status
- Partial review
- Reviewed
- 22 Oct 2026
This is a summary of the source page, not the official text. Eligibility, conditions and the submission system are at the source.