Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions are research funding schemes, but the proposal is never only about the research project. MSCA asks applicants to connect scientific quality with researcher development, mobility, supervision, training, knowledge transfer and a credible pathway to longer-term impact.
This hub brings together Arvacore's practical MSCA guidance for researchers, supervisors, universities and consortia. It uses the current European Commission and MSCA National Contact Point material as the rules layer, then adds a proposal-development layer: what the criteria mean in practice, where proposals often become generic, and how to make the scientific and training logic read as one coherent programme.
Current MSCA context
The 2026 Postdoctoral Fellowships call closed on 9 September 2026 after receiving 21,627 applications, the highest number reported for the action to date. The indicative budget is EUR 399.05 million and is expected to fund around 1,600 projects.
The 2026 Doctoral Networks call opened on 28 May 2026 and closes on 24 November 2026. The call has an indicative budget of EUR 593 million and is expected to fund more than 130 projects supporting around 1,950 doctoral candidates.
Official sources: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships, Postdoctoral Fellowships 2026 submissions, Doctoral Networks 2026 call.
Start with the action, then design the proposal
MSCA is not one homogeneous funding instrument. The central logic changes with the action.
Postdoctoral Fellowships
The project is built jointly by a researcher and host organisation. The proposal has to explain why this scientific project, this researcher, this supervisor and this host create a combination that advances both the research and the researcher's career.
Read: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships: Proposal Strategy Guide
Doctoral Networks
The proposal is a doctoral training programme implemented by a consortium. Scientific quality matters, but the network must also show why the consortium, training architecture, supervision model, recruitment process and intersectoral exposure create a programme that is stronger than a set of individual PhD projects.
Read: MSCA Doctoral Networks: Proposal Strategy Guide
COFUND and Staff Exchanges
COFUND supports organisations developing or strengthening doctoral and postdoctoral programmes. Staff Exchanges funds international and intersectoral staff mobility inside collaborative research and innovation projects. Arvacore will keep these actions visible in the MSCA hub without creating thin standalone content before there is enough demand to justify deeper pages.
Official starting points: MSCA COFUND and MSCA Staff Exchanges.
The recurring proposal questions
Across MSCA actions, several questions appear repeatedly.
Is the researcher eligible and genuinely mobile?
For Postdoctoral Fellowships, the mobility rule is central. Applicants normally must not have resided or carried out their main activity in the destination country for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before the call deadline. The researcher also normally has a maximum of eight years of research experience from the PhD award date, with specific periods excluded under the rules.
Read: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship Mobility Rule Explained
What does Excellence need to prove?
Scientific ambition is only one part of Excellence. The section also connects methodology, supervision, training, two-way transfer of knowledge and the researcher's profile. The strongest proposals make these elements reinforce each other instead of treating them as separate boxes.
Read: How to Write the MSCA Excellence Section
What makes Impact credible?
Impact is not a list of dissemination activities. For a fellowship, the proposal should explain how the project changes the researcher's capabilities and career trajectory while also creating scientific, societal or economic value. In a Doctoral Network, the programme-level impact should be visible across candidates, organisations, sectors and the wider research ecosystem.
Read: How to Write the MSCA Impact Section
How should supervision and training be designed?
A strong MSCA proposal treats training as part of the research architecture. The researcher should gain capabilities that are specific to the proposed trajectory, while the host gains knowledge through genuine two-way transfer. In Doctoral Networks, supervision and training need to work across a consortium rather than only inside individual host groups.
Read: MSCA Supervision, Training and Knowledge Transfer
Use the RADIANCE handbooks as working documents
The RADIANCE project, run by MSCA National Contact Points, provides 2026 handbooks for Postdoctoral Fellowships, Doctoral Networks, COFUND and Staff Exchanges. These are useful companion documents because they sit between the formal call material and the practical act of writing a proposal.
Arvacore's existing PF note turns the RADIANCE handbook into a review workflow rather than repeating it.
Read: RADIANCE MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2026 Handbook: Practical Review
Official library: RADIANCE handbooks for MSCA
A practical way to think about MSCA
For Postdoctoral Fellowships, I would test the proposal through four connected questions:
- Research: Is there a clear, ambitious and well-designed scientific project?
- Researcher: What does the applicant bring, and what capabilities will they gain?
- Host and supervisor: Why is this environment necessary for the project and career step?
- Trajectory: What becomes possible after the fellowship that is not possible today?
For Doctoral Networks, the equivalent programme-level test is:
- Is there a coherent research and training challenge?
- Does the consortium contain the capabilities and environments needed to address it?
- Will the doctoral candidates experience a real network rather than parallel local PhDs?
- Is the training architecture connected to long-term scientific and professional development?
These questions help keep the proposal integrated. A strong MSCA application should read as one design, not as research, training, impact and implementation written independently by different people.
Preparing an MSCA proposal?
Arvacore supports researchers, supervisors and research organisations with MSCA proposal strategy, section review, scientific narrative, training and supervision logic, impact, consortium structure and final red-team review.
Explore MSCA proposal support or request a fit check.
This page is independent guidance from Arvacore and is not official European Commission or MSCA guidance. Applicants should always check the current Work Programme, Guide for Applicants, call page and official FAQs for the action they are applying to.