The Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions

MSCA Global Postdoctoral Fellowships are 3-year grants with a mandatory period in a non-EU/Associated Country. For Macquarie staff, they provide an opportunity to host and mentor a fully-funded post-doctoral researcher for up to 2 years.

For Australian post-docs, they can provide an opportunity for research and mentoring at an EU university and to be funded to return to Australia for part of the Fellowship.

• Open to applicants within 5 years of PhD award from anywhere in the world
• The lead institution must be in an EU/Associated Country, but applicants must be based outside the country of the lead institution at time of application
• Fellows’ living, travel and research expenses are fully funded by the Fellowship
• The Fellowship begins with an ‘outgoing phase’ of up to 2 years, followed by a ‘return phase’ at the lead institution
• They must spend the outgoing phase with a mentor in a non-EU/Associated Country (e.g. Australia)
• The outgoing phase may include secondment to a non-research organisation of up to 6 months.

MSCA Staff Exchanges can be applied for by international consortia of institutions.

• Projects are funded for up to 4 years
• Exchanges of 1-12 months are funded for outgoing project staff from EU/AC institutions (multiple short-term visits up to 12 months total can be made).,
• Helpful for developing international collaborations and projects through hosting incoming international colleagues at Macquarie.
• Institutions and their staff from non-EU/Associated Countries in the consortium do not receive any funding - for outgoing visits to EU collaborators, you would need to use your own or other grant funding for travel/accommodation.

Horizon Europe resources

• MSCA homepage
• Video introducing MSCA Fellowships
• ERC Funding and Tenders Portal
• Euraxess Australia-New Zealand

Macquarie resources

• NOI link
• Compliance and Eligibility booking link (for internal approvals)
• MSCA Global Fellowships fact sheet
• Pivot-RP

Key dates are advertised on the MSCA website.

Fellowship calls are annual, and usually close in September each year.

You must book a mandatory compliance and eligibility check at least 2 weeks before the lead institution's internal deadline, to provide time for the application to be approved internally and the letter of support  to be signed.

Compliance and Eligibility bookings can be made here.

1. Complete the MQ Notification of Intent (NOI)
   Complete a Notification of Intent to inform the Grant Development Team of your intention to host a MSCA Fellow. This will create a Pure record for you, through which we will provide feedback and obtain internal approval.
2. Discuss with your School/Department
   You should discuss your plans to host an MSCA Fellow with your HoD/HoS. 
   (If you are applying for a MSCA Global Fellowship, discuss your plans with your proposed supervisor).
3. Book your compliance and eligibility check
   This is not a meeting, but the date by which you need to submit the application documents via Pure for internal approval. Make your booking here.
4. Develop the application with the applicant and the co-supervisor from the host (lead) institution.
   As you develop the application, also draft the letter of support from Macquarie. We can provide a template for this. At this stage we would also like to be put in touch with the lead institution's Research Office to discuss funding.
5. Submit application in PURE for internal review
   Submit the draft application and completed draft of the letter of support via Pure at least two weeks prior to the lead organisation's internal deadline
6. Submission to funder
   The signed letter of support will be provided when internal approvals are complete. The lead institution will then submit the application.