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Have you already completed the training section in your HORIZON-MSCA-DN proposal?

August 26, 2026

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The submission deadline for Doctoral Network (DN) proposals is approaching fast, and we know how busy many DN coordinators and partners are right now, whether finalising the individual DC projects for section 3.1 of Part B1 or editing all partner profiles for Part B2. And then there is the training programme…

Transferable skills can be both, hard skills or soft skills, although soft skills are more commonly transferable.

In chapter 1.3 of Part B1, we recommend dedicating about five pages to the description of your DN`s training activities. Based on our experience from more than two dozen Doctoral Networks and Innovative Training Networks (ITNs, the FP7/H2020 predecessor of Doctoral Networks) in which we participated as a Partner Organisation or Associated Partner, we know how important it is to strike a good balance between scientific and technological training on one side and transferable skills courses on the other.

Standard transferable skills courses in DNs are, for example, “research project management” and “IPR and IP management”. More recently, we have begun to see “data management”, “ethics” and “gender equality” or diversity and inclusion more often in DN training schemes. Our long-term involvement in ITNs for project administration, dissemination and communication support and in the first Horizon Europe DNs has inspired us to develop a transferable skills training programme that has now been underway for a couple of years. It covers some of these high-demand topics and others that you might be interested in, and there are more to come! Two of the most popular transferable skills modules are “science communication” and “grant writing”, which often benefit from an external perspective instead of being delivered by the universities.

A graphic showing the three sets of transferable skills modules: Research Project Management and Data Managemetn, Science Communication and Gender Equality, and Funding Opportunities and Grant Writing.

Where can transferable skills training providers be found at such short notice?

With less than a month to go, our team at accelopment might be able to fill some of the gaps in your draft training programme and advise on suitable complementary training providers. We have a wealth of knowledge and experience to share with your research fellows thanks to our long-standing involvement as a project partner. We can support your DN in Transferable Skills Training, Project Management and/or Dissemination as we currently do for the newly funded Horizon Europe Doctoral Networks BREAKthrough, MITGEST, SYNSENSO and the Industrial Doctorate MIRELAI. You are welcome to contact one of our trainers or share your interest with us in our online form.