Preparing an MSCA Doctoral Network proposal? Mind the latest updates!
30th September 2021 at 3:08 pm
One thousand, perhaps one and a half thousand or even more MSCA Doctoral Network (DN) proposals are currently being prepared by European researchers in collaboration with numerous companies and other organisations from all over Europe and beyond. And the deadline for the submission of the DN proposals to the first Horizon Europe call HORIZON-MSCA-2021-DN-01 is approaching fast – the 16 November 2021 is the magic date and applicants are busy compiling Part A, Part B1 and Part B2 for their project proposals under a tight schedule. While dealing with the many new rules and the different terminology, less obvious or little-known changes from the previous Horizon 2020 MSCA Innovative Training Networks (ITNs) have become evident.
Did you know about these (new) ITN-DN changes?
For example, secondments of the recruited researchers from their host institution to another project partner can now be in the same country and do no longer necessarily need to be international. Other big news is that organisations from Switzerland, currently a non-associated third country, can participate in DNs and recruit researchers or doctoral candidates, formerly known as Early-Stage Researchers. However, Swiss participants must be Associated Partners (APs). Their fellows will be funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation and do not count towards the max. 10 researchers for DNs and the max. 15 for Joint Doctorates (JDs) and Industrial Doctorates (IDs), respectively. Despite Swiss organisations being allowed to join the network as APs and as such recruit researchers, the latter will not be considered MSCA fellows. A third example is that proposals submitted to H2020 but not funded and which are now resubmitted to the 2021 MSCA DN call, will not be considered resubmissions.
The best way to ensure that proposal writers do not make any formal mistakes is to check the MSCA Work Programme and the Guide for Applicants. Another source of information is the “topic related FAQs” on the EU Funding & Tender Portal.
Do you have specific DN proposal questions?
As a partner organisation in more than a dozen Initial Training Networks funded during the 7th Framework Programme and many Innovative Training Networks (ITNs) funded under Horizon 2020, we at accelopment have gathered a great deal of practical experience. Our team has a wealth of knowledge to share with Doctoral Network coordinators and two of our experts, Jacqueline and Jeanette, would be happy to answer your proposal-specific questions in two virtual FAQ sessions, simply sign up for Monday, 18 October 2021 between 10:00 and 11:00 and Wednesday, 20 October 2021 between 16:00 and 17:00 (both Brussels time). In case that all is clear to you and you are only looking for an Associated Partner providing online transferrable skills training modules to your DN researchers, one of our trainers would be pleased to hear from you.
Jacqueline Strehler
Research & Innovation Project Manager
