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Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Networks

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What are the MSCA Doctoral Networks?

The MSCA Doctoral Networks are targeted on research and doctoral training of creative and innovative Doctoral candidates (DCs); it should equip researchers with a right combination of research-related and transferable competences; career perspectives enhancement in the academic and non-academic sectors through international, interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral mobility. For more details, see MSCA-DN 2024 summary  

Doctoral candidates (DCs) are scientists of any nationality; at the date of recruitment by the Beneficiary must not be already in possession of a doctoral degree and must undertake transnational mobility. They must be enrolled in a doctoral programme leading to the award of a doctoral degree in at least one EU MS* or AC*.

*AC - Associated countries (as of July 1, 2022): Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom

Who can apply for the MSCA DN?

Research and training institutions (e.g. universities, public or private non-profit research institutes, large enterprises, SMEs, non-profit or charitable organisations, etc.) can propose a research-training network. They will cooperate to recruit DCs, provide them with opportunities to undertake research in the context of a joint research training or doctoral programme. Consortium of 3-10 Beneficiaries that contribute directly to the implementation of the research training programme of the network by recruiting, supervising, hosting and training researchers. They may also provide secondment opportunities.

Standard Doctoral Networks (DN): consortium of at least 3 independent Beneficiaries established in at least 3 different MS* or AC*. Recommendation – to keep consortium between 6-10 beneficiaries. Expectation - Beneficiaries will be drawn from different sectors and DN proposals will offer inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary research training. The entity entitled to award a doctoral degree must be clearly identified in the proposal and added as a Beneficiary, a Partner organisation or an Associated partner linked to a beneficiary (entity with a capital or legal link).

Doctoral Networks (DN): consortium of at least 3 independent Beneficiaries from at least 3 different MS* or AC* while one of them is from academic and the other from non-academic sector (primarily enterprises). Recruited researchers have to spend at least 50% of their time in the non-academic sector; be jointly supervised by at least 2 supervisors (1 academic and 1 non-academic). The entity entitled to award a doctoral degree must be clearly identified in the proposal and added as a Beneficiary, a Partner organisation or an entity with a capital or legal link.

Joint Doctorates (DN-JD): consortium of at least 3 independent Beneficiaries entitled to award doctoral degree, established in at least 3 different MS* or AC*. Recommendation – to keep consortium between 6-8 Beneficiaries. A joint degree = single diploma issued by at least two higher education institutions, double or multiple degree = two or more separate national diplomas issued by two or more higher education institutions. Final degree must be awarded by institutions from at least one MS or AC country.

Why to apply for the MSCA DN?

  • Bottom-up approach, research fields are chosen freely by the consortia.
  • International, inter-sectoral, and inter-disciplinary mobility leading to lasting doctoral-level cooperation between the Beneficiaries.
  • Strengthening existing and / or building new research collaboration among participating organizations.
  • Exposure of the researcher to the academic and non-academic sectors offers a comprehensive set of transferable skills relevant for innovation and long-term employability.
  • Prestigious opportunity for researchers of any nationality to acquire and transfer new knowledge.
  • Unique opportunity to obtain double or multiple PhD degree within European academic sector.
  • An attractive financial support up to 396 960 € per 36 months depending on the Beneficiary location.

When to apply for the MSCA DN?

The nearest call deadline HORIZON-MSCA-2024-DN is on Wed 27 Nov 2024 17:00:00 Brussels time.

  Please inform the Project Office about your intention.  
  Do not hesitate anytime to contact us for consulting, discussion or help.  

How to apply for the MSCA DN?

The IOCB Prague is not an entity empowered to award Ph.D. diplomas, so it can‘t actively participate as Beneficiary within DN-ID or DN-JD consortia type. That is why only a procedure for the IOCB Prague engagement in DN consortia will be described below.

Has your colleague from other domestic or foreign institution contacted you to organize consortium of Beneficiaries and Partners to address research-training topics of similar or complementary themes of your research? Did you find an interesting offer to take part in the consortium preparation within the DN call through Partner Search?

  1. Find and read programme guidelines:
  2. Identify jointly relevant project partners and justify their presence in the project. Jointly negotiate the roles and responsibilities in the project. Designate the project Coordinator, who will be responsible for resulting project proposal preparation and submission via Funding&Tenders Portal.

    The role of project partner (Beneficiary)

      Create or use account on the Funding&Tenders Portal to be able to enter the draft proposal. The Coordinator will create the draft proposal and add the names and e-mails of the Main contact person of all Host Institutions. Then an automatic invitation will be sent to all contacts´ e-mail addresses. The invited persons can access proposal after logging in to the Funding&Tenders Portal.
    1. Fill in relevant parts (belonging to your Host Institution) of online Administrative form (Part A) at the Funding&Tenders Portal
      • Administrative data of participating organisations: Departments, Contact Address
      • Researchers involved in the proposal
      • Role of participating organisation in the project
      • List of 5 publications/most relevant previous projects relevant to call content
      • Significant infrastructures/technical equipment relevant to the processed work
      • Gender Equality Plan (relevant to calls launched since 2022)
    2. Select the type of contact person you are: (Main Contact Person, Person in charge of the proposal, Other contact persons).
    3. According to the Coordinator's instructions prepare your text or fill in forms of the part B1 and part B2 project proposal. Discuss your proposal with Coordinator and your project partners. Visual figures, tables and graphs are highly recommended in the proposal.


    Role of the Project Coordinator
[...detail, rozbalit/skrýt]

  1. Create a draft proposal; fill in pre-registration data for the proposal. These details will be used by the REA in order to plan the evaluation. You will not have access to this page again once it is completed, but certain data can be modified at a later stage.
  2. Select one of the 8 scientific panels which is the most relevant to the field of your research consortium. Important – careful choice of the panel and descriptors since this will guide the REA in the selection of experts for proposal evaluation. For more details, see MSCA-DN 2024 summary  .
  3. Edit contact details, add the names and e-mails of the Main Contact Person and/or the Person in charge of the proposal of the consortia Host Institutions. Give an access to one or more contact persons. Define the role within the project for each contact person (Main Contact Person, Person in charge of the proposal, Other contact persons). Once you save the changes, an automatic invitation is sent to all contacts´ e-mail addresses. The invited persons can access your proposal after logging in to the Funding&Tenders Portal.
  4. Fill in the online Administrative form (Part A) - relevant for the whole consortium and for the Coordinator as Host Institution at the Funding&Tenders Portal.
    • General information: Abstract, Declarations;
    • Administrative data of participating organisations: Departments, Contact Address;
    • Researchers involved in the proposal;
    • Role of participating organisation in the project;
    • List of 5 publications/most relevant previous projects relevant to call content;
    • Significant infrastructures/technical equipment relevant to the processed work;
    • Gender Equality Plan (relevant to calls launched since 2022);
    • Budget;
    • Ethics.
  5. Complete the MSCA DN proposal B1 (MSCA-DN 2024 template B  , max 34 pages) and save final version as “Proposal Number-Acronym-PartB1.pdf”). Visual figures, tables and graphs are highly recommended in the proposal. Work on the project proposal together with the project partners coordinate the joint preparation:
    • Table of contents (1 page);
    • List of participating organizations (maximum 2 pages);
    • Excellence (starting on page 5);
    • Impact;
    • Quality and efficiency of the implementation.
  6. Complete the MSCA DN proposal B2 (MSCA-DN 2024 template B  , no page limit) and save final version as “Proposal Number-Acronym-PartB2.pdf”). Visual figures, tables and graphs are highly recommended in the proposal. Work on the project proposal together with the project partners coordinate the joint preparation;
    • Participating organisations (max 1 page per Beneficiary and 1 page per Partner organisation);
    • Letters of Commitment (for DN associated partners).
  7. Finalise your application at the Funding&Tenders Portal.
    • Administrative form Part A (online on Funding&Tenders Portal) (applicant & Project Office)
    • Research proposal Part B1 (uploaded in PDF) (applicant & Project Office)
    • Research proposal Part B2 (uploaded in PDF) (applicant & Project Office)
    • Commitment of the DN associated partners and/or Partner organisations (uploaded in PDF) (Project Office & Director)
  8. Validate your application. Use the functionality 'Validate form' button to check the validity and completeness of your data. Once there is a consolidated version of the proposal, the “SUBMIT” button must be pressed. Any problems such as missing data, wrong file format or excessive file size will appear as a list of warnings and/or on the screen. You may submit your proposal with warnings (marked in yellow), but it is not possible to submit a proposal until all errors (marked in red) are corrected. Please note that the electronic checks by the submission system do not replace the formal eligibility review and do not confirm that the contents of these files respond to the requirements of the call.
  9. Submit your application before Wed 27 Nov 2024 17:00:00 Brussels time. Within minutes (or even hours - in case of submission immediately before deadline) your proposal will be available for download with an e-receipt in the system. You will receive a confirmation e-mail with the summary data of the submitted proposal. You may continue to modify the proposal and submit revised versions overwriting the previous one right up until the call deadline.


Final evaluation results will be announced to Beneficiaries in April 2025.
The earliest grant start date is expected to be in July – August 2025.

Czech national contact point: Technology Centre CAS, Lyudmyla Tysyachna, ☎ +420 234 006 161, Tysyachna@tc.cz

IOCB

IOCB participation (5) in FP 7 H2020-MSCA-ITN-ETN and HORIZON-MSCA DN grants:

  • Petr Beier: Fluor21 - Synthesis, structure and function of fluorinated systems (2014–2018; CORDIS)
  • Michal Hocek: ClickGene (2015–2018; CORDIS)
  • Irena G. Stará: Hel4CHIROLED - Helical systems for chiral organic light emitting diodes (2020–2023; CORDIS)
  • Michal Hocek: NATURE_ETN - Nucleic Acids for Future Gene Editing, Immunotherapy and Epigenetic Sequence Modification (2020–2024; CORDIS)
  • Tomáš Pluskal & Robert Hanus: ModBioTerp - Modelling the Biochemistry of Terpene Synthases (2024–2028; CORDIS)