Msca Cofund 2025 Cofund Doctoral programme

Topic updates

27 November 2025

18 November 2025

24 June 2025
PROPOSAL NUMBERS

Call HORIZON-MSCA-2025-COFUND-01-01 has closed on 24 June 2025

136 proposals have been submitted.

The breakdown per topic is:

·HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-Cofund-D (Doctoral Programmes): 70 proposals

·HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-Cofund-P (Postdoctoral Programmes): 66 proposals

Evaluation results are expected to be communicated in November 2025.

21 March 2025

Researchers working in any of the fields covered by the Euratom Research and Training Programme 2021-2025 are not eligible for funding under HORIZON-MSCA-COFUND-2025.

18 March 2025

Instructions to complete the budget table in Part A of the proposal in SEP submission

Part A of the proposal lists the beneficiary and (if applicable) the Associated Partners (APs) involved in the proposal. Implementing Partners (IPs) are not presented in Part A. The beneficiary is ‘Participant number 1’ followed by the APs.

The beneficiary must encode in the column ‘Own resources’ its own financial input to the programme, and in the column ‘Financial contribution’ the financial support coming from IPs (if applicable).

The beneficiary must indicate for the APs – each in its relevant row - in the column ‘Financial contribution’ any financial support they intend to provide for the proposal.

MSCA COFUND 2025

TOPIC ID: HORIZON-MSCA-2025-COFUND-01-01

Type of grant: Call for proposals

General information

Programme: Horizon Europe Framework Programme (HORIZON)

Call: MSCA COFUND 2025 (HORIZON-MSCA-2025-COFUND-01)

Type of action: HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-Cofund-D HORIZON TMA MSCA Cofund Doctoral programme

Type of MGA: HORIZON Unit Grant [HORIZON-AG-UN]

Type of action: HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-Cofund-P HORIZON TMA MSCA Cofund Postdoctoral programme

Type of MGA: HORIZON Unit Grant [HORIZON-AG-UN]

Status: Forthcoming

Deadline model: single-stage

Planned Opening Date: 23 January 2025

Deadline dates: 24 June 2025 17:00 (Brussels time)

Topic description

ExpectedOutcome:

Projects results are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:

For supported doctoral candidates or postdoctoral researchers

• Deeper and more diverse set of research-related and transferable skills and competences;
• Improved employability and career prospects both within academia and beyond;
• New mind-sets and approaches to R&I work forged through international, inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary experience;
• Enhanced networking and communication capacities with scientific peers, as well as with the general public that will increase and broaden the research and innovation impact.

For participating organisations

• Enhanced quality and sustainability of research training;
• Increased global attractiveness, visibility and reputation of the participating organisation(s);
• Stronger R&I capacity and output among participating organisations;
• Increased contribution of the participating organisations to the local, regional and/or national socio-economic ecosystems;
• Regular feedback of research results into teaching and education at participating organisations.

Scope:

Applicants submit proposals for new or existing doctoral or postdoctoral programmes with an impact on the enhancement of human resources in R&I at regional, national or international level. These programmes will be co-funded by MSCA COFUND.

Proposed programmes can cover any research disciplines ("bottom-up"), but exceptionally can also focus on specific disciplines, notably when they are based on national or regional Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3 strategies). In this case, the range of covered disciplines should allow reasonable flexibility for the researchers to define their topic.

Funding synergies with Cohesion policy funds and the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) are strongly encouraged^[1],[2].

A Career Development Plan must be jointly established by the supervisor and each recruited researcher upon recruitment. In addition to research objectives, this Plan comprises the researcher's training and career needs, including training on transferable skills, teaching, planning for publications and participation in conferences and events aimed at opening science and research to citizens. The Plan must be established at the beginning of the recruitment and should be revised (and updated where needed) within 18 months.

COFUND takes the form of:

A) Doctoral programmes

Doctoral programmes offer research training activities to allow doctoral candidates to develop and broaden their skills and competences. They will lead to the award of a doctoral degree in at least one EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country. The training activities should be based on the EU Principles on Innovative Doctoral Training.

Substantial training modules, including digital ones, addressing key transferable skills and competences common to all fields, fostering good scientific conduct such as research integrity, and fostering the culture of Open Science, innovation and entrepreneurship will be supported. They will include, inter alia, training on the use of collaborative tools and approaches, opening access to publications and to other research outputs including data, FAIR data management, societal engagement and citizen science.

On top of compulsory international mobility, applicants are encouraged to include elements of cross-sectoral mobility and interdisciplinarity into their programmes. Collaboration with a wider set of associated partners, including from the non-academic sector, will be positively taken into account during the evaluation. These organisations may provide hosting or secondment opportunities or training modules in research or transferable skills.

Particular attention is paid to the quality of supervision and mentoring arrangements as well as career guidance. The selection procedure for doctoral candidates must be open, transparent and merit-based, in line with the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers. The vacancy notice (to be widely advertised internationally, including on the EURAXESS^[3] website) must mention if the published rates include all employer and employee's taxes and contributions. If possible, the gross salary (net salary + employee’s taxes and contributions) should be published.

B) Postdoctoral Programmes

Postdoctoral Programmes fund individual advanced research training and career development fellowships for postdoctoral researchers. The programmes should offer training to develop key transferable skills and competences common to all fields, foster good scientific conduct such as research integrity, foster innovation and entrepreneurship and promote and (where appropriate) reward Open Science practices (open access to publications and to other research outputs including data, FAIR data management, societal engagement and citizen science, etc.).

Postdoctoral Programmes should have regular selection rounds following fixed deadlines or regular cut-off dates, allowing fair competition between researchers. The selection procedure for postdoctoral candidates must be open, competitive, merit-based and with a transparent international peer review, in line with the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers. The vacancy notice (to be widely advertised internationally, including on the EURAXESS website) must mention if the published rates include all employer and employee's taxes and contributions. If possible, the gross salary (net salary + employee’s taxes and contributions) should be published.

On top of compulsory international mobility, applicants are encouraged to include elements of cross-sectoral mobility and interdisciplinarity into their programmes. Researchers will be able to freely choose a research topic and the appropriate organisation to host them, fitting their individual needs.

[1]https://ec.europa.eu/research/regions/index.cfm?pg=synergies

[2] ^{The Recovery and Resilience Facility supports reforms and investments undertaken by Member States. The aim is to mitigate the economic and social impact of the coronavirus pandemic and make European economies and societies more sustainable, resilient and better prepared for the challenges and opportunities of the green and digital transitions.}

[3]https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/

Topic destination

MSCA Co-funding of regional, national and international programmes (2023/24)

MSCA COFUND co-finances new or existing doctoral programmes and postdoctoral fellowship schemes with the aim of spreading the best practices of the MSCA including international, inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary research training, as well as international and cross-sectoral mobility of researchers at all stages of their career.

In practice, MSCA COFUND provides complementary funding for doctoral or postdoctoral programmes managed by entities established in EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries. Those co-funded programmes must follow MSCA’s good practice in terms of international recruitment and minimum standard of employment for the recruited fellows as described in the European Charter for Researchers.

Expected impact

Proposals under this Action should contribute to the following expected impacts:

• Enhance talent and knowledge circulation across the R&I landscape, through international, inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary mobility, including by supporting regional or national smart specialisation strategies when appropriate;
• Align practices with MSCA policies based on the European Charter for Researchers;
• Improve the attractiveness of researchers’ careers notably through better working and employment conditions;
• Strengthen Europe's human capital base in R&I by training highly-skilled researchers;
• Increase Europe's attractiveness as a leading R&I destination;
• Enhance the quality of R&I contributing to Europe's sustainable competitiveness;
• Establish sustainable collaboration between academic and non-academic organisations;
• Foster the culture of open science, innovation and entrepreneurship.

General conditions

1. Admissibility conditions: described in Annex Aand Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes

Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System

2. Eligible countries: described in Annex Bof the Work Programme General Annexes

A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.

3. Other eligibility conditions: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes

4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion: described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes

5.Evaluation and award:

• Award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in Annex Dof the Work Programme General Annexes

• Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual

• Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement: described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes

6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants: described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes

Specific conditions

7. Specific conditions: described in the [specific topic of the Work Programme]

Start submission

The submission system is planned to be opened on the date stated on the topic header.

Get support

Online Manualis your guide on the procedures from proposal submission to managing your grant.

Horizon Europe Programme Guidecontains the detailed guidance to the structure, budget and political priorities of Horizon Europe.

Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ– find the answers to most frequently asked questions on submission of proposals, evaluation and grant management.

Research Enquiry Service– ask questions about any aspect of European research in general and the EU Research Framework Programmes in particular.

National Contact Points (NCPs)– get guidance, practical information and assistance on participation in Horizon Europe. There are also NCPs in many non-EU and non-associated countries (‘third-countries’).

Enterprise Europe Network– contact your EEN national contact for advice to businesses with special focus on SMEs. The support includes guidance on the EU research funding.

IT Helpdesk–contact the Funding & Tenders Portal IT helpdesk for questions such as forgotten passwords, access rights and roles, technical aspects of submission of proposals, etc.

European IPR Helpdeskassists you on intellectual property issues. CEN-CENELEC Research Helpdesk and ETSI Research Helpdesk–the European Standards Organisationsadvise you how to tackle standardisation in your project proposal.

The European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for their recruitment– consult the general principles and requirements specifying the roles, responsibilities and entitlements of researchers, employers and funders of researchers.

Partner Search Serviceshelp you find a partner organisation for your proposal.