Horizon Europe Work Programme: MSCA COFUND 2022

Deadline: 9-Feb-23

The MSCA COFUND 2022 (HORIZON-MSCA-2022-COFUND-01) is now open 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.

Scope

• 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
• 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.

Funding Information

• The check will normally be done for the coordinator if the requested grant amount is equal to or greater than EUR 500 000, except for:
  • public bodies (entities established as a public body under national law, including local, regional or national authorities) or international organisations; and
  • cases where the individual requested grant amount is not more than EUR 60 000 (lowvalue grant).

Eligible Activities

• Eligible activities are the ones described in the call conditions.
  • Projects must focus exclusively on civil applications and must not:
    • Aim at human cloning for reproductive purposes;
    • Intend to modify the genetic heritage of human beings which could make such changes heritable (except for research relating to cancer treatment of the gonads, which may be financed);
    • Intend to create human embryos solely for the purpose of research, or for the purpose of stem cell procurement, including by means of somatic cell nuclear transfer.

• The following activities are generally eligible for grants under Horizon Europe:
  • Research and innovation actions (RIA)
  • Innovation actions (IA)
  • Coordination and support actions (CSA)
  • Programme co-fund actions (CoFund)
  • Innovation and market deployment actions (IMDA)
  • Training and mobility actions (TMA)
  • Pre-commercial procurement actions (PCP)
  • Public procurement of innovative solutions actions (PPI)

Expected Outcome:

• 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 interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral 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.

Eligibility Criteria

• To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
  • The Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions;
  • The Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States8
  • Eligible non-EU countries:
    • Countries associated to Horizon Europe
      • At the date of the publication of the work programme, there are no countries associated to Horizon Europe. Considering the Union’s interest to retain, in principle, relations with the countries associated to Horizon 2020, most third countries associated to Horizon 2020 are expected to be associated to Horizon Europe with an intention to secure uninterrupted continuity between Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe. In addition, other third countries can also become associated to Horizon Europe during the programme. For the purposes of the eligibility conditions, applicants established in Horizon 2020 Associated Countries or in other third countries negotiating association to Horizon Europe will be treated as entities established in an Associated Country, if the Horizon Europe association agreement with the third country concerned applies at the  time of signature of the grant agreement.
      • Low- and middle-income countries
• Legal entities which are established in countries not listed above will be eligible for funding if provided for in the specific call conditions, or if their participation is considered essential for implementing the action by the granting authority.

Specific cases:

• Affiliated entities — Affiliated entities are eligible for funding if they are established in one of the countries.
• EU bodies — Legal entities created under EU law may also be eligible to receive funding, unless their basic act states otherwise.
• International organisations — International European research organisations are eligible to receive funding. Unless their participation is considered essential for implementing the action by the granting authority, other international organisations are not eligible to receive funding. International organisations with headquarters in a Member State or Associated Country are eligible to receive funding for ‘Training and mobility’ actions and when provided for in the specific call conditions.

Consortium composition

• Unless otherwise provided for in the specific call conditions, legal entities forming a consortium are eligible to participate in actions provided that the consortium includes:
  • At least one independent legal entity established in a Member State; and
  • At least two other independent legal entities, each established in different Member States or Associated Countries.

For more information, visit https://bit.ly/3MmXxws