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MSCA SUPPORT

MSCA for hosts

The European Commission funds excellent postdoctoral scientists (PhD holders) from anywhere in the world to do a 2-year research project in your institution (company, research group, NGO or public administration) through the prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships (MSCA PF, formerly MSCA Individual Fellowships).

Home » MSCA for hosts

Luxinnovation, the national innovation agency and your National Contact Point for European funding, assists you in finding the best applicants from around the world and helps the candidate in preparing the research proposal.

Target

Any legal entity based in Luxembourg, public or private, willing to host a postdoctoral researcher (applicant) in Luxembourg for up to 2 years for a research and innovation project. Career development and training of the applicants are an integral part of the project and need to be considered in the project description. Non-academic organisations are not required to involve academic partners, but public-private partnerships can be foreseen in the form of exchanges (so-called secondments) of the applicant from one to the other (up to 8 months which can be split between several partner organisations). The proposal is written mostly by the applicant with guidance from you, their host, for example in defining the research question. You can propose your own applicants or we can help you find them among the best experts around the world, based on their publication record in the domains you are looking for. You can submit several independent proposals with different applicants in parallel.

What is in it for you?

A funded researcher that will bring his or her academic knowledge and network to your organisation.

Why react ASAP?

The next deadline for the final proposal submission is in September 2022, meaning that successful projects can start around May 2023. However, finding appropriate applicants (see below) takes a lot of time – so does training and proposal writing.

Quick facts about MSCA PF

  • Duration: Up to 2 years; an optional, additional 6 month placement at a (separate) non-academic organisation towards the end of the project can be foreseen
  • 100% funded: salary (up to 6,340€/m gross), research/training costs (1,000€/m) and overhead (650€/m) contribution by the EC to you – you are free to top up the salary through other sources to attract the best talents. Additional funding possible for applicants with special needs.
  • Proposal (10 page) is written mostly by the applicant (postdoc) and fine-tuned by the host (you), while receiving regular (free) support from your National Contact Point at Luxinnovation
  • Optional secondments (e.g. cross sectoral research exchanges of up to 8 months with another organisation (public or private)) in Europe increase attractiveness of the proposal
  • Success rates: 15% (EU average) and higher than that for proposals that were actively supported by the National Contact Point
  • Applicant profile: PhD degree at the submission deadline (14.09.2022), no more than 8 years research experience AFTER their PhD defence

Our support

  • Identification of talented applicants: You provide us with a list of keywords describing the scientific skills you are looking for and we will identify applicants from the world’s leading academic centres (determined mostly through citation records). If you already have your own applicant(s), even better – we will help them through the application procedure as well.
  • You will receive CVs of potential applicants and select as many or as few as you like. We recommend choosing more than 1 excellent researcher if possible in order to increase your chances of success. The best candidates will have the academic skills you need and be able to work and write independently and diligently.
  • We offer (remote) training sessions and support material to the applicants and to you to help you with the proposal writing process

Explanations and recommendations on how to fill out the questionnaire

What we need from you

Please send us your expression of interest by 17 December.
Please note that we can only support a limited number of organisations, so we recommend submitting your expression of interest before that deadline. Most details are not needed if you already have your own applicant(s) – however please still inform us so we can evaluate the eligibility of the applicants. Please click on the title to see the description.
Submit your expression of interest
1. Short description

Short description of your research group/unit and institution/company and research interests. This information will be used by us to create a public profile page on Euraxess that potential applicants will be directed to. It is essential to highlight why you would be an excellent host for the brightest young minds – for example by highlighting training opportunities, collaborations, career perspectives, other incentives.

2. Keywords

Up to 5 keywords to indicate the scientific background of the candidates you wish to find. The keywords should be as precise and specific as possible – they will be used to look for identifying potential applicants with a publication record in that specific domain. General keywords such as artificial intelligence, computer science or social sciences are only acceptable if you are very open about the scope of the project and willing to accept applicants from a wide range of subdomains within those disciplines. The best keywords include specific techniques that the applicants should master. We will use these very keywords for finding potential applicants – so make sure to choose keywords that are neither too wide, nor too specific.

3. Description of the ideal applicant

A more general, narrative description of the ideal applicant. This should be a more elaborate text than the keywords mentioned above, similar to what would be used in a job posting that you would write. It will not be used by us to identify applicants, but it will be featured in the online profiles we will publish. Thus the applicant will use them to self-select and better understand what is expected by you. Make sure to distinguish between skills and knowledge that is mandatory or simply an advantage.

4. Contact person

A contact person (or more than 1) that we will use in further communication. We expect this person to be able to give a positive or negative answer to the applicants (either directly or through us) within our deadline. All applicant CVs will be sent to you before 1 June 2021 and you will have until 15 June to select applicants (based on interviews etc). The submission deadline for the final proposal is 14 September 2022. Depending on the research fields, we expect only a small number of CVs (0-10). The contact person is not publicly visible to applicants. The communication will be handled by us, unless you explicitly ask us not to do it.

5. Tickbox Optional Attachments

You can choose this to request additional information from applicants during their CV submission. Requesting a project proposal of 1-2 pages can be a good way for example to evaluate the writing and thinking skills of potential candidates.

6. Optional: Project description

The project will generally be co-designed by the applicant and the host (you). In many cases, the projects change a bit during your discussions with the different applicants. However, a concise project description will generally increase the quality of the applications you will receive. In our experience, a general, broad description will results in more applications than a very detailed project description. This of course depends on many factors and you might already have a very clear project in mind. This information will be publicly visible.

Timeline

  • You: Deadline for sending your information to us: 17 December 2021
  • We: Identification of most promising applicants: Now-April 2022
  • We: Invitations send to potential applicants to submit their CVs: April 2022
  • Applicants: Send in CV before: 15 May 2022
  • You: Preselect applicants before: 1 June 2022
  • You: Conduct interviews, make final selection of applicants, inform outcome: 15 June 2022
  • We: Train applicants in proposal writing: End of June 2022
  • Applicants/You: Work on proposal writing: July-August 2022
  • We: Feedback / reviewing of proposals: June-August 2022
  • You/Applicants: Submission of proposal before: 14 September 2022
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