As the national contact point for Horizon 2020, Luxinnovation is offering support to postdoctoral candidates and research organisations (public and private) willing to participate to the Marie Sklodowoska Curie Actions (MSCA) and more specifically to the Individual Fellowship (IF) programme, financing salaries and research costs for 2 year postdoctoral fellows from around the world.
The goal of the Individual Fellowships is to enhance the creative and innovative potential of researchers with a doctoral degree or at least four years of full-time equivalent research experience after their Master’s Degree and to help the local host institutes to get outside expertise from top universities.
Support for postdoctoral candidates
Individual Fellowships (IF) are ideal if you are an experienced researcher looking for new training and career opportunities while working abroad. The postdoctoral fellowships are financed through the European Commission for 2 year positions, covering salary and research costs of the researchers, who can come from anywhere in the world, to learn new skills.
The research landscape in Luxembourg is young and is still expanding, and receives strong support by the government. The institutes have state-of-the-art infrastructure and are well connected nationally and internationally, thus making Luxembourg an interesting destination for young researchers.
Luxinnovation support for postdoctoral candidates includes:
- helping applicants to find a host institute that matches their interests
- personalised training on proposal writing
- reviewing of proposal before submission
- helping with administrative and legal questions
Our internal deadline for supporting MSCA IF candidates closed in May as we received almost 400 CVs from potential participants to the 40+ hosting offers from Luxembourgish organizations in the fields of engineering sciences, life sciences, natural sciences and social sciences & humanity. Currently, the host institutes are interviewing and selecting their potential applicants, before the grant writing phase starts over the course of this summer. All final proposals will be submitted by the selected candidates and their hosting company before 9 September 2020.
Support for hosting companies
The organisations in Luxembourg that have volunteered to host talented researchers include large public research organisations as well as private companies (including start-ups) that offer interesting job perspectives after completion of the fellowship. Hosting post-docs can be very advantageous as project costs are covered 100%, plus 25% additional overhead.
For the host company, our support mechanism includes:
- the identification of talented applicants with the expertise you need
- training sessions
- support material
This year, 29 companies and research institutions expressed their interests in hosting postdoctoral researchers as part of the MSCA programme, which resulted in the opening of 45 hosting offers published on our website and on Euraxess.
The next call to express your interest in hosting researchers will be launched at the end of the year. Stay tuned!
MSCA Grant writing support (for organisations from Luxembourg or fellows moving to Luxembourg)
Luxinnovation is organising grant writing workshops on a regular basis for host organisations, MSCA applicants, support staff or people interested in learning more about MSCA IF grant writing and our support services as NCP. The next workshops dedicated to MSCA IF in 2020 will be conducted as online Webinars and divided into two sessions:
- Session 1 – MSCA IF Basics: Funding rules, different panels, eligibility criteria, NCP support services | 26 June 2020
- Session 2 – MSCA IF Grant Writing and Q&A | 29 June 2020
During the proposal writing phase, your National Contact Point will give you regular feedback and reviewing rounds if desired or needed. In 2019, proposals reviewed by Luxinnovation experts had a success rate was 42% compared to 22% for proposals not reviewed by Luxinnovation.
For more information on the MSCA Individual Fellowships or if you want to show interest for next year edition, please contact Charles Betz, Advisor – European R&D and Innovation Support.
Luxinnovation is the National Contact Point for Horizon 2020, the European framework programme for research and innovation. Building on our decade-long experience of EU funding programmes, we are able to respond to questions on where to get up-to-date information on programmes and calls for project proposals, what programmes are the most suitable for you or where and how to find European partners.