The deadlines and procedures are set out in the evaluation result letter. For more information on complaints about proposal rejection: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/funding-tenders-opportunities/display/OM/Complaints+about+proposal+rejection.

Evaluators are instructed to strictly stick to the evaluation criteria, and REA are closely monitoring that. Please note that if such a construction weakens the proposal in any way, according to the evaluation criteria, then it will be penalised under this criterion.

There is no concept of ‘affiliated entities’ in DN, there is the concept of associated partners linked to a beneficiary, whereby there was a pre-existing link between the associated partner and the beneficiary, not created for the purpose of the proposal. Their eligibility is linked to the eligibility of the beneficiary to which they are legally linked.

The institutions involved would be aware of their status as validated by the EC validation services when they get their final PIC.

A helpful list is that of the members of EIROforum: https://www.eiroforum.org/about-eiroforum/members/

In such cases, they should be included as “simple” associated partners, and the link should be described in parts B1 and B2.

In such cases, they should be included as “simple” associated partners, and the link should be described in parts B1 and B2.

The deadlines and procedures are set out in the evaluation result letter. For more information on complaints about proposal rejection: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/funding-tenders-opportunities/display/OM/Complaints+about+proposal+rejection.

In this case, the 3-month secondment undertaken at the host organisation selected for your return phase (the beneficiary organisation) counts as part of the outgoing phase and is automatically included in the funding requested for that phase in the budget table of the Part A. This starting secondment undertaken at the beginning of the Fellowship has no effect on the length of the return phase, which has to be 12 months. As clarified on page 11 of the MSCA PF Guide for Applicants, this 3-month starting secondment must be included within the maximum 1/3 duration of the secondment.

The Funding and Tenders Portal (FTOP) submission system has been set up in a way that MSCA PF proposals can be created and submitted by a designated contact person from the host institution, the supervisor or the researcher. Any person creating an application in the FTOP system can give access rights to other parties, allowing them to submit the proposal (“full access”). However, as the submission of the proposal and other actions that follow this procedure (such as a withdrawal or, if successful, the grant agreement signature) ultimately fall under the responsibility of the host organisation, it is advised that the host institution submits the proposal on behalf of the researcher (EC FAQ 911). 

The criterion for resubmission for both the European Fellowship (EF) and the Global Fellowship (GF) under the 2022 MSCA Call is detailed on p.6 of the MSCA PF Guide for Applicants and p. 88 of the Horizon Europe 2021-22 MSCA Work Programme as follows:

“Proposals involving the same recruiting organisation (and for Global Postdoctoral Fellowships also the associated partner hosting the outgoing phase) and individual researcher submitted to the previous call of MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships under Horizon Europe and having received a score of less than 70% must not be resubmitted the following year.” 

In addition, REA has published the following clarifications:

     – Applicants who scored less than 70% when applying for the EF scheme in the 2021 call can apply with the same recruiting organisation to the 2022 MSCA GF scheme (EC FAQ 19933)

    – Correspondingly, applicants who scored less than 70% when applying for the GF scheme in the 2021 call can apply with the same recruiting organisation to the 2022 MSCA EF scheme (EC FAQ 19933).

     – If an applicant reapplies with the same recruiting institution(s), but with a completely new, novel and different proposal than the version which was previously submitted and received a score below 70%, REA will consider this proposal a resubmission and declare it ineligible (EC FAQ 19934).

     – Researchers are allowed to resubmit a Horizon 2020 Individual Fellowship (IF) proposal that scored below 70% with the same recruiting organization(s), provided that all other eligibility criteria have been met (EC FAQ 19938).

     – If an applicant reapplies with the same recruiting institution(s), but with a new supervisor than the version which was previously submitted and received a score below 70%, REA will consider this proposal a resubmission and declare it ineligible (EC FAQ 19936).

     – Applicants who scored less than 70% when applying for the GF scheme in the 2021 call can apply with the same hosting organisation to the 2022 MSCA EF scheme if they change the outgoing host in the resubmitted proposal and meet all other eligibility criteria (EC FAQ 19935).

– If an applicant reapplies with the same recruiting institution(s), but would be hosted at different premises than in the version which was previously submitted and received a score below 70%, REA will consider this proposal a resubmission and declare it ineligible (EC FAQ 19937)

The period spent in a non-research position should be deducted from the Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) experience in research. The percentage of FTE for non-research activities outside of the researcher’s main research activity must be clearly documented, e.g. by a work contract/job description. These documents are not to be included in the MSCA PF application, but the host organisation (beneficiary) must keep them for their records in case of an audit.

The Research Executive Agency (REA) published a dedicated guidance and a self-assessment tool to support applicants with calculating their research experience for the MSCA PF call purposes. Both documents are available on the “How to Apply to MSCA” website in the “Postdoctoral Fellowships” section.  

Yes, it is possible to terminate the fellowship earlier than planned, especially if the fellow has found an attractive job offer. The host institution needs to put in place an amendment to terminate the grant. The amounts corresponding to unspent months will have to be returned to the EC, but the funding corresponding to the project months already implemented does not have to be returned.

No, table 5.1 is only for the associated and implementing partners. The beneficiary will be included in the table in the beginning of part B soon after the start page ‘Information on the Beneficiary’.

The only option in such cases is having more than 2/3 of the secondments to/ from Switzerland. The Guide for Applicants 2021 states on p. 6: “There is no pre-defined size for Staff Exchanges projects. However, it is recommended to keep the size of the consortium between 6 to 10 organisations. As for the number of associated partners, it should remain reasonable and commensurate with the size of the network.” Some evaluators could highlight weaknesses due to the distribution of the secondments. It is better to increase the number of partners from 3 to 6. This will provide more possibilities for secondments distribution.

The deadlines and procedures are set out in the evaluation result letter. For more information on complaints about proposal rejection: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/funding-tenders-opportunities/display/OM/Complaints+about+proposal+rejection.

Secondments from/ to branches/ departments of beneficiaries/ partner organisations that are not separate legal entities, are NOT eligible, if they are located in countries other than the country of their beneficiary/ partner organisation.

The total person-months for the Associated Partners linked to a beneficiary should be encoded together with the main beneficiary (e.g. University A.) in the budget table. That means, the total person-months must be encoded only into the beneficiary budget and no budget should be encoded for the associated partners linked to a beneficiary. There will be a warning in the form because the associated partner linked to beneficiary budget will be zero. This does not prevent from submitting. In case the number of secondments from the Associated Partners linked to a beneficiary is substantial, they should appear as beneficiary/participant only (not Associated Partners linked to a beneficiary). Applicants should list and detail the relation of the other Associated Partners linked to a beneficiary (e.g. University B) in part B.