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.

PhD enrollment is now mandatory also for DN Standard, so doctoral candidates should have the necessary degree that allows them to be enrolled in a PhD.

Absolutely, there can also be multiple recruitments for DN Standard, provided that each contract is minimum 3 months (and maximum 36 months). The mobility rules only apply to the first recruitment.

In such a case, the fellow can be enrolled in a PhD programme at the second faculty which must be added as an associated partner or an associated partner linked to a beneficiary.

Unfortunately, it is not possible for the 2021 call, this set-up will be further discussed at Commission level and may be implemented in the future.

REA prefers that beneficiaries signing the GA are WP leaders. The consortium must have the technical resources needed to carry out the project (so-called ‘operational capacity’). In that regard, the work should be done primarily by the beneficiaries themselves but if needed, they may involve other partners and rely on outside resources (including involving Associated Partners). The fact that beneficiaries retain responsibility towards the granting authority and the other beneficiaries when relying on affiliated entities and other participants (including Associated Partners) does not preclude that an Associated Partner that implement action tasks may appear as work package leader for these tasks. In any case, the operational capacity must be demonstrated in the proposal and be available at the moment of the implementation of the work. Its assessment is performed on a case-by-case basis.

All Open Science aspects are moved under Excellence in the methodology. Open Access should not be described under Impact and Dissemination as it is assessed under Excellence.

This requirement should be applicable to beneficiaries and not to associated partners.

For calls with deadlines in 2022 and beyond, once a project proposal is selected for funding following evaluations, consortium partners concerned by the eligibility criterion will have until Grant Agreement signature to confirm they have a GEP in place.

For calls with deadlines in 2022 and beyond, once a project proposal is selected for funding following evaluations, consortium partners concerned by the eligibility criterion will have until Grant Agreement signature to confirm they have a GEP in place.

This is mainly for statistics purposes.

It is recommended that at first there is an effort to ensure that the outgoing host respects the agreement – especially if they signed a partnership agreement with the beneficiary. For the amendment it is necessary to have evidence that the beneficiary has at least attempted to make it work before they propose the amendment. Also the researcher should properly document the shortcomings.

Brief information should be provided in part B1 and more details should be provided in part B2.

Secondments are not encoded as an associated partner. They should be declared in the specific question at the end of Part A, and detailed in Part B. This is reflected in the structure of the participants’ information in the submission wizard: • EF: possibility to encode one host organisation and one associated partner (which is only used in case of a placement) • GF: possibility to encode one host organisation and two associated partners (one mandatory, as outgoing phase host, and one optional in case of a placement).

Unfortunately, REA cannot intervene to alter a submitted proposal after the call deadline. However, if after the evaluation the proposal reaches the funding threshold, the beneficiary can further discuss to clarify the secondment issue during the Grant preparation (GAP) with the Project Officer assigned to the proposal.

There is no need to submit a separate application for the widening call. This is the procedure, as described on p.56 of the Widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area Work programme 2021-2022: “In order to apply for the ERA Fellowships call, applicants need to submit their proposal to the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowships 2021. To be eligible to this call the host organisation must be located in an eligible widening country. The application to the (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowships 2021 will be automatically resubmitted to this call in case the proposal fails to reach an adequate place in the ranking to be funded. This simplified submission procedure to the ERA Fellowships call presents applicants moving to Widening countries with an additional funding opportunity but there is the possibility to opt out during the application stage.”

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.